Mark Webber has backed Lewis Hamilton for this year’s F1 drivers’ championship, saying that the British driver probably deserves it the most.
His comments come on the back of major press coverage of the Red Bull driver’s thoughts on potential safety issues caused by Hamilton late-braking into corners.
The story made its way from a few words about the importance of observing the braking areas by way of “Lewis is a dangerous driver” and ended up in the next day’s papers as “Hamilton will kill someone” – quite a journey, as Webber himself points out.
In his column for the BBC Sport website, as well as refuting the newspapers’ more outlandish claims, he wrote: “Hamilton’s had a very good season. I think the best driver probably is going to win the championship, and that’s how it should be. He’ll deserve it if he wins it.
“You could say, though, that Robert Kubica has been the driver of the year. He’s probably been, at every single venue, the best and most consistent driver with the least errors (except for Silverstone). But, out of Hamilton and Massa, I’d say Lewis deserves the championship.”
He said that sometimes Hamilton’s forthright approach sometimes rubbed Australians up the wrong way.
“They would probably like to see him a little bit more humble but, on the other side of the coin, Australians like winners as well, and he’s been doing a lot of winning.
“But with top-flight sportsmen and women, sometimes there’s a few edges in there and that’s the way it is throughout their career.”
You can read his full column, including his thoughts on Red Bull’s disappointing season, here >>