What Was Alonso Thinking??? *****SPOILERS*****

What on earth was Alonso thinking of not coming into the pits with the damaged front wing? What ever it was it cost him BIG. Does anyone know if he was told to come in, I never heard the announcers say.

 

Ferrari made the decision, not FA.

According to reports.

 

Buxton said, live, that the pit crew was ready & prepared for him, new wing in-hand.

 

They were also putting fresh toilet paper in the restroom.

Neither event really proves anything.

 

Haven't you heard? Zo never does anything wrong.
It was Ferrari's fault Zo ran into Vettel.

Those calls to "preserve tires" have nothing to do with Massa not teleporting to the front (after the early stop dropped him to 20th), but -- despite the team being in the pits with a new nose -- it was Ferrari that reached out and turned Alonso's wheel away from the pits.

Absolutely nothing that happens to the Wizard of Zo has anything to do with Zo.
Steppneygate wasn't Alonso's fault -- he was an innocent bystander.
The intentional crash at Singapore wasn't Alonso's fault -- he knew nothing, nooothink.

And the team killer being picked up by Ferrari, when nobody else would touch him, had nothing at all to do with Sponsor money.




(Anyone remember, years ago, back when Kimi's car broke at that flaw in the street course, and everyone said that Ferrari never tells the truth about a mistake?)

 

Toilet paper wouldn't have helped alonso's wing.

The "live feed" strongly suggests that the pit crew was ready, and expecting Alonso to pit. That was 100% Buxton's view, live from the pits during the event.

Everything after the race is hindsight and damage control.

 

And what else would you expect the crew to do as soon as they see the wing damaged? Standard operating procedures.

What wasn't standard is the team boss not calling him in. There is no way Alonso can see the condition of his wing.

 

I'm no fan of Alonso (although I like him a lot better than in years past), but no way in hell he'd ignore an order to pit his damaged car, especially without being able to assess the damage (and risk) himself IMO. You need to give him more credit than that.

The better question is who's call at Ferrari was that. Wouldn't want to be in his shoes when facing the wrath of LM .

 

Stefano Domenicalli.

But, he survived worse before.

 

Is it not also standard operating procedure, to pit at the first opportunity with a damaged front wing? That's clearly what the pit crew was expecting (according to Buxton, live in the pits during the event).

 

I agree, even if Alonso wanted to stay out, the team should have made him come in. End of story. Teams fault.

 

No way SD wanted him to stay out. I believe that this was an Alonzo call. He blew it.

So did Vettel.

 

Yup. In situations like this they always ask the driver what his opinion is, if he thinks the car was just fast enough so he didn't need to stop twice in very few laps, as he obviously thought. The offer was there...all he had to do was steer towards the pitlane. Hindsight and all that...

 

Well, this much seems clear ... the buck stops with Domenicali. No matter who made the call, it's his responsibility, no matter what.

 

Yah, right... Buxton. Great source of accurate information.

Look, ANY TEAM that doesn't immediately get ready for a wing change as soon as they see wing damage or an incident is not a pro-racing team. You would be the stupidest trained crew in the world to not understand to get ready for the boss to make the call for the car to come in or stay out.

The team boss.

The pit crew was expecting? Everyone in the universe was expecting.

I'm still trying to figure out how Alonso could actually see the condition of his wing to make that judgment. Did he fly out of the car and hover around the front at 150mph? Or maybe he took a seat on the back of Vettel's rear wing and had a bit of a gander at it?

 

100% correct.

 

How exactly would you make a driver come in who just stays out?

 

And your evidence for this is???

BTW; I hate to break it to you but space aliens didn't make the Great Pyramids either. Egyptians did.

 

I hate to bring this up, but I think Vettel brake-checked Alonso. Alonso closed up on him once and almost hit, then did it again 2 secs later, resulting in the broken wing. He pulled an Alonso on Alonso (think back to the epic battle between Zo/Schu at Monza when FA won his first WDC), but FA wasn't prepared for it.

 

Well, it starts with actually telling him.

 

Buxton is a good source, simply because he was in the pits, live, unlike the rest of us.

The way I see it, the damage to the front wing was pretty damn bad. Who was more likely to encourage/advocate staying out for an extra couple laps: the guy who could see how bad the damage was ... or the guy who couldn't?

 

No, I don't think so. Too much going on with wet tires to be that good. Look, Vettel could have just as easily been taken out by Alonso hitting him. What good would that do him?

Vettel is good but he can't see the future.

 

I would have thought tires had as much to do with the decision to hold off from pitting right away. If the track looked like it was going to be good enough to change to dry tires, they would have done the wing and tires at the same time.

 

Buxton: Who do you believe? Me or your lying eyes?

This was a team boss mistake. Even they admit it. Saying Domenicalli is falling on his sword for his driver is stupid. The conversations are monitored and everyone would look like an idiot.

 

I am sure a race driver as experienced as Alonso does not just need visual confirmation to know how much the wing is damaged.He should straightaway feel the change in downforce levels,the car understeering at the front,feeling lighter,speeds faster slower and change in grip.He kept going pretty fast and i am very sure he got an idea of what has changed in the car in a few turns.

Maybe he felt he was good enough for another lap because he hadnt really slowed down much and things were holding up,so he made the call.Or maybe Stefan had made the call.I am not sure,but i what i am sure is both parties knew the extent of damage and how long that wing will hold and at what benefit.

Come what may it was a very bad decision.Regardless of the fact that whether it might have given FA an edge if they had managed to pull it off,but he risked himself and other drivers there big time(wing breaks up of at high speed hitting his helmet?or someone else down the straight?).