Lewis accuses Massa of 'deliberately' hitting him

Monday 13th October 2008

Lewis Hamilton has accused title rival Felipe Massa of "deliberately" hitting him in Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix.

The two drivers tangled on the second lap of the grand prix as Hamilton moved up to take a position off Massa, forcing the Ferrari driver out wide.

Massa, though, wasn't going to give it up and came back at the McLaren man, cutting the chicane to nudging his MP4-23 into a spin. Ferrari team members were then shown on television to be celebrating wildly.

Massa was later hit with a drive-through penalty for the incident, which Hamilton believes was done with intent.

"He outbraked me so I didn't get past him on the way in," he said. "I did the corner normally and he can back very aggressively and hit him. I think that was pretty much as deliberate as can be."

The outcome of the race, though, has only strengthened Hamilton's resolve to win this year's World title, which he insists he is well on his way to doing as he still holds a five-point advantage in the Drivers' standings.

"There are positives to take," said the 23-year-old. "I've only lost two points to Felipe in the Drivers' Championship, so it is definitely not over.

"Now I will forget (the race) ever happened and move forward. We have got two more races to go and my target is still to win both of them.

"I'm still leading and we are going to win. My belief is as strong as ever. I'll learn from this and move on."

Massa, though, insists his collision with Hamilton was anything but malicious.

"I did not hit him deliberately," said the Ferrari driver. "I had two wheels in the gravel and couldn't stop. It was hard but fair."

Somewhat remarkably, Massa blamed Hamilton for the collision. "I could not stop the car and I was on the gravel because he pushed me into the gravel," he complained.

Related Stories:
Massa blames Hamilton and Bourdais
McLaren Unhappy With Massa And Stewards

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Your Comments

Speedwise

"As the Spanish proverb says: ¿El ladrón cree que todos son de su condición¿ translated to English would be something like: ¿The thief thinks that everybody is just like him¿."

m130efe

"rubymurray - If Hamilton is so much more talented than Massa and everyone else like you say, surely he would have wrapped up this years championship along time ago and probably won last year as well. So how come we have two races to go and he is only 5 points ahead?! pulmomed - If I remember correctly Massa did get penalised in Japan. He actually got the STANDARD penalty for causing a collision! JamesTheHunt - He probably hasn't been banned because the type of risky overtaking that Hamilton produces race after race are a regular occurrence in most of the lower categories of motorsport. I don't know if you've ever watched a GP2 race but there is overtaking at almost every corner and most of the moves aren't clean. It is meant to be the best, cleanest, tidiest drivers that make it into F1 but even you must admit that Hamiltons driving style isn't exactly clean and tidy! I like to see overtaking but as long as they are clean moves. These are supposed to be the best drivers in the world so they should be able to overtake without forcing other cars off the track or making someone take avoiding action otherwise they would crash. "

Robbie08

"Elvis beavis the race you are refering to where Kimi ran his own pitman down was also Valencia."

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