Staff at McLaren-Mercedes have had a bit of a persecution complex this season as it seems barely a race goes by in their eyes without them being harshly treated by the sport's governing body.
Their ill-feeling towards the FIA will not have been improved by the controversial decision to strip Lewis Hamilton of the victory in Belgium on Sunday night, demoting him to third place instead.
Hamilton was judged to have gained an advantage by cutting the Bus Stop chicane at the end of lap 42 as he diced with the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen for the lead of the race, a tussle he eventually came out on top of.
Normally in such an instance where a transgression is judged to have been made, a stop-go penalty is handed out, but as the drama happened with two laps left of the race the stewards added 25 seconds to Hamilton's race time - dropping him behind championship rival Felipe Massa's Ferrari and the BMW Sauber of Nick Heidfeld.
The decision has been lambasted by much of the Formula One fraternity, with the former world champion Niki Lauda lamenting: "It is absolutely unacceptable when three [stewards] influence the championship like this."
To this pair of eyes the decision looked harsh. What it came down to is that while Hamilton did back off and allow Raikkonen through after cutting the Bus Stop chicane, he stayed close enough to the back of the Ferrari to re-pass his rival at the next corner.
What the stewards would have looked at is that if Hamilton had not cut the corner and backed off he would not have been in a position to pass Raikkonen at La Source.
In hindsight if Hamilton had stayed behind the Ferrari through La Source he probably would not have been punished as he would have had no visible benefit.
The Briton felt he had done enough to show nothing had been gained by him missing the corner, but unfortunately that was not enough to escape punishment.
The verdict is a bitter pill for Hamilton and McLaren to swallow and it will be a massive effort for them to bounce back in time for this Sunday's race in Italy.
Hamilton has received penalties in Malaysia (blocking in qualifying), Canada (causing an accident in the pitlane), France (missing a corner and gaining an advantage) and now in Belgium this season. While driving into the back of Raikkonen in the pitlane in Montreal deserved sanctioning, the other punishments were all controversial.
Considering that Ferrari and Massa were let off with just a fine at last month's European Grand Prix after the Italian team released the Brazilian from his pit-box straight into the path of Adrian Sutil's Force India, an offence where in other races stop-go penalties had been handed out, and you can understand why McLaren are a little miffed at present.
Barring an appeal turning things around, which is unlikely, the championship race has now been blown wide open with Massa now only two points adrift of Hamilton rather than eight.
Massa is undeniably a lucky man as he had given a rather lacklustre performance at Spa-Francorchamps.
He was too tentative at the start and was never on the pace of his teammate Raikkonen or Hamilton.
But the pressure is now on Hamilton. He needs a decent points lead to take to the final race in Brazil in November.
He will not want to have to beat Massa on the track there, as the Brazilian is a mighty force at Interlagos.
So Hamilton is somehow going to have to put this controversy behind him and shine in Italy on Sunday.
@Email:gcaygill@thenational.ae
From Zero
Artist: Linkin Park
Label: Warner Records
Number of tracks: 11
Rating: 4/5
Nayanthara: Beyond The Fairy Tale
Starring: Nayanthara, Vignesh Shivan, Radhika Sarathkumar, Nagarjuna Akkineni
Director: Amith Krishnan
Rating: 3.5/5
THE APPRENTICE
Director: Ali Abbasi
Starring: Sebastian Stan, Maria Bakalova, Jeremy Strong
Rating: 3/5
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
Electoral College Victory
Trump has so far secured 295 Electoral College votes, according to the Associated Press, exceeding the 270 needed to win. Only Nevada and Arizona remain to be called, and both swing states are leaning Republican. Trump swept all five remaining swing states, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, sealing his path to victory and giving him a strong mandate.
Popular Vote Tally
The count is ongoing, but Trump currently leads with nearly 51 per cent of the popular vote to Harris’s 47.6 per cent. Trump has over 72.2 million votes, while Harris trails with approximately 67.4 million.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
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Disclaimer
Director: Alfonso Cuaron
Stars: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Kline, Lesley Manville
Rating: 4/5
The five pillars of Islam
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
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88 Video's most popular rentals
Avengers 3: Infinity War: an American superhero film released in 2018 and based on the Marvel Comics story.
Sholay: a 1975 Indian action-adventure film. It follows the adventures of two criminals hired by police to catch a vagabond. The film was panned on release but is now considered a classic.
Lucifer: is a 2019 Malayalam-language action film. It dives into the gritty world of Kerala’s politics and has become one of the highest-grossing Malayalam films of all time.
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
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SPECS
Engine: 4-litre V8 twin-turbo
Power: 630hp
Torque: 850Nm
Transmission: 8-speed Tiptronic automatic
Price: From Dh599,000
On sale: Now
Citadel: Honey Bunny first episode
Directors: Raj & DK
Stars: Varun Dhawan, Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Kashvi Majmundar, Kay Kay Menon
Rating: 4/5
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If you go
Where to stay: Courtyard by Marriott Titusville Kennedy Space Centre has unparalleled views of the Indian River. Alligators can be spotted from hotel room balconies, as can several rocket launch sites. The hotel also boasts cool space-themed decor.
When to go: Florida is best experienced during the winter months, from November to May, before the humidity kicks in.
How to get there: Emirates currently flies from Dubai to Orlando five times a week.
Kanguva
Director: Siva
Stars: Suriya, Bobby Deol, Disha Patani, Yogi Babu, Redin Kingsley
COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
Cricket World Cup League 2
UAE squad
Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind
Fixtures
Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE
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Wicked
Director: Jon M Chu
Stars: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey
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