SPA-GATE: Lewis Hamilton Loses Appeal

Lewis Hamilton leaving the appeal hearing at FIA headquarters in Paris

What a total injustice, penalised for basically FOLLOWING THE RULES!!!!!

Sunday September 7th, the world watched as both Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen came towards the Bus Stop chicane to complete lap 40, with Raikkonen struggling to cope with the increasingly difficult conditions, Hamilton began to excel with his McLaren Mercedes better suited to wet weather driving, seeing Raikkonen brake early for the Bus Stop chicane, Hamilton saw his opportunity on the outside of the corner, it was a fair move and Raikkonen did the right thing in forcing Hamilton as wide as possible, this therefore forced Hamilton to short cut the chicane. Now the real talking point.

Hamilton popped out in front of Raikkonen, meaning he had to relinquish his lead to abide by the current rules and regulations, and he did that, allowing Raikkonen to regain his lead. Now under the rules, once Hamilton did that, they could immediately resume racing, so as soon as Raikkonen had resumed a full cars length advantage, Hamilton went for it, darting onto the inside of La Source catching Raikkonen out cold, and regained the lead he relinquished.

Now my main complaints are these. Firstly, the issue of GAINING AN ADVANTAGE that was brought up by the stewards when they gave Hamilton his 25 second penalty, now where in the rule book does it say that the driver has gained an advantage AFTER relinquishing his position, surely once the offendign driver has given the lead back, the advantage is with the man out in front.
And secondly, the role of the race director, Charlie Whiting, a man with 11 years experience in his role and many more as an FIA technical delegate, so his opinions on such matters are highly valued in my view. When Hamilton made the move on Raikkonen, McLaren boss Ron Dennis radioed Whiting and asked if Hamilton's move had complied with the rules, and Whiting said "YES", now why was'nt his view on the incident used by the Stewards or better still, WHY IS WHITING (being the race director) NOT A STEWARD HIMSELF??

Basically, i think in making this decision to rule in favour of the Stewards, the FIA have basically re-written the rulebook overnight, and also, i fear this wont be the last time the FIA will act against Hamilton before the end of the season.