Sporting Authorities?

The 2008 F1 Belgian Grand Prix was an awesome race, until a few moments after it had ended.

I was, and still am, outraged at the FIA stewards' decision to demote Lewis Hamilton. Clearly, and all eyes were watching because they suspected that it would happen, Lewis cut the chicane, then backed off to let Kimi pass. One clear. Moments later, Nico Rosberg appeared out of nowhere, making both Lewis and Kimi, who were almost neck-and-neck at the time, take evasive action. Lewis took to the grass, losing out big time. Kimi got ahead of Nico, but spun after the next turn, allowing Lewis to retake the lead. In none of that had Lewis broken any rules. It was pure racing, and when Kimi slipped and went off the track, colliding with the wall, it was tragic. The last two laps of the Belgian GP had more action packed into them than almost all the GPs of 2008 so far, put together. The decision was a sham. It's taking the essence out of F1 racing, if not the racing itself.

Another point to draw attention to, is that there were three stewards involved in that decision. Not any Ferrari team members, or Kimi for that matter had a problem. Bottom-feeder Massa just happened to be in the right place at the right time, again.

And coming back to the three stewards, one of them was also involved in an incident with WRC driver Sebastien Loeb. Apparently, Loeb's "scruffy" look is not to the steward's liking, as according to him, "Loeb is a role model to so many children everywhere". Clearly, he misunderstands the concept of sport. It's not the player, but his game! How many of us would even bother about Sebastien's bloody hair, if we happened to meet him in a crowd somewhere in the middle of Europe. It's his driving that is to be appreciated, to be emulated. Not his hair or his beard! And that's happening to a lot of sportsstars in various countries. When will these incompetent authorities who don't have a sporting bone in their body realise that they're only needed to arrange venues and sort out things like performance margins and limits. They should stay as far away from the actual sporting event as they can, much less make decisions that directly affect the outcome of a sporting event.

What occurred in Belgium was disgraceful, and it only leads one to think why is it that they're after sportsstars the calibre of a Lewis Hamilton, or a Sebastien Loeb.