Hamilton accuses Massa over crash
by Joseph Caron Dawe, 13 October 2008
Lewis Hamilton has accused his closest title rival Felipe Massa of deliberately crashing into him in the Japanese Grand Prix in Fuji on Sunday.
The duo made contact as they jostled for fifth place on the second lap of the race, when Massa missed the apex at Turn 11 and hit the young Briton. The move sent Hamilton – who finished out of the points and is now just five points ahead of Massa in the Drivers’ championship – into a spin which saw him drop from sixth place to last.
Massa received a drive-through penalty for the incident but finished in seventh, thus closing the gap on Hamilton.
“He outbraked me so I didn’t get past him on the way in,” said Hamilton. “I did the corner normally and he came back very aggressively and hit me.
“I think that was pretty much as deliberate as can be.”
Massa, quite understandably, had a totally different take on matters and denied there was anything sinister about the collision.
“The duel with Hamilton was hard but fair,” said the Brazilian. “I have a good relationship with Lewis and I will not do anything to destroy something on purpose.”
Hamilton himself received a drive-through penalty for locking up and running wide at the first turn, forcing Kimi Raikkonen, Massa and team-mate Heikki Kovalainen off track, after allowing the Finn to overtake him from pole.
Fernando Alonso won the race from Robert Kubica – click for the race report and reaction.