http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hhdS88pYcugw7IOiwqyn40P-fX3Q SAO PAULO (AFP) German driver Timo Glock reacted with astonishment on Monday when he was confronted with suggestions that he slowed down and gifted Briton Lewis Hamilton the drivers world title in Sunday's Brazilian Grand Prix. The Toyota driver, who was in fifth place on the final lap of the 71-laps race, was unable to resist Hamilton's charge to pass him for that position as they went into the final corner of the contest. If Hamilton had finished sixth, home hero Brazilian Felipe Massa would have been the champion but Glock, running on worn dry-weather tyres in heavy rain, lost the grip he needed just as Hamilton, on wet-weather tyres, pushed for glory. He said: "It was a hard race and I tried my best to get some points for Toyota. "Six laps from the end I asked about the tyre situation, and about the weather conditions, and I said every time 'I'll stay out, one more lap, one more lap' and at the end I stayed out for the whole race "That last lap just cost us the chance to be in the top five, and in the end (decided) the world championship. I think at the end I didn't give the title to Lewis - I think they worked for that the whole year, and Felipe as well. "They both did a really great job all year and in the end it was a dramatic finale. "I think it's exactly what the fans want to see - maybe the Brazilian fans are not on my side any more but I tried my best and drove my race, and in the end I can't change it." Formula One tyres are made to have optimum operating temperatures, but when they drop below that they rapidly lose grip and this hits their lap times. The teams have computer-generated maps showing them the exact location of all the cars on the circuit at all times, giving them instant calculations on what may happen next. McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh said their data told them Hamilton would catch Glock and pass him on the final lap. He said: "At the end, we could see the rain coming and the pressure was building for us all. "We know how slippery and difficult it is in those conditions and we made, I think, all the right calls. "But we had to believe in ourselves that we had made the right calls, that we shouldn't have taken big risks defending against a charging Vettel, who had none of the pressure Lewis had. "It was super disciplined to believe that in not fighting with and potentially losing it with Vettel that in the final lap we would catch Glock. "But it's one thing having that belief and that view. Once you get into that last lap you start to wonder if you've got it right. "We were obviously telling Lewis throughout that what was happening so he knew he had to keep it together, not panic, not do anything dangerous with Vettel and just to do his job to catch Glock and win the world championship. "As we went through that last lap, we could see Glock falling back and the predictions were we would catch him, but until we did. Well, we were nervous to say the least."
"The Toyota driver, who was in fifth place on the final lap of the 71-laps race, was unable to resist Hamilton's charge to pass him for that position as they went into the final corner of the contest." baloney..............in the FINAL CORNER?????????? give me a break.
LOL; give it a rest...Glock has admitted in the past that he is no fan of Hamilton's. If he were driving a car that had ANY association with McLaren of Mercedes, then your whining may have some validity. He was in a Toyota!!!! They need every point possible.... I'm a Ferrari fan, so don't think I'm a McLaren disciple, but good lord are some of you uptight.... It was the right outcome.... Go enjoy your lives.. Kevin S Orchard Park, NY
For putting spoiler threads on here with titles that give away race or season results. I believe he's done it more than once. Probably a 24 hour ban, I can check if you really need to know. Dave
+1 and what really pi$$es me off is that with over 2,000 posts he *still* doesn't seem to get it. I didn't watch quali or the race until late last night and Jim was the primary reason I didn't come near these forums over the weekend. Returning to the OP, and having now done some catching up, I can't believe the hatred and vitriol being directed at the guy - I've watched it numerous times now and he was struggling to keep it on the island, let alone having any chance of holding anyone up in that situation. If only a few of the people herein had the class FM exhibited after the race the world would be a better place IMHO. The bad guys won, but at least "we" got the WCC, it was incredibly exciting and came down to the last corner of the last race (albeit with a little FIA interference). - Nascrap would give anything to have a finish to the season like that. On to 2009! Forza Ferrari! Cheers, Ian
Translation: "I'm pissed because I wanted Glock to veer over the track and block a much-much faster Hamilton to artificially restrict Lewis' pace so that my team could win!" At least say what you really mean.
I too am terribly disappointed in having lost the WDC by ONE point, but get real. Have you ever driven a high-horsepower cars ON SLICKS in a sudden downpour? I'm amazed he didn't end up like Kimi in the barriers at the end of Spa. Look at the in-car from both Hami and Kimi the last few laps at Spa (after the "incident"). The cars become uncontrollable. Glock was the ONLY one on slicks at the end. Glock lost seventeen seconds that final lap. It took five seconds for him to negotiate the corner that Hamster and Vettel got around him. He should be counting his lucky stars he even crossed the finish line. Well done, Massa. SF, y'all need to pick it up...
