Pre-season Lewis hired Simon Fuller's company to act as his Manager and it was clear from all of the media stories he promulgated at that time that he was seeking an exit strategy. I wrote about this here, here, and here where he was at odds with his team and seemingly with much of the rest of the paddock.
It seemed to me that there was a bit of a Mansell whinge creeping into his media interviews and I thought it might have something to do with his new management. Then, when the business of racing commenced he shut up or, when he did speak it was all about working together to move forward (blah, blah, blah) - but the kind of stuff McLaren love and the kind of talk that a team needs to hear in order to motivate everyone to catch up.
Now we see the whinge returning at Monaco - The team cocked up the qualifying strategy in a serious way by not letting him put in a banker lap - Massa held him up in quali and should be penalised - Massa was to blame for his race ending incident - Maldonado was at fault for turning in too early - the stewards got it wrong and are a joke- The team cocked up his pitstop - He's the only guy able to challenge Vettel but the car isn't good enough - (BLAH! BLAH! BLAH!).
This was all said in an interview with the Beeb post race - I'm ignoring the Ali-G reference simply because I don't particularly see it as an issue.
However Martin Whitmarsh later issued a press release which stated "I’m pleased to say that he chose to return to the track a little while later to speak to the stewards about the joke. They accepted his explanation".
The story doesn't end there though.
Apparently he didn't CHOOSE to return to the track at all - RTE report that the team ordered him to return to the track to explain himself to the stewards and I saw the same report earlier elsewhere (but can I find it when I'm looking for it? whaddayouthink? Not a hope).
I believe that his father (ex-manager), in cahoots with the team (read Whitmarsh), convinced him to go back to the track. Lewis read my post - Father's advice (so far in your career) GOOD - Fuller Management advice (so far this season) BAAD - On your own advice (last season) BAAD.
Get a grip man! Lose the suits and negotiate a better percentage with your dad - he seems a little better clued in to the Piranha Club than Fuller who, lets face it, seems more about cashing in on celebrity than sport.
Just on a light note, Adam Cooper has tweeted/blogged this (whatever) it's worth a look.
