Stewart: Hamilton will rise to the challenge

Thursday 25th September 2008

Sir Jackie Stewart believes Lewis Hamilton will turn the latest FIA farce to his advantage this weekend.

Hamilton's hopes of taking a seven-point lead into Formula One's first night race in Singapore on Sunday were quashed on Tuesday.

The International Court of Appeal ruled McLaren's protest into the retrospective 25-second drive-through penalty handed to Hamilton at the Belgian Grand Prix earlier this month was inadmissible.

The 23-year-old conceded to being "disappointed but not depressed" at an outcome that has been viewed with derision in some quarters.

But three-times former Formula One World Champion Stewart feels Hamilton will use the unsatisfactory decision to spur him on.

"It's a disappointing verdict, and I would have thought if it was inadmissible they would have said so earlier," Stewart said in Singapore.

"But then FIA appeals are not famous for being won by the teams or drivers. The FIA never seem to overturn these kind of decisions.

"However, it was a very poor decision by the stewards in the first place.

"Niki Lauda and I have both been of the very strong opinion Lewis Hamilton did not do anything wrong.

"But despite what has happened this week, I am sure he will not let it affect him in any way.

"I am sure he will use what was nothing more than a setback in a positive manner because at the end of the day he is still in the lead in the Championship.

"With four races to go he will head into the first of those this weekend wanting to win, the same for the next race in Japan.

"Beyond that for the last two races, much will depend on what has happened with Felipe Massa, Robert Kubica and Kimi Raikkonen.

"Only from then will tactics maybe come into it, but before then, he has to go out and try to win. I am sure that is the way he will approach it."

Not for the first time, though, this latest decision from the FIA has left an unsavoury taste in the mouth of Stewart.

The 69-year-old is again calling on world motorsport's governing body to employ permanent, professional stewards for each race to ensure there is a degree of consistency in their decision making.

"I've said it before, but the governance of Formula One has to change, and what took place this week is the latest example to highlight that," insisted Stewart.

"The inconsistency of the decision making is not correct for a sport that has such incredible investment involved in it.

"We need the appointment of full-time stewards because at the moment we have different stewards at every grand prix.

"The three stewards at Spa were different from those at Valencia the race before, and different again to those at Monza a weekend later.

"That says a lot for what is missing. It has to change otherwise the sport could start to lose its credibility."

Your Comments

CuoreRosso

""With four races to go he will head into the first of those this weekend wanting to win, the same for the next race in Japan." ...and I suppose the rest of the drivers are NOT going into races wanting to win...thanks for stating the obvious Mr Stewart."

F1_FREAK_666

"Full time stewards is a nice idea when it comes to consistency, but can you imagine the allegations that would fly about if they ever decided to penalise McLaren for anything? We would be eternally doomed to listen to people claiming they were secretly employed by FIAT or that Max Mosley was controlling them, and you can bet that Sir Jackie Stewart would likely be one of the first to suggest it. It's such a shame he couldn't just retire with dignity."

Buffy

"RichardW, please? I didn't imply relation to F1 but rather to the over used show references. Then brought it into an F1 environment. If people support the F1 show, they have already chosen their metphorical good guys and identified the evil do'ers. This is a show is it not? If people applied stringent business processes to F1, as Jackie Stewart et al are always calling for then F1 stops becoming a show and would turn into a business not a sport. I keep thinking of it being run a lot like Mclaren runs their business, heavily based on corporate guidelines and decision by commitee. I am not saying that it should not be subject to closer examination and regulation but I enjoy the debate aspect to F1. The irregularities, the wrong decisions, the favoritism to people and teams, the change of rules to benefit someone else. It is not fair but it all contributes to the show. I was only saying that we should respect the actors in the show, but only if they in turn respect the show itself. Put 2 people in a room and they will take sides and argue about politics and religon, put a third into the room and you will get a murder, either for in the name of politics or religon. We should be wary about introducing too many commitee safeguards as they are a breeding ground for factions and self interest to grow. "

All comments on this story