http://www.planetf1.com/story/0,18954,3213_4029329,00.html Hamilton fined in Spain Friday 22nd August 2008 Lewis Hamilton has been fined 5,000 euros by the FIA after turning up late for Thursday's press conference for the European GP. The McLaren driver was scheduled to attend the opening press conference in Valencia along with Felipe Massa, Jarno Trulli and Rubens Barrichello. However, he arrived 90 seconds late for the meeting, earning himself a 5,000 euro fine. Hamilton isn't the first driver to be fined for a late arrival this season. Title rival Kimi Raikkonen was also hit with a fine at the French GP.
I wonder if he used the Kimi excuse? - "I was taking a ****!" BTW, Peter Windsor was in the interview room and said LH was in place before the questioners even got to him. It seems "no harm, no foul" doesn't apply in these cases.....
90 seconds? Are you kidding me? That's one autograph, one quick stop for a photo, whatever. Not that this was the case, but what does a driver tell a kid asking for a sig? "Uh, sorry kid. Remember the video of that old naked man getting flogged by that lovely leather-clad nazi gal? Well, you see, that very same man told me if I'm one second late getting to that room over there, he's going to slap my fanny for $5K."
If Hammy is so fast, there is really no excuse for lateness. Being late is rude and self-absorbed behavior. My wife was a broker at a real estate firm. They had some female agents who were habitually late for the weekly sales meeting. The owner got tired of their rude behavior and started locking the door when the meeting started. They started showing up on time after that. I don't know if a measely 5k fine would work with a race car driver, but I'll bet if it cost them some positions on the starting grid, they would all be at the meetings on time.
Agreed for the most part but come on, we're talking 90 seconds here, maybe his Tag was running slow, 5K for 90 seconds is ridiculous.
I think we are being a little hard on him. We all know that he needs more time as he must be briefed by poppa Hamilton before going live with the press. The sooner poppa Hamilton is off the scene the better it will be for Lewis
