Bernie Ecclestone has leapt to Lewis Hamilton’s defence amid criticism of the 2008 world champion’s recent driving tactics.
Commentators including Niki Lauda have harshly criticised the 26-year-old for his recent aggressive driving, including crashes and controversy at the most recent grands prix in Monaco and Canada.

But F1 chief executive Ecclestone insisted: “People have been wrong to rubbish Lewis.

“What we want is people racing, and all the people who watch it want that,” he told the Independent.

Hamilton’s boss Martin Whitmarsh also urged Hamilton, who collided with his teammate Jenson Button in Montreal, to keep racing rather than worrying too much about crashing.

“If he holds hold back for fear of having contact then he won’t be the great racer he is and do the job he has to do,” said the McLaren team principal.

Former F1 driver Jos Verstappen wrote in his De Telegraaf newspaper column that the criticisms of Hamilton in recent days have been “exaggerated”.

“He has had two unfortunate races, but each incident must be viewed separately,” said the Dutchman. “In Monaco with Felipe Massa, he did something stupid.

“But the collision with Button last Sunday was not Hamilton’s fault. I could understand his overtaking attempt there and Button could have given him more space.

“Despite all the commotion Hamilton is a great driver. He just needs to empty his head now and get luck back on his side,” said Verstappen.

Christian Klien thinks there is no chance Hamilton will change any time soon.

“He is just a very aggressive driver; a thoroughbred,” the Austrian told Red Bull television Servus TV. “We (F1) need that and it’s because of that many races are so exciting.”

Rubens Barrichello is still confident that he is set to extend his record-longest formula one career into a 19th consecutive season.

At Spa-Francorchamps in two weeks, the Brazilian will celebrate an unprecedented 300th grand prix, but currently he is only contracted to keep racing until his 306th career race in November.

However, the signs are strong that the famous British team Williams is planning an unchanged driver lineup for 2011.

“We have been working together on the 2011 car,” the 38-year-old is quoted by the Brazilian press.

“So I think the (contract) renewal is a natural process,” said Barrichello.

The winner of 11 grands prix said the Grove based team has benefitted from their collaboration so far.

“The team has used me in the best possible way. With Williams we have 100 per cent confidence in talking about the car now.

“From the moment we have chosen this way, especially in the wind tunnel, everything has improved,” said the former Jordan, Stewart, Ferrari and Brawn driver.

“It is hard to say when Williams will win again, but the trend this year has been very noticeable.

“The greatest pride is that my information has not only served me, but my teammate (Nico Hulkenberg) as well. We are on the right track,” said Barrichello.

Meanwhile, while the F1 world railed against Michael Schumacher’s aggressive driving in Hungary recently, Williams’ Sam Michael said the move was more indicative of Barrichello’s form.

“From my perspective, it just proved to everyone how completely committed Rubens is,” said the Grove based team’s technical director.

Whilst being checked by doctors in Valencia’s medical centre on Sunday, Mark Webber and Heikki Kovalainen shook hands.

Webber’s Red Bull had backflipped spectacularly at full speed after hitting the back of Kovalainen’s slower Lotus, before ploughing headfirst into a tyre barrier.

Pundits immediately said Finn Kovalainen should have let Webber pass, due to the big speed difference between their cars.

“In the end the thing that surprised me was how early he braked, that’s the thing which caught me out,” Webber told the BBC.

He was slightly critical of Kovalainen’s “aggressive” driving, but said the real reason for the crash was the difference between the cars.

“It turns out it’s about 80 metres before I braked for the previous lap so I mean it’s a different category,” said Webber.

Also to the BBC, Kovalainen said he thought Webber was “surprised how early I had to brake”, but in a press release said he must have “missed his braking point and he ran into me”.

Formula one drivers remain unimpressed with the design of Bridgestone’s 2010 tyre.

Up and down pitlane, ‘getting these tyres to work’ is the enigmatic and universal question, which for some teams and drivers is more of a problem than elsewhere.

Ferrari’s Felipe Massa, for example, needs warm weather, a soft tyre compound and an abrasive track surface to be as quick as his teammate Fernando Alonso.

“It has little to do with racing when you are so dependent on the tyres,” the Brazilian is quoted by Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport.

He is frustrated that some of his rivals, like McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton, have the Bridgestone’s working “on the first flying lap”.

Nico Rosberg said in Canada that his problem was getting the car to work with the tyres, and even teammate Michael Schumacher’s vast experience of 256 grands prix is not providing the answer.

“These tires are a puzzle that is very difficult to work out,” said the Mercedes driver.

Schumacher added: “Often it changes from day to day, due to one or two factors.”

It is believed the issue is the design of the tyre carcass, much stiffer than in the past in order to prevent the type of problem experienced by Michelin at Indianapolis in 2005.

But it means some drivers have trouble getting the tyre up to temperature.

“You can see quite clearly that Hamilton’s aggressive driving style means he can get the tyres working more easily than Button can,” said Mercedes team boss Ross Brawn.
(GMM)

Martin Whitmarsh has confirmed that a failed wheel rim caused Lewis Hamilton to crash on the penultimate lap of last weekend’s Spanish grand prix.

