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[myownalias]

As I said, a racing incident, the lead driver can pick his braking point, the following driver has to try to react, which in this case was too late and a collision happened, it was six of one, half dozen of the other in my view, so punishment on either side was harsh, Grosjean just braked earlier, he did not change direction or break any rules. The bigger problem in my view in the blame game going on with the FIA, where nearly all incidents need to be investigated, whereas 10 years ago, it would have been a racing incident, end of story.

[sagi58]

Since we're talking about braking, a number of times both Brundle and Coulthard commented on when drivers were allowing the cars that were lapping them past. They stated that it's better to let them lap you, when you're on a straight, versus in a corner/chicane, as it's easier to get back up to speed on a straight than it is in a curve, when you're braking.

I'm pretty certain they specifically mentioned Verstappen, at one point. Maybe he needs a tutorial on the finer points of braking at these crazy break-neck speeds?

[sagi58]

Here's another opinion:

Why Mercedes gave Hamilton that fateful pit stop – and why it cost him victory

.......The pit stop itself was not especially fast but that wasn’t where the bulk of time was lost. Hamilton’s 65th tour – his in-lap – took over two minutes and 11 seconds. For comparison that of Ricciardo, who was heading to the pits at the same time, was a shade under the two minute mark.

The difference was down to the location of the Safety Car on the track. Hamilton caught it in the second sector of his in-lap. When he pulled into the pits Rosberg and Vettel hadn’t caught it yet, and the time they gained catching the Safety Car as they looped around the Monaco pits was where they gained the time Hamilton’s strategists thought they had in hand.

This was not the first time Hamilton has been caught out pitting under the Safety Car at Monaco. Two years ago he was passed by both Red Bull drivers in a similar situation, though the circumstances on that occasion were somewhat different.

Today’s scenario was more similar to Singapore last year, where Mercedes brought Hamilton in from the lead for super-soft tyres under a Safety Car period with just eight laps to go. On that occasion he fell behind Sebastian Vettel but was easily able to pass him to win.

However in Monaco, where track position is even more critical, Mercedes surely would not have brought Hamilton in at all had they thought it was likely he would lose the lead. They expected he would be able to put on fresh tyres, strengthening his position at the front, without losing any advantage. But his ‘free’ pit stop turned out to have a high price.

Why did Mercedes do it? Clearly they thought they saw an opportunity to gain an advantage at no cost. They were also relying on input from Hamilton about the state of his tyres. Tellingly, in the press conference he revealed he had been keeping an eye on developments on the track side video walls and had formed a mistaken impression that Rosberg and Vettel had already switched to the super-soft tyres...

[darwin dali]

brought to you by TJ13’s Editor in Chief Andrew Huntley-Jacobs

If dominating a Formula One weekend from FP1 through to the last 14 laps of a race means a driver deserves to win the race, then Lewis Hamilton was robbed at the 2015 Monaco GP.

Having made his one and only pit stop, Lewis proceeded to disappear up the road and by the end of lap 64, he was almost 26 seconds ahead of the second placed driver, his team mate Nico Rosberg.

Then in a little over two minutes it all went terribly wrong for Hamilton, as he stopped for a second time to put on the a new set of the much faster super-soft tyres.

Following the race, Lewis was visibly distraught though he realised his fate was sealed much earlier. Rejoining the track in third place, following his extra stop, Lewis commented on pit to car radio: “I’ve lost this race, haven’t I?”

After the podium ceremony, Toto Wolff took full responsibility on behalf of the trackside team members. “There is nothing else to do than apologise to Lewis,” said Wolff, “it was a misjudgement in the heat of the moment.

“I’m sorry for Lewis that we made the mistake and I’m sorry for Lewis. It should have been a perfect one-two today. We made a decision and it was the wrong decision. We need to analyse it and to apologise to Lewis.”

So how did one of the biggest strategy errors since Ferrari most likely cost Alonso a title in Abu Dhabi come about?

It all began on lap 64 with the youngest ever driver in Formula One, making an basic error, which saw him collide with Romain Grosjean down the pit, straight. The result was the debut of the Virtual Safety car.

Under the virtual safety car, the drivers must circulate below a maximum lap time, which also sees the time differences between the drivers maintained.

Over the course of laps 63 and 64, Lewis had extended his lead over Rosberg from 17.422 seconds to 25.727 seconds. Interestingly a whopping 6 seconds of this was due to the deployment of the virtual safety car on lap 64.

