F1 fan ‘almost forgot’ making Hamilton petition to strip Verstappen

Lewis Hamilton on difficult season for Mercedes in November

The F1 fan behind the petition demanding Max Verstappen be stripped of his first major title admits she ‘almost forgot’ she had set up the appeal. Patel Gordon-Bennett started the petition in the hope of overturning the result of the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in Lewis Hamilton’s favour and has received a massive amount of support for the cause.

The Change.Org page now has over 100,000 signatures and the number continues to rise day by day. “I started the petition a few hours that evening after the race on December 12th, 2021,” she told RaceFans. “I was in my living room watching the race on Sky Sports F1 with my family.

“As soon as we saw the injustice, we were in shock and disbelief. I felt that this was a scheme to rob Mercedes and Lewis just as it was when they changed the rules to suit Red Bull’s car.”

She added: “Lewis had always been speaking out on other’s behalf – the disadvantaged, the disenfranchised and those without a voice. I felt it was time we spoke up to help Lewis when he was being faced with injustice.

“In addition, it was disgraceful to the sport to see how one person can change the rules in the spur of the moment to get the result they want. If this was going to be F1, I did not want to be a part of it.

“I didn’t expect many signatures and in fact I had almost forgotten about it,” she said. “I was quite surprised when a friend from Ghana texted me a few days ago to say they saw my name in The Mirror newspaper as the person who started this petition and how it had gained 80,000 signatures. I have no idea what has caused an increase in the signatures recently.”

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The controversy surrounding Verstappen’s victory stems from the race not finishing under a safety car following Nicholas Latifi’s crash just five laps from the end. Verstappen, who was in second place at the time, changed to fresh soft tyres during the delay, while Hamilton stayed on the track in order to maintain his lead.

There were initially five lapped cars between the two title contenders in the queue behind the safety car. Race director Michael Masi decided that only those five should be allowed to unlap themselves, instead of all lapped cars as is the usual procedure. Mercedes went on to appeal Masi’s decision, but their challenge was dismissed.

Speaking about the race last year, Hamilton said: “We can’t change those as much as anyone might want to. They can’t do it. I think if you cancel the race Max is still leading the championship. I can’t see any races being annulled or any championships being removed.”

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