Shortly after the Briton’s sudden tyre deflation, the McLaren team boss speculated that “debris” rather than an actual tyre problem probably caused the accident.

Bridgestone’s initial analysis was similar, but it did not stop some pundits from hinting that Hamilton’s aggressive driving style might have been a contributing factor.

But the damaged parts were returned to Woking for analysis on Monday, and Whitmarsh confirmed on Tuesday that a wheel rim failure looks the likely cause.

“The rim failure is being investigated,” he told reporters during a teleconference.

“It could be debris related, it could be an issue of deflection, or it could be a lack of tightness in the wheel nut, which allowed some flexing.

“What we know is the rim failed, probably human error somewhere in the process caused it, and that led to a deflation and the accident,” Whitmarsh added.

Lewis Hamilton needs to temper his aggression if he wants to add another title to his tally.

That is the claim of Joan Villadelprat, the F1 veteran who is bidding to bring his Le Mans team Epsilon Euskadi onto the grand prix grid next year.

He also writes a column in the Spanish newspaper El Pais.

“Lewis Hamilton needs to calm down a bit to get the most out of his potential,” wrote Villadelprat.

“For me, he is one of the top three drivers in formula one, on the level of Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso.”

Whilst running second in Barcelona and eyeing second place in the drivers’ championship, Hamilton suffered a tyre failure and crashed.

McLaren believes debris caused the problem, but even Hamilton was amazed that he has suffered more tyre failures since debuting in 2007 “than most people have in their whole lifetime”.

Villadelprat added: “I’m not saying what was the cause of his problem on Sunday.  But his history has shown that as a result of aggressive driving, he is one of the drivers who most consumes his tyres.

“And now that the tyres must withstand runs in excess of 50 laps, it can cause many problems,” said the Spaniard.

(GMM)

Last summer, Formula One standout Juan Pablo Montoya announced that he will be competing on the NASCAR races. During his announcement he said that he was excited to bring his aggressive style of driving to the motorsport.

In Formula One, Montoya cemented his reputation as one of the most aggressive professional race car drivers today. While his skills combined with his unique style made him one of the most talented drivers today, he seems to be having trouble making friends in NASCAR as his aggressive style of driving seems to be rubbing his fellow NASCAR drivers the wrong way.

While NASCAR racing is more aggressive than Formula One, there is a limit to one’s aggressiveness on the tracks. And that is what Montoya is still trying to find out. Currently, the Colombian driver has already wreaked havoc on his fellow drivers with the season just starting. In Mexico, Montoya accidentally forced his teammate, Scott Pruett, off the road at the road race in the Busch Series. The road race saw Montoya securing his first win in the new field that he has entered. He has also reportedly “annoyed” Jeff Gordon in Atlanta. Montoya also ran into Ryan Newman and Tony Raines at Martinsville. Aside from those incidents, Juan Pablo Montoya also managed to annoy two-time Nextel Cup Champion Tony Stewart as he tangles with him at the recently concluded Samsung 500 which happened in Texas.

In response to the criticism that he receives over his aggressive driving, Montoya has this to say: “I don’t think Chip (Ganassi) hired me to run 20th every weekend, and I didn’t come here to run 20th every weekend. Is (contact) going to happen? Yeah, it’s going to happen a lot of weekends, but our aim is to run up front.” He added that: “I think anybody that’s seen me race knows that I’m not going to back down.”

In the recent incident involving Montoya and a fellow driver, it seems that the “rookie” will be having a hard time adjusting to the sport. Stewart, the latest victim of Montoya’s aggressive driving style, has this to say: “If you race people with respect, you get respect. You might want to be just a little bit more patient just long enough to learn how everything’s done over here.” NASCAR aficionados have even compared Montoya’s aggressive driving to the skills of NASCAR legends like the late Dale Earnhardt Sr.

The common thinking is that aggressive drivers can have good success in the sport but they have to make sure that their aggressiveness is channeled so that it comes as not to be counter-productive.

Montoya’s start tote season is quite respectable. Being from Formula One, it is expected of him to eventually win in the NASACR races. Currently, the aggressive driving Colombian posted a win at the Busch Series and has already managed to get a couple of top ten finishes in the Nextel Cup. In Texas, the former CART champion managed an eighth place finish. He is driving a Dodge which is yet to win a race at the Nextel Cup. Currently, Dodge, Ford, and Toyota, are being dominated by Chevy at the Nextel Cup series. Equipped with for-race engineered engines which leaves far behind the performance of on-road Chevy vehicles equipped with the Chevy cold air intake system.

While Montoya is yet to show his true worth in NASCAR, drivers in the sport agrees that Montoya has got the talent to be come successful in the motorsport. Even Stewart said that Montoya is the most talented driver in his team. Although admitting Montoya’s flair for the game, Stewart added that: “He didn’t make friends with me [at Texas], so he won’t get any help from me in the future.”