LEWIS HAMILTON walked away from a potential dust-up with Felipe Massa following a bitter post-race showdown between the duo.
On a night when Sebastian Vettel produced another faultless drive with a pole-to-flag victory in the Singapore Grand Prix, the heat continued after the flag fell as Massa confronted Hamilton. A feud that began in Monaco when Hamilton ran into Massa during the Monaco Grand Prix, earning a drive-through penalty, simmered again before finally spilling over in the aftermath of another on-track collision yesterday.
Following qualifying Massa decreed Hamilton “didn’t use his mind again” after the 26-year-old barged the Brazilian out of the way after becoming frustrated with his slow pace.
So when Hamilton came up behind Massa on lap 12 of yesterday’s race, it was all eyes on the duo, with an air of inevitability they collided again.
On this occasion, following a failed pass, Hamilton lost the left side of his front wing after running into the right-rear tyre of Massa’s Ferrari, causing an immediate puncture.
It came as no surprise either when the stewards handed Hamilton a drive-through penalty that pitched him down to 19th and although he managed to claim fifth, his troubles continued after the race.
In the drivers’ pen, where TV and radio interviews are conducted, a clearly angry Massa approached Hamilton from behind, slapping him on the back and pulling him by the upper right arm to grab his attention.
When Hamilton turned, Massa twice slapped him on the right shoulder in a sarcastic congratulatory manner, giving him a thumbs-up sign before snapping: “Good job huh. Very good job.”
In response, Hamilton shouted after a departing Massa, “Don’t touch me man. Don’t touch me.”
Prompted by the interviewer to comment on Massa’s actions, Hamilton simply replied, “Well, there you go”, before deciding to depart the pen to avoid any further acrimony or grilling on the matter.
It proved to be Hamilton’s only interview as he left the circuit an hour later without uttering another word to any of the media.
Massa, though, has had plenty to say on the subject, warning him he will never win another Formula One world title if he continues to drive in a ’mindless’ manner.
A fuming Massa said: “What can I say? How many races this year has he gone in the wrong direction and he’s paid. He never learns. The FIA is looking at that, for sure, because when he is doing it so many times then you have somebody over you. He’s not learning. Even in qualifying, what he did yesterday, nobody is doing that to be honest, so I’m disappointed, but he is paying for it.”
Asked as to what unfolded in the pen, Massa added: “I tried to speak to him, but he didn’t listen to me.
“I called him twice, but he didn’t listen, he just passed through. He didn’t even look at me.”
It all overshadowed another stunning performance from Vettel, who led every single one of the 61 laps to claim his ninth win of the season.
The championship champagne is on ice until the next race in Japan in a fortnight, though, as the Red Bull star still requires a single point to become the youngest back-to-back world champion in F1 history.
Behind Vettel, McLaren’s Jenson Button was a commendable second, followed by Red Bull’s Mark Webber and Fernando Alonso in his Ferrari.
Force India’s Paul di Resta conjured his best drive of his debut campaign to finish sixth, the Scot in the points for the third time in the last four races.
FIA Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix, Leading Final Positions after Race (61 Laps): 1 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 1hr 59mins 06.757secs, 2 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren 1:59:08.494, 3 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 1:59:36.036, 4 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari 2:00:02.206, 5 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren 2:00:14.523, 6 Paul di Resta (Gbr) Force India 2:00:57.824, 7 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes GP at 1 Lap, 8 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India at 1 Lap, 9 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari at 1 Lap, 10 Sergio Perez (Mex) Sauber-Ferrari at 1 Lap, 11 Pastor Maldonado (Ven) Williams at 1 Lap, 12 Sebastien Buemi (Swi) Scuderia Toro Rosso at 1 Lap, 13 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Williams at 1 Lap, 14 Kamui Kobayashi (Jpn) Sauber-Ferrari at 2 Laps, 15 Bruno Senna (Bra) Renault at 2 Laps, 16 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) Lotus F1 at 2 Laps, 17 Vitaly Petrov (Rus) Renault at 2 Laps, 18 Jerome d’Ambrosio (Bel) Virgin Racing at 2 Laps, 19 Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) HRT-F1 at 4 Laps, 20 Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) HRT-F1 at 4 Laps, 21 Jaime Alguersuari (Spa) Scuderia Toro Rosso at 5 Laps
Not classified: 22 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Lotus F1 47 Laps completed, 23 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Mercedes GP 28 Laps completed, 24 Timo Glock (Ger) Virgin Racing 9 Laps completed
Leading World Championship Standings after Singapore Grand Prix Drivers: 1 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 309pts, 2 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren 185, 3 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari 184, 4 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 182, 5 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren 168, 6 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 84, 7 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes GP 62, 8 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Mercedes GP 52, 9 Vitaly Petrov (Rus) Renault 34, 10 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) Renault 34, 11 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India 28, 12 Kamui Kobayashi (Jpn) Sauber-Ferrari 27, 13 Paul di Resta (Gbr) Force India 20, 14 Jaime Alguersuari (Spa) Scuderia Toro Rosso 16, 15 Sebastien Buemi (Swi) Scuderia Toro Rosso 13, 16 Sergio Perez (Mex) Sauber-Ferrari 9, 17 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Williams 4, 18 Bruno Senna (Bra) Renault 2, 19 Pastor Maldonado (Ven) Williams 1, 20 Pedro de la Rosa (Spa) Sauber-Ferrari 0, 21 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Lotus F1 0, 22 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) Lotus F1 0, 23 Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) HRT-F1 0, 24 Jerome d’Ambrosio (Bel) Virgin Racing 0, 25 Timo Glock (Ger) Virgin Racing 0, 26 Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) HRT-F1 0, 27 Narain Karthikeyan (Ind) HRT-F1 0, 28 Karun Chandhok (Ind) Lotus F1 0
Manufacturers: 1 Red Bull 491pts, 2 McLaren 353, 3 Ferrari 268, 4 Mercedes GP 114, 5 Renault 70, 6 Force India 48, 7 Sauber-Ferrari 36, 8 Scuderia Toro Rosso 29, 9 Williams 5, 10 Lotus F1 0, 11 HRT-F1 0, 12 Virgin Racing 0
