What's so hard to understand? If the driver thinks he's got time to come in for a fresh set of tires and still be in the lead, why wouldn't he be tempted to take that choice? He doesn't know exactly where the other cars are- that's the pit walls job. They miscalculated and Ham paid the price. It isn't any more simple or complex than that. Move on.
Don't think so. I thought that affected coaching. This was simply a case of decision makers trusting erroneous data and not challenging the 'black box'.
Here is what actually happened... Let's review what Hamilton said properly... Nowhere did Ham say he wanted to pit...Over the course of the lap Hamilton noticed a screen which indicated that the Merc crew were out in the pits. He hadn't been told anything about pitting so logically assumed that this meant Nico was pitting. Based on this, he raised concerns about his tyres and was then told to come in to pit (again, his saying this being posited on the assumption that his team mate had pitted). This is clearly the team's failure and not his. The driver's have a lot to do over the course of the race and it's the strategists job to determine strategy. This begs the question, why were Merc even out in the pits? Why didn't they confirm that Nico was not pitting? I gather this all happened in the space of 15 seconds or so but to blame Hamilton is preposterous. As an aside, if someone has access to the entire radio transcript for the race it would be awesome if they could post it up so we can see what really happened (word for word).
LH made an argument to pit with the data he had based on erroneous assumptions. Takes 2 and its a clear lack of 'situational awareness'. Period.
Lewis gave feedback regarding his tyres. This is what good drivers are meant to do. The information the team relayed to him was confusing at best. You people only take that stance to try and get under our skins. We all know it.
As an aside, I think both Hamilton and Rosberg handled it well. Hamilton was very gracious; ironic that some are saying he handled it badly yet these same people are Senna fans...who crashes his own car and throws a tantrum for 2 days. Rosberg also handled himself impeccably. He was visibly happy (as anyone who got pounded all weekend and was 26.8 secs behind and suddenly got gifted a free victory would be) but he was also gracious about it and was the first to admit he didn't deserve it. That was great to see.
+1 Inheriting a win after the leader has some misfortune is not uncommon. What makes it special in this case is that winner and loser are in the same team, already embroiled in a heated rivalry.
It shows that the F1 drivers are coached to the extend that they don't think for themselves. When Hamilton was told to "box, box, box", he didn't even question the reason why; he relies completely on a strategy decided in the pits by his team. This time, he got screwed! Banning the radio communication would stop that nonsense. Riders don't need radio in MotoGP, they just race!
They were both confused and clearly-- hence the incredible call to pit and they both agree'd. Lewis inferred a stop was called for. Dont you ever refer to me as 'you people'. Grow up! Better yet leave with your bias and trash.
Whatever the case, lets face it ...for some on here no matter WHAT Hamilton does it will be wrong or his fault...
+1 Also drivers don't need to know other team's and driver's strategies. They should just race and make decisions based on what is good for them. The fact that they were afraid of Ferrari coming in and change to Super softs, screwed them up.
This appears to be one of the factors, but seriously, haven't they worked out that it is nearly impossible to pass at Monaco? As Ham himself demonstrated- you can have the best car and the freshest tires and still find it impossible to get passed. There is no rational way to explain this other than a humongous error of team judgement based on an over reliance on historical track data which itself was flawed. They've got Airbus syndrome and need to re-learn the art of race management without computer control.
toil: "Here is what actually happened... Let's review what Hamilton said properly... Nowhere did Ham say he wanted to pit... “I saw a screen and it looked like the team was out [in the pits]. It looked like Nico had pitted. I thought the guys behind were pitting, so when the team said stay out, I said the tyres were dropping temperature, and I was assuming that these guys would be on options and I would be on the harder tyre, so they said to pit. I did that and came in thinking with full confidence the others had done the same.” What?! Perhaps your blinkers have blinded you to what is obvious from your own quote. 1. "The team said stay out" 2. Ham expressed his doubt about that and made it clear that he wanted to pit. Stupidly the team then said OK if you want to, come in. 3. It didn't work. Therefore it is "the team's fault", despite the fact they told him to stay out in the first place, and if he'd gone with that advice he would have won the race. 4. Of course, one must remember that if it worked it would be just another example of Ham's genius... Laughable
I dont believe Merc did it for that reason. They saw a 20 second gap "ensured" by the Virtual safety car and decided to put fresh rubber on. At that instant in time it was a prudent decision. An moment later the real safety car came out. A twist of fate.
PS; as far as Mclaren finally scoring points. This far into a season I don't really think thats a cause for celebration but guess it is.
Mercedes was very lucky that their other driver was holding the second spot and became leader, otherwise, it would have been a complete catastrophe for them. That's what happens when people want to be too clever ...
That's a start, for a team trying to catch up, with a new PU, and starved of testing. I think McLaren-Honda should completely write off this season, and consider any outing on the track (practice, qualifs or races) as a test session to build up for next year.
Agree. They only had 24 or 25 laps on the soft tires...they got 39 out of the super-softs, during which time LH marveled at how well they were holding up with 35 laps on them. I understand not wanting to give an advantage to Vet or Ros, but he had the lead car so the onus was on them to find a way past. Even if there was a VSC, it wasn't necessary for him to pit. At this point, it's all in the rear view. They (team + Ham) made a mistake and it cost a win. On to Canada
