What an eventful weekend for the Australian Grand Prix.
It started on Friday night when pin up boy Lewis Hamilton had his sponsor car impounded by police for hoon driving.
And it finished yesterday with Australian Mark Webber criticising Melbourne’s tough anti-hoon laws, labelling Victoria a “nanny state.”
Let’s start with Hamilton. What he did was dumb. No doubt about it. But to his credit, he handled the fallout smoothly, showing great remorse for his actions by apologising and assisting police.
The authorities won’t like this but Lewis Hamilton fans got a kick out of the stunt and it may have even won the McLaren driver some new fans. A kinda cool story to tell the grandkids one day.
Hamilton walks away embarrassed but not disgraced and certainly not with a target on his back.
Unfortunately I can’t say the same about a very own F1 star Mark Webber. Unlike Hamilton, Webber didn’t get caught hooning and he didn’t have his car impounded by police. Webber’s only lowpoint of the weekend was his result in the big race, a disappointing ninth.
So why then does Webber fly out of Melbourne under fire from angry authorities and a divided public? Cue his comments about Victoria’s road laws.
I’m not going to debate Victoria’s road laws. What I am going to debate is the need to speak out about the road laws. Maybe Webber wanted to take the focus off his disappointing result? Or maybe by defending Hamilton, Webber saw a chance to score some points with the McLaren driver who he crashed into? Or maybe Webber is just incredibly passionate about Victoria’s road laws?
Whatever the reason for Webber’s comments it sure has created some heated debate. Authorities agree that if everyone was as skilled behind a wheel as an F1 driver then maybe they could relax the current road laws. But unfortunately not everyone is an F1 driver as witnessed by Victoria’s road toll of 78 this year.
I’ve got to question Webber’s comments for one reason and that is, apart from dividing people, exactly what are the comments going to achieve?
It’s fair to say Lewis Hamilton feels the same way about Victoria’s road laws but unlike Webber, Hamilton is smart enough to stay out of the debate.
I really feel for Webber, he has enough targets on his back (especially with the Australian media who don’t understand the politics of his sport) without giving them extra ammunition.
It’s true that Webber’s core motorhead fans welcome these comments. Just like Hamilton, Webber probably even won some new fans for speaking out about the road laws. But at what cost?
Webber jets out this week, unable to stick around and doing anything positive to change the road laws. So again I’ve gotta ask, what does this all achieve?
I often begrudge the negative press Australian athletes receive by their own countryman but sometimes its hard to defend. Let’s hope Webber can focus on the season ahead, I’ll still be cheering him on the track.
Tags: Lewis Hamilton, Mark Webber
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