What's Up with Lewis Hamilton's Fist Raising in Bahrain?

First, Lewis Hamilton bogged down his start. Starting from third on the grid, the Briton relinquished seven places even before he even reached the first turn. One lap later, he then crashed into the rear wing of Fernando Alonso's Renault. Hamilton's front wing was shredded in the process, forcing the Briton to make an early pit-stop. By the time he came out of the pits, he was way behind his rivals.

It was clear right from the beginning that Lewis Hamilton was going to have a bad day.

One of the benefits of Formula 1 Championship Edition for the PlayStation 3 is that you could simply restart a race gone whack (if you're concerned about your 100% race record). Reality however is much more difficult. A Formula 1 driver is required to drive as hard as he could regardless if he is out of contention (for the sake of that data collecting bit in the job description of a racing driver).

It's not a good feeling driving a proven race winning car near last place. You could imagine the frustration compounding inside Hamilton's head as he went through the motions.

I get it: Lewis Hamilton was not a happy man since lap 1 of the Bahrain GP.

What I don't get however is why he was raising his fist on certain drivers during the race.

Mind you, there are two types of fist raising. One signifies contentment (usually happens after winning the race or after one hell of an overtaking move). The other signifies anger towards another driver (occurs when backmarkers fail to respond to blue flags ASAP).

Hamilton's fist raising looked like the latter.

The on-board cam caught Hamilton raising his fist when he overtook Takuma Sato's Super Aguri Honda and Force India's Giancarlo Fisichella. Both drivers as it were gave Lewis Hamilton a really hard time to overtake.

In addition, both cars were also significantly slower than the McLaren which only added an already forgettable race for Lewis.

BUT WHY RAISE YOUR FIST?

Both Fisichella and Sato were entitled to defend their positions as much as they could. They had track position against Hamilton. Fisichella and Sato were simply doing their jobs as well as they could. They didn't employ dirty tactics or anything. They only tried to defend the racing line.

If indeed his fist raising was to air out his frustrations on Sato and Fisichella, then Hamilton's conduct was definitely inappropriate. It was as if he expected drivers of lesser teams to move over for him: a McLaren driver.

Bad day or not, Hamilton's fist raising hand signals were quite arrogant on his part.