The Scot also cast doubt over the governing body's decision-making, with both Hamilton and team-mate
Heikki Kovalainen finding themselves on the receiving end of controversial penalties in recent weeks, and suggested the
FIA came down harder on McLaren than on any other team.
Stewart last year came to verbal blows with disgraced FIA President and sworn enemy
Max Mosley over the spy scandal that rocked the sport, accusing the organisation of leading a ‘witch hunt' against the Woking-based concern that ultimately culminated in a record-breaking $100 million USD fine.
“We've seen a rash of penalties handed out by the FIA recently,” the 69-year-old affirmed, in an interview published on the official
F1 website, “both in the form of grid penalties and in fines. There rarely seems to be any compassion or any real attempt to see the driver's side.
“You can also ask questions about the consistency with which penalties are applied. A lot of people – and not McLaren personnel – are saying that the FIA are more interested in finding faults at McLaren than at other teams.
“For example, in the French race,
Kimi Raikkonen's exhaust system broke and part of it was visibly hanging off the car. Why wasn't he called into the pits to have the loose piece removed?
“Eventually the loose bodywork flew off the car, which could easily have been dangerous to the public or to another driver. Some people will say that if it had happened with a
McLaren, the team would have been fined.”
Hamilton, McLaren team principal Ron Dennis and the squad's CEO Martin Whitmarsh, however, refused to become embroiled in the contentious debate.
When asked whether he believed McLaren was being singled out by the FIA as a reuslt of its strained relationship with Mosley, Hamilton replied: “I'm not going to answer that.”
