23/09/2013
NEWS STORY
Mat Coch writes:
While Lewis Hamilton said he was "shocked" to see Mark Webber hitching a ride back to the pits with Fernando Alonso following yesterday's Singapore Grand Prix, he also labelled the gesture "cool."
Webber was forced out of the race on the final lap when his Renault engine caught fire. The team had noticed a water leak with twelve laps remaining and asked the Australian to short-shift to help preserve the engine for the final few laps. It finally cried enough a third of the way around the final lap, leaving Webber stranded out on track.
Having climbed from his Red Bull security footage broadcast to the media showed Webber jogging down the escape road as cars returned to the pits at the end of the race. The two-time Monaco winner then flagged down Fernando Alonso and climbed aboard the Ferrari in what many considered a fine sporting gesture.
Nico Rosberg passed the Ferrari to the left just metres away from Webber as he climbed on to the car while moments later Lewis Hamilton was forced over the kerb to avoid the world's fastest taxi.
"I went to the right of him," Hamilton said after the race. "I was doing my in-lap, came around the corner and Fernando was there. I was really shocked.
"If Mark had been walking across where I went then I would have run him over," he added. "Fortunately that wasn't the case."
Alonso and Webber were subsequently handed reprimands for the incident, Weber's third of the year meaning he will take a 10-place grid penalty for the Korean Grand Prix in two weeks' time.
Coupled with the less than warm reception for Sebastian Vettel on the podium it left a sour taste in the mouth of many on a day where sporting gestures were punished rather than applauded.
Although shocked, Hamilton approved of Alonso's decision to stop to pick up his mate. "It's cool," he said. "There have been times where I've driven past someone else who has stopped and wished I'd stopped.
"It's good for the fans to see and, as long as it's done in a safe manner – you don't stop on the racing line – then maybe it should be allowed."
Christian Horner agreed. "One of the most iconic images I can remember is of Nigel Mansell giving Ayrton Senna a lift home at Silverstone in 1991.
"On this occasion it was good for the show, it was good TV," he added. "What's a shame is that it's ended up in a reprimand."
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and if you thought that was bad...
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