Formula One faced familiar accusations of shooting itself in the foot on Monday after McLaren's Lewis Hamilton was stripped of a sensational Belgian Grand Prix win. “This is the worst judgement in the history of F1,” fulminated former champion and television commentator Niki Lauda after race stewards handed McLaren's championship leader a retrospective 25-second penalty that dropped him to third place. “It's absolutely unacceptable when three (stewards) influence the championship like this,” the Austrian told German reporters. After a processional European Grand Prix in Valencia, and against a backdrop of concern about the lack of thrills and overtaking, Hamilton's winner-takes-all duel with Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen in Spa had given the sport exactly what it wanted. The fans left hailing a stirring Hamilton victory only to find out hours later that Ferrari's Felipe Massa was the victor. Britain's tabloid newspapers bellowed an entirely predictable chorus of outrage, after what had been hailed as one of the greatest wins of the 23-year-old Briton's career. “Just when you thought F1 couldn't get any more ridiculous..,” declared the Daily Mail in a back page headline. “Instead of celebrating one of the greatest duels of recent times, revelling in true genius by Raikkonen and Hamilton and lauding a remarkable win, that same old stench emanated from Formula One,” said the Daily Mirror in a race report. Hamilton was penalized after he cut the chicane in the heat of battle with Raikkonen and emerged ahead of the Finn. Although he let the Ferrari regain the lead on the straight, he then immediately emerged from its slipstream to overtake. Raikkonen was struggling in the wet and Hamilton would undoubtedly have passed him further down the road had he waited longer, but stewards ruled nonetheless that he had gained an advantage in that incident. McLaren has said it intends to appeal but whether or not it can do so remains to be decided by the governing International Automobile Federation (FIA) with a date yet to be set for any hearing. That will mean Hamilton heading to Monza next weekend for Ferrari's home Grand Prix, and the last race in Europe this year, with only a two-point lead over the Italian team's Brazilian Massa. If Massa wins in front of the massed ranks of Ferrari fans, he could take the lead in the championship only to have it taken away again on appeal if McLaren is successful. Last season was also dominated by off-track action. McLaren was stripped of all its points and fined $100 million by the FIA after a festering spying controversy over Ferrari data in its possession. Then, after a battle that went down to the wire with Raikkonen taking the title by a single point, fans went away from the final race in Brazil unsure who was champion pending a McLaren appeal. For Hamilton, the only thing to do is beat the Ferrari on its home turf and keep ahead of it to the end of the championship. “It is just going to be a very tough fight but I will do everything I can to make sure I come to the next race just as strong, if not stronger,” he said before the stewards' verdict. “I know I can get stronger, so we as a team are going to do that and we are going to keep on improving.” – Reuters __
