Mark Webber is not impressed by Lewis Hamilton's refusal to join driver's safety crusade.
Hamilton too busy to join drivers' safety quest.
Australian Grand Prix champion Lewis Hamilton has been heavily criticised for not joining a GP drivers' safety crusade to prevent a fatal smash.
After just six cars survived Sunday's Formula One crashes, the McLaren ace was yesterday told the sport was on borrowed time.
Motor racing legend Jackie Stewart, who saw his close friend Francois Cevert cut in half in a 1973 qualifying smash, is furious Hamilton has not joined drivers' representative body, the Grand Prix Drivers' Association.
When asked why he had not joined, Hamilton said: “There's no particular reason. I had so much going on last year and the same is true now. It's time as much as anything.”
But Mark Webber warned the British driver it could be his life on the line next.
“Maybe one day he'll be in the barriers in Jerez and he won't be breathing and he'll need somebody to help him,” Red Bull's Webber said.
The champagne was barely dry on his Australian Grand Prix celebrations when Hamilton got both barrels from leading figures infuriated that neither he nor world champion Kimi Raikkonen had joined the GPDA.
New regulations have escalated the dangers by removing driver aids, but Hamilton said he was too busy with sponsorship commitments.
Haunted by memories of the horrific death of his close friend Cevert, Stewart insisted Hamilton join the GPDA.
“It is completely wrong of Lewis not to be involved,” said Stewart, a retired triple world champion. “I am surprised and disappointed at him. He has been badly advised.
“So far we have been incredibly lucky. We are on the slate to have a big shunt. But what is going to happen is this — somebody is going to get killed.
“It has been 13 years and 11 months since the death of Ayrton Senna. At the speeds modern cars do it will be like an air crash.
“You can't go on without something going wrong somewhere eventually.
“And somebody will die. The moment somebody dies there is a new awakening.
“It is going to be a big shock to this fraternity when somebody gets killed. These guys don't know how to deal with a death. They have never seen it.
“They have never been to a body when it is still in the car, never had to identify a body, never had to pack that person's clothes because the wife or the girlfriend can't face it.
“I have the highest respect for Lewis. I think he is the best thing since sliced bread, but he is inexperienced. There will be even more accidents now that traction control is gone.”
Stewart's concern comes after the opening race of the season in Melbourne.
It heralded a welcome new era with cars stripped of electronic aids and control returned to the drivers.
But just six of the 22-car field made it to the chequered flag. Never in Melbourne's 13-year history has the grid been so decimated.
Webber feels equally passionate about Hamilton's absence from the association.
“We are not reinventing the wheel with the GPDA, we are just working to improve safety. You don't have to be a totally active member, it's only 20 minutes a fortnight of your time.”
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