[zenren]

Originally Posted by D33-PAC

This is Alonso after losing the WDC in 2010. I remember watching this race and it was something I could never forget. Forget Lewis if I was in Alonso's shoes I would be crying a river.

Do you have any video of Massa after the 2008 Brazilian GP? At least Alonso got time during the race to adjust to the reality. Massa on the other hand was told he won the championship after he won the final race and the situation changed by the time he came to pits.

[Chetan_Rao]

This was going to happen eventually.

Even though Merc took the initiative to apologize publicly to defuse the situation, Hamilton was at least partially responsible for the fiasco himself.

Hamilton has gotten used to second-guessing the pit-wall (and admittedly some of those decisions have helped him win races), but sometimes the guys with 'all the data' actually know better and it becomes dicey when the driver thinks he knows better now because he successfully second-guessed them in the past. Hamilton lets his racing instincts drive his judgment sometimes, and this time he came out worse.

Nothing really wrong with taking chances, but it's wrong to blame the team 'entirely' for a call he caused them to make. What's worse, I don't believe this is the last time it has happened. If Lewis genuinely believes the team alone cost him the win, he's going to be even more skeptical of following instructions in the future. Nico, if he's as smart as he's claimed to be, must be chuffed at the extra points and the spanner in the works on the other side of the garage.

[anachronix]

Dont know about the gains, but Ted asks Toto a few questions that we would have liked to ask! It didnt make any sense at all to stop Lewis, even if Lewis said that his tires were getting cold, the engineers have the data to tell Lewis if they were cold or not!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x89BnpQvJoc

Originally Posted by D33-PAC

Even if it was intentional what would Merc gain ? Conspiracies make sense when you take a look at what's to be gained.

[SchumiFan]

“The team said to stay out,” Hamilton explained, “I said ‘these tyres are going to drop in temperature,’ and what I was assuming was that these guys [Rosberg and Vettel] would be on [super-softs] and I was on the harder tyre. So, they said to pit.”

Taken from F1 Fanatic.

It was Lewis himself trying to be too smart, got shunted to third. Perhaps he shouldn't have cared about what Rosberg was doing, like he said in China

The tires going cold theory was plain garbage. Mercedes heat their tires faster than any car and him being the leader could have certainly controlled the pace like they won in 2013.

[Hatari]

Originally Posted by D33-PAC

Lewis is the most emotionally weak driver, and I say this as a fan. We're talking about the guy whose performance went down due to a rocky phase with his popstar diva girlfriend.

But hey, at least you can appreciate he's a human being. Guys like Alonso would rather die than seem weak, and I can't remember how many times Alonso put on a poker face during his saddest days to look strong. Or maybe he is strong. Once or twice can be a poker face but Alonso is easily the most lion hearted thick skinned guy of all drivers.

This is Alonso after losing the WDC in 2010. I remember watching this race and it was something I could never forget. Forget Lewis if I was in Alonso's shoes I would be crying a river.

Whether the chinks in his armor are good or bad is subjective. I certainly think it's bad. Mind games played by guys like Nico can get to him!

Yes, agree.. But he has become tougher nowadays.

For Monaco, I dont see the fuss about this actually.. Alonso lost the WDC by a whisker in a car at par and mostly slower than Red Bull through the season, in a tightly contested title fight.

Here, it makes no difference to the WDC. Mercedes are fastest, Hamilton is faster. No threat, only himself!

[jfxavier]

After the accident happened it took more than 20 seconds before the virtual safety car was deployed. Hamilton was just 10-15 seconds from the point of no return on lap 64, where he would have to commit to a pit stop on that lap. 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 commenced lap 65 which was the sensible thing to do considering the nature of the track.

About 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. During beginning of lap 65 Hamilton extended his lead over Rosberg by several seconds, then Lewis caught the safety car on the approach to Rascasse. The safety car is obviously slower than the cars who are catching it and that reduced his lead to around 21 seconds just as Lewis exited the swimming pool. The safety car then continued on as Hamilton entered the pitlane 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 happens because the drivers go faster in the first section of the lap at speeds above the VSC 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. This extra speed Rosberg gained plus the net time loss Lewis suffered behind the safety car created the window of opportunity for Rosberg and Vettel.

In lap 71 the SC came in and even though Lewis had a go, it was too much to ask for. By time DRS came on 2 laps later, Seb’s tyres were up to temperature and the opportunity was gone. Maybe something that the rule makers of F1 could think of changing to make it interesting in case of a late safety car period.

If F1 uses the VSC instead of deploying the VSC and then later the SC (To generate some Ad. revenue for Bernie) this fiasco would not have happened. VSC maintains the status quo while the SC bunches the cars together. All for the sake of "show" in case a car behind tries to overtake the one ahead after the SC pulls out.

[Raajiv]

Pirelli is a real joke for introducing the new age "supersoft tyres" that could also last forever !!

It is high time that two or more tyre companies enter F1 and shunt pirelli out of F1.

[jfxavier]

This is how you cheer up Lewis after the Monaco disaster.
Who knows, maybe Ron is cutting a deal with him behind the scenes.

[myavu]

The Mercedes man Toto replied to Twitter fans' query on 26th May 2015.

#ASKTOTO: MONACO GP DEBRIEF

Read here http://www.mercedesamgf1.com/en/news...co-gp-debrief/

Cheers!

Vinu

[deetjohn]

^

Toto has handled the whole mess beautifully well. Simple direct and honest answers taking the sting out of most questions.

This is how team bosses should be.

[D33-PAC]

Originally Posted by deetjohn

^

Toto has handled the whole mess beautifully well. Simple direct and honest answers taking the sting out of most questions.

This is how team bosses should be.

Honestly if Ross Brawn was still at Merc I doubt that goof up would have happened in the first place.

I just don't see a culture of seriousness at Merc's day to day race operations level.

[jfxavier]

Originally Posted by D33-PAC

Honestly if Ross Brawn was still at Merc I doubt that goof up would have happened in the first place.

I just don't see a culture of seriousness at Merc's day to day race operations level.

Merc. relies heavily on data, just like all all the top teams in F1 and hence the idea to get in and out of the pits ahead of the other drivers during the safety car period came about.
If the decision was taken based on common sense and experience based on the nature of the track, that decision would have been vetoed by someone like Mr. Brawn.

[Fullrevs]

I am actually surprised that they took such a 'call'. Data or not, even I was thinking in my head that there was no point coming into the pits and right then was when Hamilton drove in. Seemed unnecessary right from the start. I think Lewis calling-in and informing the team that his pressures were dropping confirmed to the pitwall that he should get a tyre change. Result is that Rosberg joins a elite group of drivers who have won the Monaco GP three times consecutively. Really don't think he deserved that last win.

I've never seen Lewis get so emotional after a race. It was clear from his body language, especially considering the time he took to take off his gear and get on the podium.