Monday, June 11, 2007

RISE OF THE "BLACK PEARL"

Lewis Hamilton, 22, the first black driver in Formula One history, added his first F1 victory to an already remarkable career start by winning the crash-filled Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal on Sunday. Hamilton started from the pole, also for the first time. Apart from losing the lead for three laps when he made his first of two pit stops, he led all the way and was never challenged. The youngster has six consecutive top-three finishes in six starts, something no other first-year F1 driver has accomplished. The only one to give the Mercedes McLaren driver any competition during the 70-lap race on Circuit Gilles Villeneuve's 2.71-mile road course was BMW Sauber's Nick Heidfeld. He chased Hamilton all day without catching him. The only thing that kept the race close at all was accidents — four full-course caution flags that wiped out the leads Hamilton built with seeming ease. He kept winning the restarts though and beat Heidfeld to the finish by 4.3 seconds. It was a stunningly calm performance from the Rookie driver as Championship rivals Fernando Alonso, Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen all found some or the other impediment. The Canadian event was all messed up with accidents & penalties & the only 2 drivers who sustained the track were Hamilton (Mc Laren) & Nick Heidfield (BMW Sauber). With timings getting close for Hamilton, controversy were not far behind.

Villeneuve slammed Hamilton's aggressive starts in Britain's Autosport magazine this week. When will these chopping moves (cutting to the sides) stop?" Villeneuve told the magazine. "Lewis is not getting penalized for these things and his behavior off the start line has started to look like Michael used to." Films of the starts haven't shown any dangerous moves by the rookie, other than two weeks ago in Monaco, where everyone jostles for position because overtaking on the track is next to impossible. Hamilton surprised at the controversy said, “He has a right to his opinions," Hamilton said. "I respect that. But this is racing. If I was cutting across so there was a chance of taking them out, I would totally agree, but that's not been the case in any of the races.”
Besides this there are some anger, which the rookie had to keep buried in him just after the Monaco event where Double world champion Fernando Alonso won the showcase race ahead of the Briton after Ron Dennis (Mc Laren Team’s Boss) told them effectively not to race each other after the first pitstop to safeguard a one-two finish. The question was Hamilton & why not Alonso? The reason later stated to Hamilton was that he was the No. 2 driver for the team. Not only this. Mclaren got into difficult waters after FIA set a probe as to what exactly happened that the rookie made way for the reigning champ to get away with Monaco (perhaps the most coveted track any F1 driver would dream of winning some day). There was a similar case earlier when Rubens Barichello (then standing for Team Ferrari, now starring for HONDA) had to make way for Schumacher. That decision had triggered questions about so-called 'team orders', banned by the governing FIA after the infamous Austrian Grand Prix of 2002 when Ferrari ordered Brazilian Rubens Barrichello to let Michael Schumacher win.

Dennis said his conscience was clear. "We don't have team orders, we had a strategy to win this race," he said. "I make no excuses for instructing the racing drivers to slow their pace after the first stop and to effect our strategy. On the contrary, Hamilton had qualified with a far heavier fuel load than Alonso -- a tactical move that would have won him (Alonso) the race had the safety car come out and given an advantage to those able to make only one stop. In the end, the safety car stayed in. Despite celebrating his fifth podium in five races, the Briton fuelled the flames by saying he had number two on his car and was the team's number two driver. Dennis denied Alonso was favoured and said McLaren had only ever manipulated a race in exceptional circumstances. But just before acquiring pole for the Canadian Grand prix, he made it clear that he was no Rubens & the next time such an order comes his way, he will no more be a part of McLaren.
Alonso now leads the standings on race wins, level with Hamilton on 38 points. Despite celebrating his fifth podium in five races, the 22-year-old Briton fuelled the flames by saying he had number two on his car and was the team's number two driver.
It would be interesting to see how does the Spaniard (Alonso) reverts to all these in due time. He has proved his mettle but no doubt is facing perhaps the toughest guy on he track as on today.

1 comment:

siddhartha said...

well i dont understand F1 tht much,but enjoyed reading,,,specially the lines Dennis said his conscience was clear. "We don't have team orders, we had a strategy to win this race," he said. "I make no excuses for instructing the racing drivers to slow their pace after the first stop and to effect our strategy....were inspiring....!!!!!!!!!!!1