Three-time champion Jackie Stewart fuels flames following the race
Monday 8 September 2014 15:32, UK
Conspiracy theories dominated the back pages of Monday’s papers following Lewis Hamilton’s comeback victory at the Italian Grand Prix.
Twice Nico Rosberg missed the first chicane at Monza, allowing Hamilton to take the lead of the race - and provoking uproar on social media. It was deliberate! Adding to the clamour, however, was the voice of three-time World Champion Sir Jackie Stewart, who said: “I thought it was a bit too easy. I thought he could have at least made an effort to get round the corner. I first thought, ‘That’s wise’, because he knew it wasn’t a difficult thing to believe; the second time I thought: ‘Hello what’s going on here?’”
‘Fans vent fury over Hamilton’s ‘too easy’ return to winning ways’ was the headline on the back page of The Times.
‘Accusations were rife last night that Lewis Hamilton was handed victory at the Italian Grand Prix by his team-mate,’ Kevin Eason wrote.
‘Conspiracy theorists flooded social media with suggestions that this was payback for the infamous collision in Belgium a fortnight ago caused by Rosberg.’
However, dismissing the conspiracy theories he added: ‘It was a pity that such a crucial victory for Hamilton should be overshadowed yet again in a tumultuous season.’
The Daily Mail’s Jonathan McEvoy was equally dismissive likening the suggestions to claims the ‘King of Rock and Roll’ was still alive.
‘The notion that Lewis Hamilton did not win the Italian Grand Prix fair and square is about as believable as Elvis faking his own death. Both can be found in the file under ‘f’ for far-fetched,’ he wrote.
‘The TV camera caught Mercedes boss Toto Wolff smiling on the pit wall. The cynics took this as a sign that he had ordered Rosberg to give way to make up for having crashed into Hamilton in the previous race in Spa, and was delighted to see the crafty plan carried out so adroitly.
'Why go to such lengths to fix the result when there are so many easier ways of doing it? They could have issued an order over the radio or fumbled a pit stop?
‘In the total absence of evidence of a foul play, I would rather give credit to Hamilton for the stridency of his driving that forced the mistake from the usually unflappable Rosberg.’
The Telegraph didn’t buy into the speculation either with Daniel Johnson writing that ‘NASA faking the moon landings seemed a more plausible proposition than the conspiracy theory orbiting Lewis Hamilton’s victory in the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday.’
However, in The Independent, Kevin Garside was not as sceptical. ‘Rosberg’s error yesterday was ascribed to the pressure applied by Hamilton, the kind of pressure he has proved beautifully adept at handling hitherto,’ he wrote.
‘There is a calculating quality to Rosberg’s work and a ruthless cynicism that has prompted dubious behaviour but rarely the kind of rookie error that befell him on Sunday. Pressure? He was sitting on a lead of 29 points before he went off. At that juncture he could afford to see Hamilton rattle off four wins in a row and still lead the championship.’
Garside went on to liken the events to the 2007 finale in Brazil when McLaren, who had been fined and disqualified from the Constructors’ Championship over the ‘spy-gate’ scandal, suffered a temporary electrical failure on Hamilton’s car which handed the title to Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen.
‘I was immediately transported back seven years to the Brazilian Grand Prix, where, needing to finish fifth or higher to claim the world championship on debut, Hamilton’s McLaren suddenly conked out down the back straight before, some 13 seconds later, mysteriously firing up again,’ he added.
‘A glitch said the engineers, offering high-powered expertise that was impossible to counter. It was the bad back of injury excuses, plausible but beyond the reach of proof.
‘This was the year, you might recall, when McLaren had been hit by a record £50 million fine for receiving and disseminating among key engineers a dossier of Ferrari technical secrets. The sport could do without a team penalised for cheating on an industrial scale winning the championship, thank you very much.’
Tensions between Hamilton and Rosberg also got a mention in the papers as things continued to simmer between the title protagonists.
‘Felipe Massa thought he was ushered into the tiny ante room to prepare to collect his trophy for third place, but found himself acting as unofficial chaperone to the pair of warring team-mates,’ wrote Eason.
‘They looked up, they looked down, they waved to familiar faces in the crowd – anything to avoid eye contact until they finally cracked, clinked champagne bottles and took a swig. Hostilities are officially over, but the tension fizzed and popped like the victor’s bubble.’
McEvoy added: ‘The two Mercedes drivers stayed apart in the ante-room prior to the presentations. Rosberg spoke to third-placed Felipe Massa in Italian, while Hamilton faced the wall.
‘Jean Alesi, conducting the podium interviews, asked Hamilton if he and Rosberg are now friends. As he answered unconvincingly, the Briton put his arm around Rosberg, who looked uncomfortable as his rival did so.’
