Humility is a virtue

Bernie lets fly
F1 chief slams Ferrari boss for 'circus' remark

LONDON: Bernie Ecclestone has given Ferrari a tight slap across their red faces for criticising the Singapore Grand Prix, his 'night-race baby'. 'If the Ferrari president is right about the Singapore GP being a circus,' the Formula One supremo told The Daily Mail, 'then we have to be grateful to him for providing the clowns.'

'If the Ferrari president is right about the Singapore GP being a circus, then we have to be grateful to him for providing the clowns.' The Sept 28 race was a complete fiasco for the Italian giants. Felipe Massa was allowed to drive away from the pits with the refuelling hose still attached to his car. It was a mistake that not only ruined his race - he finished 13th despite starting from pole - but may also have also handed the title to McLaren's Lewis Hamilton, who finished third to open a seven-point lead at the top of the drivers' standings.

Massa's teammate, reigning world champion Kimi Raikkonen, also crashed into a barrier, which meant he had not scored a point from his last four races.

Rather than address the shortcomings his team showed in Singapore, Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo condemned F1's first night race, which had received nothing but praise from the rest of the world. 'When we race on tracks which should be used for a circus, anything can happen,' di Montezemolo had said. 'This is humiliating for F1.'

But Ecclestone pointed out that the humiliation belonged only to Ferrari.

'After the weekend Ferrari had, their president should have shut up and kept his head down,' the Briton said. 'If Massa loses the World Championship, he will know Ferrari were responsible.
'The mistakes in Singapore have swung the championship in Hamilton's favour. Seven points is a healthy lead with three races left - and Ferrari will be feeling the pressure now. Lewis has shown us for the last two years how strong he is.'

He also condemned the elaborate electronic system Ferrari use in the pits instead of the more familiar 'lollipop' man, which all the other teams use. 'Why do you want to have some other piece of technology that can go wrong? It's over the top,' he said.

While the Singapore GP would have taught Ferrari not to blame others for their own mistakes, Hamilton has also come away with valuable lessons of his own. Trapped behind David Coulthard's slower Red Bull for 24 laps after a safety-car interruption jumbled the order by causing drivers to pit out of sequence, Hamilton had to teach himself the art of restraint.
With Massa's problems in the pits, the 23-year-old Briton knew it was important to pick up points to extend his lead instead of going all out for a win and risk crashing.

'Once you get in the car, it can be hard to stop the instincts you have been developing since you were eight years old. But I actually think Singapore was a good learning experience,' Hamilton said. 'I hate driving for points, but I think we can all see the benefit of that approach at the moment.'

The next race is the Japanese Grand Prix at Fuji on Sunday, which Hamilton dominated last season despite extremely poor weather conditions.

The rain was so heavy that drivers had to follow a safety car for the first 19 laps.
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Read this in the papers. what a solid punch to the self-ballooning ego of Mr M, the president.

plse learn from the Humility of Hamilton, Mr M

well said, bernie

later will be a running time for me again, finally. yeh