The rise of Formula 1 in the headlines over the past 18 months has been quite extraordinary.
The presence of Lewis Hamilton, one of the best British drivers for a very long time, is no doubt a primary reason for this.
But it’s the controversy that follows F1 even between race days. Sure, at race weekends, the attention is on the beautiful cars, the wonderful circuits and the exciting races, but it seems that rarely does a week pass without incident.
This week, it centres around the finishing position of Hamilton, who has now been stripped totally of any points he earned at the opening race weekend in Melbourne.
Hamilton drove superbly to earn a fourth place finish, not bad considering he started 18th, with Jarno Trulli taking third place (Brawn GP duo Jenson Button and Reubens Barrichello finished first and second).
Not long after the race, and the podium celebrations, an appeal from McLaren saw Trulli stripped of his podium, and moved down to a 12th placed finish, moving Hamilton in to third.
But investigations showed that McLaren or Hamilton had lied to race investigators, and Hamilton was stripped of his points finish and Trulli re-instated to third place.
It’s been a torrid few weeks for Hamilton, and he will be hoping to put it behind him by doing all his talking on the track. It would be nice to have a Grand Prix where everything is decided on race weekend in Malaysia this weekend.
