Formula 1 Jam

There has already a lot been said officially and unofficially about the incidents surrounding the dying moment of qualification at the Hungaroring… Unfortunately there have been some perspectives that have been either overlooked or ignored by the Anti-Alonso, Pro-Hamilton and Slam-Mc Laren type of opinions that have flooded the net(A handful of honest opinions were also present and thank god for that).

I wont be talking about who did what on purpose, rather I would like to talk about facts pointed out by the important 3(Ron Dennis, Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton).

Hamilton attitude at the start of Qualification

Hamilton in a later interview admitted that he was supposed to allow Alonso thru at the top of Q3. It was a clear arrangement when alternatively both drivers would be allowed to benefit from the extra lap earned by heading the field in qualification. Lewis got his turn at Germany and it was Alonso’s turn here. He said and I quote(partially quoted as I have been unable to get the entire text of the interview):

“I was at the end of the pitlane; there was me, Fernando and Kimi. Just with the situation, I didn’t want to disrupt the opportunity that I had.

“I didn’t want to mess up my opportunity by changing places or whatever there was to do, and be open to being overtaken by Kimi and losing my place.

“So then it would have not allowed me to get an extra lap. So that’s why we had the disagreement, because I didn’t agree with it and I didn’t do what they wanted me to do.”

Now I understand if Kimi was between Alonso and Lewis, then it would be understandable for Lewis to scrap the plan and go ahead but Alonso was right behind him and even parked the car at a very good position at the end of pit lane to facilitate it! Lewis drove hard and ignored team radio and did not let Alonso thru.

Ok Lewis is a competitive guy but what does the whole incident tell you about his team commitment? I am certain that at that level of racing that the team had taken for granted the agreement and set Alonso and Lewis’ fuel loads according to who would get how much laps and when they would pit. A decision by the driver without consent from his team might benifit him but it can seriously backfire on the team!

Even if Lewis had radioed back and expressed his concerns that allowing Alonso thru would leave him venerable to Kimi, the team would have asked Alonso to push and get a gap to Kimi and then take back his position. Instead he ignored the radio and decided to keep the advantage!

If you watch the video from Alonso’s onboard camera you will get to see frantic hand waving by the Spaniard in the first few laps of Quali! Lewis was driving the wheels of his car at the time making sure that Alonso had to overtake him on track.

Lewis’ claim that both drivers could have got that extra lap needs to be examined. Even if Alonso had kept right behind the Briton he would have to wait behind him in the pits or do his hot laps on alternative laps to be able to complete as many laps. Something that would have thrown back advantage to Lewis who would have also got the final and the most advantageous lap with fresh tyres.

What Mc Laren could have done:

Mc Laren could have disciplined Lewis by
1. Making him pit earlier than required in the race.

Interesting option but that would have been hard to execute. Lewis would simply have said… hey dont we have an 1-2 what more do you want. Lets just race and finish 1-2 in the race.

2. letting Alonso thru and holding the Briton in the pits instead

This should have been controlled by the lollipop man. But I believe that the work of that person in the pitlane is to worry about if the tyres are fitted in fine and if the pit lane is clear to let the car go. He probably does not take orders on when to hold and release the driver. The whole releasing the driver is given by the radio based on track info(atleast according to Mc Laren)

What do I think happened?

Version 1: Alonso radios in saying Lewis is not running according to plan… tells his race engineer to find a way to that he is the one getting the last shot at qualification on fresh tyres.

This is very uncharacteristic of Alonso… but who knows

Version 2: Alonso radios in saying… And the race engineer decides to fix it in the pit lane

The most possible scenario according to me. The race engineer would have enough access and time to calculate what exact moment Alonso had to move to get the desired result.

Version 3: No Conspiracy just a bundle of errors

If this was the case you have to feel for Alonso and Mc Laren! The drivers were out of sequence thanks to Lewis’ bravado and now the team had to recalculate when which driver would pit and that would give them how much fuel in the race ect. Obviously each race engineer would do it for his specific driver and try to get them in a position to maximize the result.

This unfortunately does not fit well with the incidents and is at best only partially true.

So What do I think Happened

I believe Lewis was punished for this disregard to the team… The manner of the punishment was blunt and probably handed out by someone unworthy of handing it out… and that is why Mc Laren will be stripped of its earned points in the race… A decision that I feel is partially fair. But can a team be blamed for the actions of one or two individuals (reminds me of a recent incident)

What about the penalty on Alonso?

I believe the Stewards might have felt that Alonso was an unfortunate passenger in the issue. That is why a 5 place penalty was imposed as against a standard stripping of times in Q3(for impeding) or total stripping of times(as in Schumacher’s case in Monaco 2006). There is clear doubt in their decision but they wanted to make sure that the damaged party(read Lewis) got a fair deal without totally damaging Alonso’s chances. I feel his last lap should have just been been deleted and that would have meant he started in the second place.

What does this mean for all remaining races?

Lewis might just have opened a pandora’s box here. His decision in the start snowballed into a full fledged controversy… Obviously sane judgment along the way could have reduced the damage considerably but what has been done has been done.

The loss of trust will be a big hit. Expect neither driver to help setup the other’s car in future races, expect inter-team conflicts and personnel taking sides…

All in all… For Mc Laren, Dark times lie ahead…