The Big Spanky, v3
Should Perhaps Lew Ham Consider Skipping Out on Racing at Albert Hall Altogether?
Some blokes simply never learn …
One would believe that McLaren driver and former F1WC Lewis Hamilton would simply hug his British Typhoon fighter jet close to the deck as he approached the Australian continent, fly under the radar, and strike his target without notice.
Nah …
One year after McLaren’s embarrassing screw-up at Australia involving the fast one pulled over Toyota’s Jarno Trulli, and Hamilton’s even more humiliating turning the corner on his own team after the stewards point the dirty stick at him, the at times petulant ace again steps in the bucket after a disappointing Albert Hall result. Lew Ham’s 2010 complaints do nothing but sully his otherwise compelling race brand and the impressive victory by teammate Jenson Button.
What’s the beef? Nothing, really. To wit, Red Bull, Ferrari, and Hamilton, all racing on intermediates due to the damp track conditions, easily bested Button in the early stages at Australia. McLaren in reaction made a bet on a drying racing line and brought Button in early for fresh hard rubber. Button caught everyone out with his move, and then wisely nursed his tires in midrace in order to save the same for a strong finish. Hamilton, on the other hand, stripped clean both his hard and soft tire sets on two separate runs in his desperate attempt to catch the leaders.
Hamilton loosed his sniping comments during the postrace session, calling foul over the fact that the team imposed two stops on him compared to Button’s one, and that such a decision cost him a chance at victory. Such a reaction by Hamilton was both rash and irrational. McLaren had the perfect chance to study the performance of two differing tire compounds, given the early suffering of Button. Why not risk a new strategy with Button? Why risk putting both cars on the Button tire strategy, if the same turned out a bust? As for Lew Ham, why blame the team for your misforture? Once the Button tire strategy proved true, you were a cooked goose. McLaren’s decision forced you into a pressing race that doomed both you and your tires to failure. No other way around it, chum.
By over-reacting to McLaren’s real-time experiment, and wholly forgetting that the mercurial lucky horseshoe will surely turn your way and against Button on a future day, you deserve this week’s Big Spanky! Ugh!
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