I don't think the tyre strategy was questionable at all. It looked like it was going to pay off for the longest time. If Alonso had pit, Hamilton could have likely won and it would be viewed as genius. They were right to try it.
lol, blaming the tyre strategy, the only Merc driver who can have a moan about the strategies is Rosberg, who lost something like a net 15 places to Hamilton under the SC due to strategy decisions.
I'd put that down to luck given it happened right as Rosberg had gone past the pits. Sometimes Safety cars work for you... sometimes they shaft you royally.
yeah, and it was 'only' 11 places. I'm going to guess Alonso was the first person who was able to enter who did. It was the game changer.
It's probably irrelevant now as they are changing the rules but it's unfair that cars could pit and gain an advantage like that due to a safety aspect. Probably should have made a rule to close the pit lane instantly.
yeah, it would be a fairer way of doing it, and probably safer, drivers 'racing' down the pitlane could've closed the pitlane had they become tangled.
Yeah... possibly. Only downside to that particular rule is when people just have to come in, which is more of an issue when there's refuelling really.
Always used to be the way, but some found it unfair during the refuelling ear as it meant having to get fuel or run out, then getting a penalty. As fuel stops are no longer an issue, closing the pit lane for say 2 laps would now work and no one would be so badly disadvantaged as before.
I suppose we shoudn't moan too much, at the end of the day without it we wouldn't have had the grandstand finish we had today.
Rosberg pitted when he was BEHIND Hamilton and came out 20 seconds later stuck behind a 3-car train bookended by Raikonnen's Ferrari for the next lap..... so did Hamilton therefore not err by not immediately covering off Rosberg's pit - i.e. should Hamilton have pitted as soon as his side of the garage noted that Rosberg would not be able to capitalise on new tyres straight away? If he had done so, not only would he comfortably have the tyres to fend off Rosberg, he also would have caught up with Alonso with two laps to spare (like Rosberg), except he would have had the tyres to take second....
I think this is probably what Toto was alluding to when he inferred that Nico could have won the race. If they had let Nico get into clean air and then mirrored his strategy with Lewis we would have had an almighty finish with the fastest cars on the fastest compound. Instead they probably hindered both drivers.
Interesting point but you can not make strategy calls after the event. Hamilton would have needed a 24 second advantage over Rosberg to ensure that if he pitted then he would rejoin ahead of him. He had that advantage on laps 59 and 60. But Rosberg was reducing that gap substantially every lap. Would you have taken that gamble going with real time information? I wouldn’t. http://184.106.145.74/f1-championsh..._11_HUN_F1_R0_Timing_RaceHistoryChart_V01.pdf Mercedes blundered by putting Hamilton on prime tyres when everyone stated before the race that options were faster and just as durable. Mercedes do not seem to think on their feet. Hamilton would be better off with a strategist purely focussed on him rather than blindly sticking to set plans laid in concrete.
It's easy to have hindsight after the fact, I'm sure McLaren would have loved to have changed their strategy if they could. If's, buts' maybe's, it did remind me of 'the good old days' before tyre rules when someone would opt for the one (or no) stop strategy and just poodle around and end up in the lead on slow tyres whilst someone else would chase them down, usually either Mansell or Senna.
update 1.3 We now have 8 races remaining. So lets look at the WDC conditions - If Rosberg wins 4 more races and finishes 2nd in the remaining 4 (including Abu Dhabi) then he will be champion - Hamilton needs to win 5 races including Abu Dhabi and finish 2nd in the other 3 to win. Lets look at the WCC now as its slowly drawing to a close.. - If mercedes score a 1-2 in the next 4 races and red bull score a 3-4 then they will be crowned champions. So Thats Japan. but it is highly likely we are looking at a victory before then in Italy or Singapore. As a bit of fun. How about a prediction run for the last 8 races. (highlight the races in blue for a Hamilton victory and Red for a Rosberg victory) Belgium Italy Singapore Japan Russia USA Brazil Abu Dhabi
'In 12 pulsating minutes, Lewis Hamilton transformed the theme of this World Championship into "every man for himself"', wrote Kevin Eason in The Times, whilst in the Independent David Tremayne said 'immediately after the Hungarian Grand Prix Lewis Hamilton looked like somebody who knew he had to face the music at Mercedes after deliberately disobeying orders to let Nico Rosberg overtake'. Eason went on to explain the reasons behind the call from the pitwall: 'Hamilton faced a final stint on deteriorating medium tyres, but Rosberg would take a set of soft rubber, which are about one second a lap faster, for the run-in to the line. For it to work, Rosberg had to get away from Hamilton to set a series of superfast laps and take an extra pitstop. 'Mercedes had devised an emergency strategy and it was still for Rosberg to win – not because he was German as the conspiracy theorists would have it, but because he had the better chance.' Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg both provided heated radio exchanges with the pit lane during the Hungarian Grand Prix. Letting a sister car running an alternative strategy through is not unusual in F1 and as Daniel Johnson alluded to in The Daily Telegraph, Rosberg has already been asked to do so to Hamilton's benefit during their time as team-mates. 'Last year in Malaysia Rosberg was told to hold station behind Hamilton, which he did,' he wrote. 'Later in the season in Germany, Rosberg moved aside at Hamilton's request because the two were on a different strategy.' He added: 'There will be ruminations throughout the summer break as the Mercedes top brass try to establish fresh rules of engagement.' However, Jonathan McEvoy believes it may not matter what Mercedes bosses come up with as Hamilton is proving uncontrollable. 'It was an act of regrettable insubordination, one that took the gloss off a wonderful recovery drive that took Hamilton, whose car burst into flames in qualifying, from a pit-lane start to a third-place finish,' he wrote in the Daily Mail. 'He was putting his own needs above those of the team. He may even have denied them victory, through Rosberg. 'The team were doing their best to protect Hamilton – as they always do – and smooth over the searching questions the controversy prompted [after the race]. Can anyone control Hamilton? Seemingly not given that Wolff said there would be 'no ramifications' for this act of disobedience. Lewis Hamilton says not letting Nico Rosberg pass was the right decision for him. Hamilton finished one place ahead of his team-mate in third. 'That means Lewis can blithely do as he pleases.' On a more positive note, there was also praise for how entertaining the 70 laps at the Hungaroring had been given that earlier in the weekend talk had centred on how to improve 'the show'. 'There is nothing wrong with the product, it is the salesman who has no idea how to sell it,' wrote Eason. 'The Hungarian Grand Prix was the best entertainment in town, an epic adventure with a cliffhanging finale that no one could call with confidence.'
