Penalties and Penance in F1

This is the Statt Mann Baby. Time to Scatt a little bit.

Finally some good news today for Lewis Hamilton fans. The three-time Formula One champion drove to a strong second place finish Sunday at the Russian Grand Prix. He started tenth after some mechanical problems in qualifying Saturday.

Hamilton finished behind teammate Nico Rosberg, the 2016 points leader, who drove to his fourth straight win after starting from the Pole. He now has a 43 point lead in the championship over Hamilton who hasn’t won since the U.S. Grand Prix last year in Austin.

The Austin win gave Hamilton the 2015 World Driving Championship and started a string of parties that ended up with Hamilton crashing in Monaco. It was a civilian crash away from the racetrack with Hamilton driving an Italian supercar and not a Mercedes, the brand that’s paying Hamilton tens of millions of dollars to race in F1.

Now, no one would say that there’s a connection between the two curiosities. But Hamilton’s had a string of odd mechanical failures since that crash and his teammate, Rosberg, has won everything in that same time frame.

Would Mercedes penalize Hamilton for being caught in the wrong place dating the wrong brand? Would you?

Peace.