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[FerrariFan63]

Alonso put in a lap 2-3 seconds faster than Hamilton's inlap. he had been saving tyres for that moment.

unless Lewis knew Alonso's plan (he couldn't) there's nothing he could of done.

That's one heck of a fast lap. It also shows what was happening when Alonso looked slower than Massa. Alonso was saving tyres.

[andrew]

Hud the bus there!

We're the pit crew driving the car with him? No wonder he wasn't going fast enough to make up the time to Alonso, what with an entire team in the car. Bashing a team for a driver not driving fast enough is pathetic. What do you want them to do? Somehow stop time so Hamilton can squeeze in a pit stop and rejoin in the lead and then restart time thus ensuring a win?

Unless someone can point me to any pitstop errors I can't see how a resonably minded viewer of the GP can claim that the pit crew lost Hamilton the race. The pit stops were as error free and as slick as every other team. Either he didn't drive fast enough or the car set up wasn't entirely right for race day conditions. Simple as that, no excuses needed.

I admit the stop was slower than others, but when you see the gap after Alonso stopped too, to try and then turn around and solely blame the pit crew for the loss in position is just a total joke. There is just no way to claim that it did seeing the gap when Alonso exited the pits, there just isn't. Unless it is our old friends at the head injury ward again.

What you got against the guys in the head injury ward? You're insulting their temporarily reduced intelligence and thinking speed!

The bashing of Whitmarsh/the pit crew/the tea lady who works on Mondays every time things don't go the LL's way is truly pathetic. As Bud said it's an insult to the McLaren name (this coming from someone who doesn't support them - oy!).

[calvins48]

Straws are indeed being clutched, because it is blatantly clear that losing 0.7s in stop didn't cost him the position to Alonso. Go watch it on iPlayer and see the massive gap when Alonso left the pits for yourself!

How did Hamilton lose all that time? I just watched the race on iplayer as I had to be out today. And Hamilton was way behind when Alonso came out. What do the relative times of the drivers before, during, and after the stops tell us?

We never saw. Not on my Sky feed (or the iPlayer replay later) anyway. Hamilton must have lost around 3-4 seconds to Alonso in that one lap period though, to go from the distance in front to that far behind though.

Remember though, Hamilton didn't know when to speed up to stay ahead of Vettel because his team never told him. Hamilton was in a tyre saving mode at that stage of the race and maybe if he'd have known that Vettel was on for a pit stop then he might've increased his pace and stayed ahead. Poor communication to be honest.

[Besson]

Straws are indeed being clutched, because it is blatantly clear that losing 0.7s in stop didn't cost him the position to Alonso. Go watch it on iPlayer and see the massive gap when Alonso left the pits for yourself!

How did Hamilton lose all that time? I just watched the race on iplayer as I had to be out today. And Hamilton was way behind when Alonso came out. What do the relative times of the drivers before, during, and after the stops tell us?

We never saw. Not on my Sky feed (or the iPlayer replay later) anyway. Hamilton must have lost around 3-4 seconds to Alonso in that one lap period though, to go from the distance in front to that far behind though.

Remember though, Hamilton didn't know when to speed up to stay ahead of Vettel because his team never told him. Hamilton was in a tyre saving mode at that stage of the race and maybe if he'd have known that Vettel was on for a pit stop then he might've increased his pace and stayed ahead. Poor communication to be honest.

pretty much. could of been he couldn't push to stabilize Vettel due to possible future tyre wear problems but poor comms is more likely.

[scotty]

Pretty arrogant just to assume that Hamilton even had the pace to do that given that he was slower than Vettel in the race today (compare the lap times once Vettel cleared traffic after lap 20ish, and especially in the gap between both drivers' stops). Vettel was straight up quicker once in clear air, especially coming up to his own stop. He nailed it when the opportunity arose meanwhile Hamilton lost himself time during his own stop laps and thereafter.

But either way, the point is that had Hamilton not lost time by himself around his own stop he'd have never put himself in that situation in the first place. Very simple.

[Besson]

Pretty arrogant just to assume that Hamilton even had the pace to do that given that he was slower than Vettel in the race today (compare the lap times once Vettel cleared traffic after lap 20ish,

i far from assumed it.

[FerrariFan63]

Has it been confirmed if people were dropping objects from pit boards?

