The 12-point world championship lead gained by Hamilton on his way to victory in the treacherous, torrential conditions at Fuji Speedway is at stake as Stewards are reviewing his erratic driving behind the safety car.
Just weeks after the conclusion of the Ferrari ’spygate’ affair Hamilton driving for McLaren-Mercedes team is accused of causing the crash that ended the involvement of Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel, casting more obstacles to his path of conquering the world title.
Red Bull’s Mark Webber has blamed the Englishman of doing a bad job and said,
Lewis did a great job in the race and deserved to win, but I’m not sure he did such a great job behind the safety car. Part of me wonders whether he showed a little bit of naivety, while part of me wonders whether he had a few tricks up his sleeve. I’d say it was probably a bit of both.
Adding fuel to the fire, Hamilton’s main championship rival and team-mate, Fernando Alonso backs Webber’s claims. Alonso also crashed out of the race on lap 41 prompting the reintroduction of the safety car which ultimately led to the controversial episode.
If held guilty, the sport’s world governing body, the FIA might inflict Hamilton a deficit of points gained at Japan or exclusion from Sunday’s Chinese Grand Prix, thereby opening doors to his championship rivals Alonso along with Kimi Raikkonen, who presently adrift 12 and 17 points, respectively.
The Briton, earlier hoping to be the first rookie driver to win the championship might simply end as a pathetic loser.
Hamilton’s alleged involvement, which was not captured by circuit cameras, was brought to light by Toro Rosso team principal Franz Tost, who approached the stewards in China yesterday after being made aware of a video of the incident on YouTube.
The regulations stipulate that under the safety car the drivers must line up in race order no more than five car lengths from the driver in front.