This was possible because the drivers under the VSC and when catching the safety car are not restricted to a speed limit, but a time over the lap. So Lewis had less track to cover to the end of the lap than the cars behind him. He could therefore still make the delta time but was travelling a lot more quickly.

This gap was more than enough to pit Hamilton because a comfortable pit stop required just 20-21 seconds.

To understand what how Mercedes got themselves into such a mess, its vital to know where the cars were on track during lap 64.

Lewis was 30 seconds ahead of Verstappen and Romain Grosjean, when the Dutch driver made his mistake. However, it was a further 22 seconds before the virtual safety car was deployed.

This meant at racing speed, Hamilton was just 13-14 seconds from the point of no return on lap 64, where he would have to commit to a pit stop. Reduced speed under the virtual safety car meant that this ‘thinking’ time was in fact a second or two longer.

Mercedes sent out the mechanics into the pit lane with a change of tyres for Lewis should the call be made for him to pit. However, the team decided to leave Hamilton out, instructed him accordingly. Lewis then completed lap 64.

30 seconds after the deployment of the virtual safety car, the safety car itself was released. Hamilton had just passed the pit lane entrance and was on his way to start lap 65 at this moment.

In the post race FIA press conference Lewis stated, “I saw a screen, it looked like the team was out and I thought that Nico had pitted. Obviously I couldn’t see the guys behind so I thought the guys behind were pitting”.

The TV screen, which Lewis referred to, was on the way up the hill after St Devote. Rosberg had not reached Rascasse or the pit lane entry, when Lewis saw the screen.

However, there was a crucial misunderstanding that came about because Lewis did not convey his thoughts to the team, that he was concerned about Rosberg being on fresh options.

Hamilton challenged the decision which had been made that he should ‘stay out’, and told the team, “these tyres are going to drop in temperature”.

Lewis had of course taken more out of the second set of tyres than Rosberg and Vettel, building up the 7 second lead he had when Rosberg stopped first time to 19.196 seconds by the end of lap 63. This may have been a reason to switch Hamilton’s tyres, though Wolff confirms Hamilton’s comments.

Toto Wolff confirmed after the race Hamilton’s comments had concerned the team. “He made a call saying the tyre temperatures have dropped and there is no grip anymore.”

By now the chatter on the internal team radio had grown as Toto Wolff and others now joined the debate. Ferrari pitting Vettel for new super soft tyres was now introduced into the discussion.

Given the gap to Vettel, Mercedes had to make the decision to stop Lewis some time before the Ferrari team would become visible making a dash to the pit box, to be ready for the quadruple world champion.

“They could have made a stop – when Lewis was at Rascasse, [Rosberg and Vettel] weren’t even at Tabac,” confirmed Wolff to SKY F1.

Further, the spectre of Monaco 2014 could have been hanging over the team strategists, when Lewis queried why he wasn’t pitted under a safety car. That decision was later thought to have cost Hamilton another opportunity for a win in Monaco. Suddenly the team were today faced with a similar prospect were they to ignore Lewis’ concerns.

During lap 65. Hamilton extended his lead over Rosberg by several seconds, then it diminished again to around 21 seconds just as Lewis exited the swimming pool. This happens because the drivers know when they start a new lap they can blast through the first section of the lap at speeds above the VSC delta lap time or the delta lap time they have been given to drive to whilst catching the safety car.

The drivers slow down to compensate later in the lap.

Mercedes made two fatal errors. Firstly, Lewis caught the safety car on the approach to Rascasse. The safety car is obviously travelling more slowly than the cars who are catching it. Lewis then suffered a net time loss to Rosberg as he was approaching the pit lane entrance.

The safety car then continued on but Rosberg and Vettel were still some way back. Rosberg pushed flat out having crossed the start finish line, as both he and Hamilton had done the previous lap.

This extra Rosberg speed plus the net time loss Lewis suffered when he caught the safety car created the window of opportunity for Rosberg and Vettel.

Yet one of the cold hard realities in the post mortem will be, had Hamilton simply obeyed the instructions from the team to “stay out”, the fateful pit stop would never have taken place. Add to that, Lewis was unhappy with the team’s strategy which failed to pit him last year, and so he added an incremental element of doubt into the confusion over whether Lewis should receive a change of tyres.

Hamilton was remarkably restrained following the race, and maybe this was because he was aware of the small part he played in the big debate described by Niki Lauda as, “a lot of people talking – and the wrong decision.”

Lewis conceded in the media pen, “I feel content in my heart; I did everything I could,” admitting “It was a collective decision.”

