Lewis Hamilton will tomorrow stride into the famous old motor-racing amphitheatre that is the Autodromo di Monza aware he could not have chosen a better setting to correct a perceived injustice.
Three days ago at the Belgian Grand Prix in Spa, Hamilton was on the receiving end of a dubious call by the race stewards that saw him stripped of a win two hours after taking the chequered flag.
Hamilton was handed a 25-second drive-through penalty for ’cutting a corner and claiming an advantage’ that relegated him from first to third, reducing his championship lead to a meagre two points.
McLaren have lodged an official appeal with the sport’s governing body, the FIA, and the matter is now due to be debated by lawyers at an International Court of Appeal hearing in the next fortnight.
As far as Hamilton is concerned, whilst there might be a degree of anger burning away inside, he has to let the matter rest and take the current championship situation as read going into this Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix.
If an appeal is initially admissible, and then McLaren do manage to win their protest, that is for another day, and Hamilton can go on to celebrate that at the appropriate time.
But with just five races remaining, Belgium has gone, and Hamilton has Ferrari’s Felipe Massa breathing down his neck in a title race threatening to become a bitter battle.
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