Hamilton admits human error cost him title

''My finger slipped on the steering wheel''

22/10/07 22:04

Zoom One touch of a button and all went downhill for Hamilton Lewis Hamilton has admitted that his bid for this year's Formula One Championship seemingly came to an end during the last race of the season following a moment of human error. "My finger slipped on the steering wheel and I accidentally pressed the button used for the starting sequence," Hamilton confided several hours after the event, according to Montreal's French-language daily newspaper La Presse. That error cut power to his McLaren for an interminable minute, dropping him down to 18th place as the Brazilian Grand Prix entered its eighth lap on the Interlagos circuit. "The car went into neutral and I had to reinitialize the system, that is, reload the gearbox management program," he explained. The onboard camera recorded images of Hamilton pressing several buttons on his steering wheel while other drivers sped by. Once his McLaren car was back up to speed, Hamilton would afterwards work his way back up to seventh place, two positions away from the necessary number of points that would have allowed him to be the first rookie World Champion. However, his title chances might not yet be over: the McLaren team has announced it will appeal the stewards' decision not to sanction the BMW Sauber and Williams teams for possibly using 'cool fuel' during the Brazilian GP, claiming that precise information was not available. If the FIA's Court of Appeal were to overturn the decision and sanction both teams with exclusion, that would remove drivers Nico Rosberg, Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld from the rankings and allow Lewis Hamilton to jump from seventh to fourth position in the race's final standings - thereby giving him enough points to become the 2007 World Champion. While McLaren have declared their motive is to support their drivers' best interests, Hamilton himself does not at all feel comfortable with the procedure. "Being promoted after some people have been thrown out is not the way I want to do it," he told Reuters. His thoughts also went to Ferrari driver and provisional title holder Kimi Raikkonen: "To have it taken away is a bit cruel and probably not good for the sport." Daniel BASTIEN © CAPSIS International

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