Of course it was Mercedes pit wall who failed to correctly asses at the last corner that Lewis no longer had a sufficient gap to get in and get out and remain in the lead, but by then the die was cast and it had been decided that Lewis would be coming into the pits.

Rosberg was magnanimous in victory and his first comment of the podium interview was, “I’m very happy of course, but I know also that it was just a lot of luck today. Lewis drove brilliantly and deserved the win for sure”

Bitter sweet for Mercedes is that Nico Rosberg now joins an exclusive club of just four F1 drivers in history, as Hamilton did in China. Nico’s three consecutive race wins in Monaca places him in the record books alongside Ayrton Senna, Graham Hill and Alain Prost

When the dust settles, this will be viewed as just an unfortunate set back for Lewis – but hardly tragic. The result of a real F1 tragedy sees a young man nigh on brain dead, just 25 miles up the coast from the latest procession that was 99% of the 2015 Monaco GP.

[sagi58]

WoW!! And, that's from "the" Judge?

Anyway...

So much happened in those few seconds,
I don't think anyone should be "blamed"
for anything, so much as they should all
take responsibility for this unfortunate
(for Hamilton) incident.

[sagi58]

More of the same:

Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes Both to Blame for 2015 Monaco Grand Prix Defeat

On Lap 64 of 78 in Sunday's Monaco Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton was just beginning to enter the danger zone.

Having dominated two-thirds of the race after securing a comfortable pole position on Saturday, a fourth win of 2015 felt like a formality.

Within 15 laps of the chequered flag, and with a 21-second lead over second-placed Nico Rosberg, Hamilton would have switched to management mode, focusing on just bringing the car home, ensuring nothing could snatch victory from his grasp.

He would have negotiated the tight, twisty turns with increasing wariness, leaving a little more space between his wheels and those cold, hard, smothering crash barriers.

He would have applied the throttle with more caution than at any stage over the grand prix weekend. And he would have caressed the brakes, which he was forced to manage in the early stages, with greater responsibility than ever before.

It is in the danger zone, when victory seems so close yet remains so far away, where drivers are struck down by paranoia, causing their minds to play cruel tricks on them.

They hear an unusual noise emerging from the engine and are certain that a failure is imminent, or they feel a slight change in the car's handling and become convinced they've suffered a puncture, thinking up a host of worst-case scenarios and applying them to their individual situation.

Although it is common to see leading drivers and teams conserve their positions toward the end of the race, such an approach risks being counterproductive at Monaco, which favours those who attack its turns with an unrelenting intensity.

Particularly at Monaco, the moment you think the race is won is quite often the first step toward defeat as competitors find themselves torn between offence and defence.

Ayrton Senna, who crashed out of the lead of the 1988 event soon after easing his pace, and Nigel Mansell, who lost the '92 race to the Brazilian after a late pit stop (due to a "puncture" which was, in fact, nothing more than a loose wheel nut according to Tom Rubython's book, The Life of Senna), have both been caught out by the danger zone in years gone by.

And Hamilton became the latest on Sunday, when he had only a third-place finish to show for his 64 laps in front.

The race, of course, was turned on its head when Max Verstappen crashed at Sainte Devote after a collision with Romain Grosjean, which resulted in the deployment of the safety car.

Previously content with just controlling the race en route to the chequered flag—the FIA Race Lap Analysis shows the British driver was still pushing hard prior to the safety car—Hamilton and Mercedes suddenly had a decision to make and made what proved to be the wrong call, opting to pit for super-soft tyres while Rosberg and third-placed Sebastian Vettel continued to circulate.

With track position all-important at Monaco, Hamilton rejoined third and, despite the advantage of fresher and faster tyres, was unable to pass Vettel for second—never mind Rosberg, who took his second win in succession.

Although Mercedes have claimed the blame for costing the British driver victory, with executive director Toto Wolff telling Autosport's Ian Parkes how the team miscalculated the gap between Hamilton and Rosberg at the time of the safety car, it seems Hamilton was behind the decision to pit.

In the post-race FIA press conference, the reigning world champion admitted that the team initially instructed him to "stay out," but Hamilton's concerns over the temperature of his soft tyres, which were fitted during his first stop on Lap 38, led to a rethink.

Wolff confirmed this to Sky Sports' James Galloway, reporting how Hamilton had complained there was "no grip any more," encouraging the team to undertake a precautionary pit stop when, in reality, there was nothing to guard against.

For all the improvements Hamilton has made in terms of performance since his second title triumph in 2014, as we alluded to after qualifying, perhaps his ability to read a race and make smart, confident, correct decisions from the cockpit is one of the very few areas where he continues to fall short.