IMHO if anyone been dropping objects on the track, even if accidental, there should be some fines or other penalties there. Again IMHO that's a pretty serious thing to happen.

[darwin dali]

Alonso put in a lap 2-3 seconds faster than Hamilton's inlap. he had been saving tyres for that moment.

unless Lewis knew Alonso's plan (he couldn't) there's nothing he could of done.

That's one heck of a fast lap. It also shows what was happening when Alonso looked slower than Massa. Alonso was saving tyres.

I suspected as much when I saw that constellation and sure enough, FA put some nice laps on the board when it mattered later on.

[scotty]

Pretty arrogant just to assume that Hamilton even had the pace to do that given that he was slower than Vettel in the race today (compare the lap times once Vettel cleared traffic after lap 20ish,

i far from assumed it.

Well, when people are saying 'if McLaren had done this' it apparently automatically would have been fine, then you can see why the connection is made...!

[andrew]

Pretty arrogant just to assume that Hamilton even had the pace to do that given that he was slower than Vettel in the race today (compare the lap times once Vettel cleared traffic after lap 20ish,

i far from assumed it.

Well, when people are saying 'if McLaren had done this' it apparently automatically would have been fine, then you can see why the connection is made...!

I wonder why some people don't work for McLaren and give them the benefit of their expertise.

It's like football - after 4 pints every bloke in England knows how to guide England to the World Cup. The amount required in Scotland is considerably more seeing as the Scottish team is consistanly poo year in, year out.

[Besson]

Pretty arrogant just to assume that Hamilton even had the pace to do that given that he was slower than Vettel in the race today (compare the lap times once Vettel cleared traffic after lap 20ish,

i far from assumed it.

Well, when people are saying 'if McLaren had done this' it apparently automatically would have been fine, then you can see why the connection is made...!

i see what you're saying but it is a possibility, that's why i mentioned it. i'm currently firmly in the camp of Vettel simply had the pace on him.

[madbrad]

First thing Lewis did after flubbing the start yet again was get on the radio and blame the team. You all heard it. Calvin you're just highly biased toward Lewis. It's clouding your judgement.

[Hammer278]

First thing Lewis did after flubbing the start yet again was get on the radio and blame the team. You all heard it. Calvin you're just highly biased toward Lewis. It's clouding your judgement.

What did you expect to happen? Should he be complimenting them? Like he said, they've practiced their starts countless times but when it matters the car fails again, while his immediate competitors all enjoyed perfect starts. As a driver in a chicken up of a team, you're bound to lose your patience and Lewis has gotten the most sh*t this year from his own team and no one can argue with that.

[bud]

Yre assuming Lewis himself didn't stuff up his launch procedure, He is the driver after all...

[Troyron]

The launch is pretty much automatic, were the driver just have to let the clutch go and the software decides how much traction and clutch to use. So its mostly down to the car, and not the driver. Having said that, its typical of Hamilton to complain and not focus on his driving. Most other drivers just get on with it, as the understand it cant be undone.

Yes the Mclaren pit stop was a second slower than RB and Ferrari, and it matters allot. However in this case, he lost out to Alonso as he had a slow out lap, while Alonso had a great in lap. I think this race really showed the difference between a driver like Alonso and Hamilton. Alonso knew overtaking was difficult, and therefore "saved" tires and just keeping in touch with Hamilton until it really mattered. Just before the pit stops, he closed the gap and then pushed when Hamilton pitted. But the 3-4 seconds gap, was mainly due to the problem of getting the tire temperature up after the pit stops. As we saw Webber lost out to Vettel the first laps after pitting, even he had new tires and Vettel had tires that was around 30 laps old.

So to summarize:
*Hamilton lost the position to Alonso due to his out lap.
* Hamilton lost the position to Vettel due to his pit stop was a second slower and his out lap was slow. Had either of these not happened, he would have been infront of Vettel.

I do agree with the people saying it was a boring race. Yes its exciting to see the cars being so close to the barriers, but not for 78 laps! Todays F1 cars are just to quick and have to good breaks to allow overtaking. If you go back 10 years, it was possible to overtake on the straight and after the tunnel. Yes it was hard, but possible. Now you have to dive in, close your eyes and hope for the best. Maybe it could be an idea, not to allow KERS in this race. That would give better overtaking opportunities on the straight, as they first drivers cant use KERS to counter the attack from the car behind.