Lewis Hamilton in the Schu's of Controversy

Lewis Hamilton was disqualified from third place in the Australian Grand Prix after it was alleged that he gave misleading evidence to the stewards over the incident with Jarno Trulli behind the safety car.

Yet another incident in which Lewis Hamilton seems to have come off second best to the governing body. Although that isn’t to say it wasn’t deserved. However, it does seem as if incidents like this are following him around in his early career.

So when exactly did Lewis Hamilton take up Michael Schumacher’s crown of controversy?

It certainly wasn’t in his debut year for McLaren. Lewis Hamilton was the media darling in 2007, he could do no wrong in anyone’s eyes.

However, through last year something strange happened as he once again challenged for the championship. Almost equal to the rise of Michael Schumacher; perhaps it is these kind of people who will always cause the most debate, the driven people who will do almost anything to win; it certainly looks as if Hamilton has come from that mould.

Just look at these comparisons. Michael Schumacher didn’t come from a wealthy back ground, and nor did Lewis Hamilton but both ended up becoming protégé’s of Mercedes in one way and another through struggle and sheer determination.

The breakthrough early seasons for Schumacher were fairly innocuous but the clashes with the established champion Ayrton Senna in 1992 and ‘93 were only hints of the controversy to come.

Come 2007 and Hamilton started off astoundingly, but for all the good reasons you could imagine with nine consecutive podiums, but again the signs were there.

In Monaco of that year Lewis questioned whether the number two on the car meant he was also the number two in the team after being told not to challenge his team mate Alonso for victory and let’s not get into the Hungarian Grand Prix incident.

Then comes the first championship, 1994 becomes 2008. The best driver and team of the year fought all year by their rivals and more significantly by the governing body.

Obviously there were different circumstances, but in 1994 and 2008, Benetton and McLaren were both accused of cheating with the driving standards of their stars often being questioned as well. You also coincidentally get the same victory disqualification in Belgium handing the win to their main challenger.

Was this a case of the young upstarts challenging the establishment? The outright confidence that they were already the best and could do no wrong got up many people's noses and started a backlash.

Whatever it was it helped establish Schumacher as the most significant figure in Formula One, and its only helping Hamilton do the same.

Schumacher attracted controversy wherever he went, even when the governing body was seemingly on his side. However, every incident from Jerez ’97 to Monaco ’06 just made him stronger, more determined.

He could shut himself off and be confident of the fact that he was doing this to win and that was the only aim. Often he wouldn’t realise he’d done anything wrong, although many incidents are up for debate about whether they were just or not.

Hamilton seems to have that same focus and I for one say long may it continue. Whether he deliberately misled the stewards in Australia or not it doesn’t matter, these controversial hotspots are often ambiguous.

The main thing is you need these characters in Formula One, they create a focus for the sport and it seems Lewis has seamlessly stepped into the shoes of controversy, and every time something happens to him, it’ll only make him stronger, just like it did for Schumacher.

I’m not saying controversy is the overriding factor in their determination to win, but it is a part, no matter how small, always pushing those boundaries to the limit.

Who knows if these two drivers’ career paths will continue to follow along the same lines in terms of success, but at the moment where there’s controversy, they’ll be Hamilton, but perhaps in the long term it’ll help make him unstoppable. Just have a look at the results between 2000 and 2004.