10/09/2010
NEWS STORY
Lewis Hamilton has admitted that he's not impressed by the FIA's plan to take action against racers who get into trouble on public roads.
Earlier this week, the FIA announced that drivers must act as ambassadors for their sport and that any who got into trouble on public roads could face warnings or, at worst, have their racing licences suspended.
The decision comes weeks after Hamilton was fined for his antics as he left the Melbourne Park circuit earlier this year. While agreeing that he and his colleagues should be responsible and might be seen as role models by younger drivers, he was keen to point out that he is only human.
"My personal view I would probably keep to myself. It will be safer that way," he told reporters when asked his opinion on the FIA's announcement.
"Young kids look up to us in a sense that they think we are superheroes almost, but even Superman had weaknesses," he continued. "I contribute as much as I can to road safety, and more and more drivers are doing that, which is right. But what we do in our private life is our private life, and we are human at the end of the day.
"The FIA, or whoever is making the rules, will also be making mistakes. I'm sure Jean Todt has had a speeding ticket. We're all making mistakes and learning in our lives. For some people to take a much bigger penalty for one of those mistakes than others, it should be fair, equal to everyone.
"I don't think any one of us is going out and doing what we do on the racetrack," he continued. "We do it in a controlled environment. I go home and I drive back from the airport and I'm on the cruise control the whole time. It's the safest way to keep in the limit, because you can't be watching the dashboard the whole time, and of course that's come from certain experiences I've had and I've learned from it and that's good for me.
"But I don't feel that everything that I've worked for should be taken away from me for something that could be small, could be big. It depends really what you do."