Sometimes I am left wondering just what sport is coming to, with an ever increasing political nature – both in politicians trying to get into the ‘feel good’ factor created by sport (and as witnessed recently at the Olympics after TeamGB’s record medal haul) and also with the increasingly political nature of the sport itself.

This was shown in its truest form after the Belgium Grand Prix last weekend. True fans witnessed some superb driving from the likes of Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton (as well as both drivers making a couple of rookie errors). The way Kimi controlled the bulk of the race from the front showed why he has deserved his crown of World Champion for many years (just a shame he only managed to achieve this accolade last year when at Ferrari). This was then followed by a masterclass in wet weather driving from Lewis, as the rain fell in the final few laps of the race. Unfortunately for race fans, the faceless bureaucrats that call themselves stewards robbed Lewis of a well deserved win. He was by far the best driver over the whole race and was substantially quicker than everyone else on slick tyres for the last 2 laps. These stewards decided that Lewis had transgressed the rules and deserved a 25 second penalty as he was forced across the bus-stop chicane whilst dicing with Kimi for the lead. This despite him giving the place he gained in the process back to Kimi and also McLaren seeking assurance from FIA delegate Charlie Whiting that Lewis had done enough when he gave the place back.

This decision also makes me wonder what the reason for Charlie Whiting is if the local track stewards can overrule the FIA delegate, who should know the F1 rules better than anyone else. It is not the first time that McLaren have been penalised like this during the course of this year either.

Also questions need to be asked about the level of penalty given to different drivers for different offences. From recent verdicts it appears it is now fine to nearly cause a pile up at the exit of the pit lane (where there are many different team personnel, media, officials and an assortment of official vehicles (Ferrari’s Massa only got a slapped wrist for this in Spain) but racing in some difficult conditions and some displays of top quality driving & overtaking are now deemed beyond the rules. I find it hard to believe that the treatment being dished out does not have a political motive as well. It is well known the FIA favour Ferrari over everyone else and this now appears to be passed through into racing penalties. The end result can only harm Formula 1 in the longer term as viewers start walking away from the sport to less politically motivated racing (BTCC, WSB, MotoGP etc) and with them also go the sponsors, required to provide the multi million £ budgets a modern F1 team needs.

I personally call on all the major factory teams to walk away from F1 as long as it is controlled by its Ferrari loving leaders and set up a breakaway championship. Maybe then we might see some closer races and also get back to the more friendly racing of old.