Lewis Hamilton blows title chase in Montreal

Lewis Hamilton has been superb throughout this weekend going into Montreal as hot favourite for a) the track suited the Mclarens and BMWs much more than it did favours to the untamable beast of a car that the F2008 is b) Montreal is where Hamilton historically won his first Grand Prix thus the extra motivation to make history yet again!

Pole position in hand, getting down to business, kicking off this GP unchallenged with Kubica and Raikkonen in his rear view mirrors at all times, becoming little blips of insignificance as Hamilton was displaying his majestic pace on a circuit that could be renamed after him had he been Canadian in the first place; leaving his opponent behind fighting for second place whilst cruising to a potential victory something that he fools us spectator to think it is so easy to do; when in fact it takes beyond the average human-being's focus and capabilities to achieve is ever so impressive of this young talent as well! 

Everything was going to plan and better for Mr diamond until lap fourteen, leading the pack with 6.8 seconds ahead of would-be winner Kubica in the bank, Hamilton was dead-set on making a double big time; however Adrian Sutil's crash literally wrecked Hamilton's celebrations and post race party plan thanks to the safety car deployment.

If this was bad news for the Mclaren lead driver, worse was still to come. In one of the most memorable blunder of the season, Hamilton somehow did not spot the red light at the end of the pitlane was on. So he carried on straight through as normal; had it been in different circumstances Hamilton would have inherited a hefty 10 secs penalty for that.

However Lewis got himself in more trouble he could bargain, for Kubica and Raikkonen were dead-stop at the end of the pit lane waiting for the green light to get back to business... However as events would have it, splits seconds after leaving the Mclaren terminal, as millions of spectator around the world witnessed Lewis Hamilton unduely crashed into Kimi Raikkonen, but not Kubica, which in essence is not much of a surprise because considering the driver standings before the race (Hamilton: 38 points, Raikkonen35 Kubica 32) choosing the lesser of two evils, it was all the more strategic to take out Raikkonen than Kubica for a) the iceman is a much tougher challenge to beat at other venues altogether with the F2008 package he is befitted with b) Kubica and BMW are somehow seen as a lesser threat than the Ferraris by Mclaren (an opinion that I the writer personally do not share).

Therefore  why did not Kimi Raikkonen had a go at Hamilton? why did not the Iceman respond the way a James Hunt or Nelson Piquet Sr would have done? How on earth after being taken out by his main rival could Raikkonen find the inner peace to pat Lewis on the back? literally letting him off the hook!!

I can only presume the iceman must have asked LH where on earth did he take driving lessons? for when you come to a T-Junction or traffic lights and cars are dead stopped, you must slow down and come to a stop rather than trying to push people out of the way...

Anyhow Raikkonen was not angry at Hamilton; far from it and here is the reason: Montreal's high downforce made this GP more suited to Mclaren spec-car; yet Hamilton by taking  himself out and the iceman in the process blew Mclaren's chance of scoring key manufacturer's points and it blew Lewis title chase as well  for he could not capitalise on the opportunity afforded to him and the woking outfit this weekend, missing the chance to increase his lead over Kimi was a strategic blow which will be felt even further considering Hamilton will now face a 10 place grid demotion coming into the French GP as a result of his actions.

It gets worse with BMW looking stronger than ever in both championships, Mclaren and Lewis Hamilton will have to fight harder than ever. Furthermore the next rounds of tracks will be more often than not suited to the F2008's advantage, that Raikkonen did not need to undertake a rocket science degree to figure out; as a matter of fact the iceman probably celebrated in the Ferrari garage in the full knowledge that Lewis Hamilton and Mclaren will be sitting ducks for the ever mighty apex predator that Ferrari has groomed in the shape of the F2008 package.

Furthermore this incident in the pitlane has all the more consequences for the rest of the season because pace alone is not enough to clinch a world championship title (both championships by the way). Strategy is the key, pace is a component of it; yet strategically speaking today Raikkonen won over Hamilton regardless of the driver standings at present; and that also explains why Lewis was literally in no mood to take Kimi's pat on the back after the incident, see how Hamilton shoved the iceman aside; disgraceful? not exactly, disgruntled is how Lewis felt, just goes to show doesn't it?

In restrospect Mclaren will have a huge task on their hands if they're serious about keeping their hopes for the manufacturer's championship; with BMW scoring a whooping 18 points on the back of Robert Kubica's first ever GP win and Nick Heidfeld finishing second thenceforward the historic one-two as well.

Both championship have been reshuffled; if it was not for Massa scoring those four manufacturer points for Ferrari BMW would have re-taken the lead in the constructor's championship!

In closing I am adamant Kimi Raikkonen will be unleashed in two weeks time at Magny Cours which will see the resurgence of the CHAMP! Despite Felipe Massa's three points lead over him in the drivers standings, the iceman will be on the hunt for some pay-back, having indirectly slowed Hamilton's title chase, Kubica will be next on the menu of the ever hungry F2008;

In the interest of competition over total domination let's just hope BMW and the pole driver can come up with something against the ever awe-inspiring scuderia!!!