After all, could you imagine the likes of Rosberg, Vettel and Fernando Alonso, among others, making the same call to even risk losing the lead had they been in the same position?

Not only were Mercedes guilty of underestimating the distance between Hamilton and Rosberg, the team were also at fault for failing to provide the former with a steady, guiding hand when the curve ball that was the safety car was thrown.

The calm on Rosberg's side of the garage—the German told the FIA press conference that he "didn't discuss pitting" despite his "stone cold" rubber—was in stark contrast to the no-yes chaos of Hamilton's team as their driver faced a no-win situation, the final hurdle to a second Monte Carlo triumph.

It was a hurdle they failed to negotiate successfully, as what Mercedes and Hamilton thought was a free pit stop soon became one of the costliest they'll ever make.

The Silver Arrows are developing a habit of making strategic errors, with the only race they have failed to win this season, the Malaysian GP, seeing Mercedes pit both Hamilton and Rosberg behind an early safety car and later fit the former with the harder, slower tyres at a time when he had aspirations of challenging Vettel for victory.

After the Sepang race, Wolff declared that it was "the wake-up call that we needed," according to Sky Sports' James Galloway, but Mercedes have failed to learn their lessons from that afternoon.

And although the team will, quite rightly, receive much criticism for their latest clanger, Hamilton, having succumbed to the danger zone, may not be entirely blameless.

As Lewis himself, admirably gracious in defeat, told the FIA press conference, "We win and we lose together."

[Jabberwocky]

What happened to Williams this weekend

[sagi58]

Another perspective:

Monaco Grand Prix 2015: Lewis Hamilton's dream victory shattered by Mercedes' strategy blunder

...The most baffling strategic mishap in recent memory unfolded like this. For the vast majority of this race, Hamilton was supreme. He led from the start and never looked under pressure. But on lap 64, Max Verstappen -who up until this point was having a barnstorming race – careered into the back of Romain Grosjean heading into Sainte Dévote.

With Hamilton 25.7 seconds ahead, the ‘virtual safety car’ was deployed for the first time in ever in Formula One (it works by bringing all the cars down to a certain safe speed). Then, with Verstappen’s car firmly wedged in the barrier, the stewards put out the actual safety car, slowing the field further still.

Near the end of Hamilton’s 64th time round, the team’s engineers on the pit wall – led by Paddy Lowe, the diminutive Englishman – were still crunching the numbers. Hamilton had seen the mechanics out in the pits on a television screen and presumed Rosberg had already been brought in, telling the team to consider a stop. He was worried about the tyres losing temperature, leaving him vulnerable to an attack at the finish.

Driving around Rascasse, just 50 metres from the pit entry, the call came from Pete Bonnington, Hamilton’s race engineer, to come in for a stop. By now the gap to Rosberg was down to 21 seconds. It was not enough. “I came in with full confidence that the others would pit,” he added afterwards. “It was a collective decision.”

Hamilton crawled out of the pits to find Rosberg well in the lead and Vettel just fractions ahead...

[myownalias]

What happened to Williams this weekend

General lack of grip from my understanding, Williams are lacking mechanical grip on lower speed circuits.

[darwin dali]

[overboost]

Asked whether he ever considered pitting after the crash, the 29-year-old said it never crossed his mind to do so.

Nico Rosberg:

"For me stopping wasn't on my mind at all," he revealed. "There were just a few laps to go, so I didn't consider it."

"Instead I was very surprised to see the Safety Car and not see Lewis [behind it]. It was a big surprise and I thought 'where the hell did he go?'"

"Then all of a sudden I saw wheel-banging behind me between a Mercedes and a Ferrari, and I thought 'what the hell is going on there?' Until I figured out what was going on."

http://www.planetf1.com/driver/3213/513 ... er-pitting" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

So Rosberg had no thoughts at all of pitting as there were just too few laps left. Seems that Hamilton lacked this situational awareness or perhaps he experienced a little bit of panic. Sure made for an interesting finish to an otherwise boring race.

[CigarGuy]

Here's a perspective that some of us may not have considered?
http://www1.skysports.com/f1/news/12433 ... -out-in-f1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[sagi58]

Just from the titles of the following articles, you know the slant the author is going to put on the Mercedes call:

Here's a perspective that some of us may not have considered?
Mercedes' Monaco GP call explained and why data is king in F1

Mark Hughes, at SkySports, positively rationalizes why it's important to give more weight to the data available; however, the guys over at ESPN don't agree!

The Final Stint: How to lose a race on statistics