The tyres meant Kimi was done for
Lewis was much faster than Kimi at that point of the race because the McLaren keeps heat in its tyres better in those conditions, as we saw in Silverstone, especially on the harder compound. So Kimi was finished anyway. Lewis had him, he was always going to get him before the finish.
The stewards clearly felt that he didn’t give back enough of the advantage he gained from cutting the chicane. Watching it over and over again you can see what they mean, it’s a very delicately balanced call. But you have to take account of the performance difference which existed between the two cars at that point anyway. On a normal dry track, Lewis’s gesture of easing off by 6km/h would have put Kimi well ahead by La Source. It’s just that the Ferrari was not able to take much advantage of Hamilton’s gesture, so it seemed an insufficient gesture.
McLaren checked with race director Charlie Whiting at the time that they had done the right thing and according to the team he told them they had. But the stewards disagreed. They felt he should have dropped in behind Kimi and had a go at him later. He was much faster and would have got him down the straight after Eau Rouge anyway. But he’s a racer and he went for it as soon as he thought he’d negated his unfair advantage from cutting the chicane.
Frustration for the Neutrals
The frustration for neutrals in the paddock, including many members of other teams, who are outraged by this decision, no doubt like many members of the public, is that this is racing after all. He was impetuous to get on with it, as Damon Hill was in Adelaide in 1994 when Schumacher hit the wall. These are racers, who seize the moment, which is why we love them. It is that killer instinct, which raises them above the rest of us normal people and makes us tune in to watch them in our millions. But the stewards wanted a clearer sign that he recognised he had gained an unfair advantage.
A 25 second penalty drops him from first to third and cuts his championship lead to just two points with five races to go.
Many people will find this decision hard to justify and will inevitably question it in the light of Valencia, where Massa and Ferrari were convicted of unsafe release from the pit stop (an offence which normally attracts a drive through penalty) and yet he was merely fined and kept the 10 points. These are big calls, like a referee in soccer giving or not giving a penalty, which changes the result of a match. But a referee has to make a decision on the spot. Here the stewards took a few hours to review all the evidence. And there are some unfortunate perceptions of F1 being aired as a result.
I hope that the outcome of this championship is clear enough either way that it does not hinge on this decision.
The Move of the Day
Move of the day has to be Nick Heidfeld’s decision to pit for intermediate tyres with two laps to go when the rain began falling. He had nothing to lose, he was 7th at the time, but it worked spectacularly for him, grabbing him his fourth podium of the season and one he really needed as the pressure has been on him lately over whether he will keep his drive next year.
It was poetic justice in many ways as Heidfeld had qualified a fine 5th and would have been up the front for the whole race anyway had he not been punted up the back at the start. This dropped him down the field and he chipped away at it after that, before taking the gamble of a lifetime. To show how thorough these people are, Heidfeld had scrubbed in a set of intermediates earlier in the weekend, believing that they would perform better in a dry to wet situation than new tyres and he was right. His tyres were perfect and he passed many cars. Alonso left it a lap later to pit, but still got fourth. Had he pitted when Heidfeld did, he could have had a go at Massa for second place (and ultimately the win given Hamilton’s penalty) on the final lap, such was the difference in speeds on the intermediate tyres. It would have been a hell of a gamble from fourth place as he was at the time, but it could have brought him a win, because he was 12 seconds ahead of Heidfeld before the BMW man pitted and Heidfeld finished the race only 9 seconds behind Massa. Massa’s last lap was 2m 45secs, Heidfeld’s 2m 01secs.
A Turning Point
The turning point of the race appeared to have been the mistake by Hamilton at the start of lap 2, where he spun at La Source, allowing Kimi to pass him. He kept in touch for the rest of the first stint and then made an early pit stop on lap 11, showing how aggressive he had been in qualifying on a light fuel load. The good news for him was that Kimi pitted only a lap later. Massa meanwhile pitted on lap 12, so in fact when you do the fuel correction Massa and Hamilton registered exactly the same lap time in qualifying, the 0.35secs Massa was behind being all fuel. No wonder Massa said he had nailed a ‘perfect lap’. The Ferrari was giving nothing away to the McLaren in qualifying pace.
These two drivers are very well matched at the moment and it is going to be a great final act to the championship. Massa was very unlucky to lose 10 points for the win in Budapest when his engine failed three laps from the end and without that he would now be 3 points ahead of Hamilton with five races to go. Lewis did not want to be drawn into speculating about whether Ferrari would now back Massa for the championship, but with Raikkonen 19 points behind the Englishman and 17 behind Massa in the title race, it’s inevitable that they will,. Hamilton has paid fulsome tribute to Massa all weekend and again after the race he said that the Brazilian was ‘doing a better job than Kimi.’
Toro Rosso Ahead of Honda
Elsewhere Toro Rosso’s haul of 6 points took them ahead of Honda and level with Williams in the constructors’ points race. This team, which was once Minardi, and still has many of their staff on board, has now scored 17 points, which is far more than Minardi ever scored. Vettel shone again this weekend, but so too did Bourdais, the Frenchman showing some of the class he undoubtedly has. It’s amazing how a competitive car will change people’s perception of you. Bourdais wants to stay at Toro Rosso when Vettel moves on next year and his performance this weekend, with P1 in the first part of qualifying and a very strong race will have helped that claim.
Toro Rosso had the fourth fastest car here today behind the Ferrari, McLaren and BMW. And it’s no fluke, they were massively quick in Valencia and had the fourth fastest car there too! I’ll get to the bottom of how they’ve done it for my next blog in Monza.
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