It would be remiss of me not to have an opinion on the running turmoil between Lewis Hamilton and his Mercedes boss Toto Wolff who took a jaundiced view of the ex-champion’s tactics and disobedience in an effort to deprive teammate Nico Rosberg of a debut world crown in the crucial final showdown in Abu Dhabi.
And at the risk of denting a friendship of decades with legend and three times champ Sir Jackie Stewart, as well as needling the Mercedes hierarchy, who all severely criticised Hamilton, I fully back the driver’s stance in defence of his status and the outside chance of a fourth championship.
My lambast at the pitlane powers behind the scenes is nothing to do with patriotism or national pride in support of the greatest British driver in the history of grand prix racing, it is founded on a natural, and professional, wish to watch racers given full backing to be just that … racers.
I honestly don’t recall ever having heard as many ludicrous suggestions that Hamilton should be sacked, fined, banned, ordered to stand in a corner of the garage or whatever, for only doing his job as justification for his £30m-a-year (Dh138.2 million) salary and his basic and relentless drive to be a winner every time he sits behind the wheel.
For goodness sake!! It is his contractual duty to strive to win and he owes it also to the millions of grand prix fans right around the world who want to see genuine, honest effort and action and not an ordered, orderly parade of non-triers or pushovers willing to give way to pathetic and misguided instructions from the pit wall.
That surely is the right and privilege of watchers and competitors alike. And for my old mate Sir Jackie to dub Hamilton a “ballerina”, like some spoiled diva, is, in my honest opinion, a total misconception and I am taken aback by the Scot’s outburst.
Reflex responses and subsequent and resultant action do, of course, play a considerable role in racing and here is where I opt to make excuses for Toto Wolff, usually a cool headed clear thinker, a bit refrigerated really, whose slamming of Hamilton could well have been an off-the-cuff blast without his usual level of calmness and eloquence.
It is significant that in the aftermath of his apparent anger at Hamilton’s downright refusal to obey instructions and, rather, go for it in his own style with delaying ploys in the hope that chasing drivers might overtake and swamp Rosberg into a non-championship-winning position down the field, Wolff has held his tongue.
That is not to say he or Mercedes won’t, after all, penalise Hamilton for his keenness and wish to retain his title, but good sense should prevail and, as it is generally regarded, having a skilled, genuine and committed driver in your car has to be the essence of success in the offing.
That is an aspect of competition at its toughest and most ferocious that you do not punish ...
In other words: come on Herr Wollf and Mercedes, let recent bygones be bygones. Give Hamilton credit, not condemnation, for his complete and utter honesty of endeavour.
Like the true champion he is…..
