Over the weekend, in Sochi, Lewis Hamilton lost the Russian Grand Prix before it even started, for practicing his starts at the pit lane exit, which resulted in a 10-second penalty. Right after the race, he more or less accused the FIA of being out “to get” him, doing their darnest to slow him down.
Lewis Hamilton needs to take several seats. That’s the message from FIA itself, though not in these exact words.
The latest Formula One drama plays against Hamilton’s getting in trouble with officials for wearing a Breonna Taylor T-shirt before and after another F1 race, as part of his activism with the Black Lives Matter movement. It also comes in the context of him being more vocal about diversity and discrimination in the sport and elsewhere, and increased criticism for it.
At the time of the T-shirt incident, he was facing a potential internal investigation, but officials eventually decided against it. They did, however, issue new regulations of what drivers could and, more importantly, couldn’t wear during and after races so as to not fall into the “I’m here to make a political statement” trap. The FIA is not a political organization, so political statements at the races are off-limit. This includes calls to have the police officers involved in the Taylor case arrested.
Riding off the wave of that controversy and, presumably, before he got to go through all the details with his team, Hamilton went on camera right after Sochi and claimed, more or less, that he was being targeted. Being the only black driver in the sport, Hamilton has seen discrimination and double standards at play, he often says.
This was one of those cases. He called the 10-second penalty excessive because he’d done practice laps before in that area and never got as much as a warning. FIA was throwing obstacles in his path, trying to “stop him” and he, like a champ, would overcome all adversity like he always had. This is paraphrasing, of course, but that was the message in a nutshell.
Not really so, FIA’s F1 Race Director Michael Masi says in a statement. Hamilton may be special but he’s not that special, so the same rules that apply to all other drivers also apply to him. What happened to him in Sochi was a direct consequence of not following rules, not discrimination or some sort of witch-hunt.
Hamilton and his team failed to read the rule book, which included circuit-specific notes on practice start location. It’s as simple as that. That’s why he was able to do the same thing before and it wasn’t an issue, but now resulted in a penalty that put him in the third spot at the end of the race, costing him a near-sure win.
However, if Hamilton believes otherwise, he’s free to file a complaint.
“From my perspective it’s very simple that if Lewis wants to raise something – as I have said to him before and said to all the drivers numerous times – the door is always open,” Masi says in the statement. “I’m more than happy to discuss anything, but I think from an FIA perspective we are there as a sporting regulator to administer the regulations.”
Lewis Hamilton sees himself as a public figure with a massive following who can effectively change the world for the better, by speaking out on issues he cares about. And that’s exactly what he’s been doing so far, regardless of and against heavy criticism for bringing politics into the F1.
Still, there is a fine line between activism and playing the victim and, in FIA’s eyes, he crossed it.
Elena has been writing for a living since 2006 and, as a journalist, she has put her double major in English and Spanish to good use. She covers automotive and mobility topics like cars and bicycles, and she always knows the shows worth watching on Netflix and friends. Full profile
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