The only thing that keeps me from believing it was fair play is that this part of the track happened to be completely dry. Although SRT Mike has great points which open my eye to the possibility of "no foul play", the fact that the track is dry leads me to believe otherwise along with TG being outside of the line out of the previous corner. I want to be objective and fair, so feedback is appreciated. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Dry or wet on that part of the track is irrelavant. Fact is that for a good part of the lap Glock was on worn dry tires that were heavily cooled by a wet track compounded by the fact he could not generate any heat in his tires due to aero load. Translation: When Glock got to the drier part of the track his tires were stone cold and had no grip. The difference between a hot tire and a cold one is beyond night and day in its performance. Glock was a sitting duck but it was cut really close. Anyone remember the Indy 500 in 2006? Close finish but Hornish Jr held ALL the cards despite being behind at the last corner.
I don't think you can tell if it's wet or dry from the pic, to be honest. If you look at the video posted in the post after yours, you can watch the race and notice 2 things.... 1) Water drops hitting and running off the visor of Hamilton 2) A lighter colored dry groove on the track It's most slippery when it's damp, not soaking wet (forgetting hydroplaning), and if you watch the replay, Hamilton went off line in a long sweeping turn. Glock was on the outside. IMO, there is nothing Glock could have done. He was in the turn - a long turn. Hamilton on wet tires had way more grip. Hamilton was easily able to just cruise down the inside on a tighter line, going faster, and Glock had nothing to say about it. IMO, if Glock had turned in, firstly it would be a really really aggressive blocking move. Second, you are only allowed one such move per corner... Hamilton would have just swung to the outside and went by. I don't think there was anything Glock could have done. If he had turned into the inside of the corner, he would be carrying too much speed and would likely spin. It like if we put you in your Ferrari and send you out when it's ice all over the roads... you'd be clinging to the wheel for dear life. I imagine the last thing you'd be concerned about is zipping across the road to keep someone else behind you. Bear in mind also that Glock's whole mindset with the tire decision was 2 things... 1) Just go as fast as you can, and 2) KEEP IT ON THE TRACK. It's so easy to skid off on slicks in the wet (or damp). He knew he had nothing to offer the faster cars on wet tires, all he could do was just go as quick as he can and keep it on the track, and try to hit the finish line before too many of the guys who pitted passed him... and it worked, because he picked up at least 1 (if not more) positions from his strategy. Also, as Ian said... think of it rationally... how would it go down? Ron Dennis talks to every driver before the race and offers a bribe to move over IF they are the one in the catbird seat? Sounds silly when you say it like that... so we can discount it. Or Ron sends someone to run to Toyota and get someone there to agree to tell Glock to slow up and let Hamilton by? But does anyone honestly truly think that could happen? If Toyota said no and told the FIA, then McLaren likely gets a DQ for bringing the sport into disrepute... and all it takes is one person in Toyota or Glock himself to expose the fraud and it would all be over. And who in Toyota can make such a decision so quickly? That's upper-level team boss type stuff. No way did Glock move over intentionally... and it couldn't just be Glock himself doing it because McLaren have no way to contact him other than through the team, and unless McLaren approached every driver before the race, how could they know it could be Glock? And none of the drivers would spill the beans? Of course they would! So, we can very safely say there was no instruction for Glock to move over. So why didn't he put up a harder fight? Again, slick tires on a wet track... with 2 guys fighting for the WDC zipping by on dry tires who are 15+ seconds a lap quicker than him... and it wasn't just a little quick turn where he could just turn in early and squeeze the other guy - this is a long sweeping turn where if he goes off the dry line, he's toast... it was a foregone conclusion that Lewis was gonna get him, IMO, and I don't think Glock did anything but his very best to beat all the others and the same goes for Hamilton. Dry tires + wet track + dry racing line you can't move from + faster car on wet tires who can go faster off-line than you can go on the dry line = impossible situation... a pass is imminent and inevitable.
+1, just what I wanted to say. The grip won't return immediately since the tires have been under drop in temperature for 2+ laps already. Rain = low grip = drive slower = lower tire/brake temp = even less grip = drive even slower
Sector2 was where the rain was the worst, and the times prove that. TG through S2 was 9 seconds off the pace of LH. TG through S3 was only 6 seconds off the pace of LH. Similar for Truli. And though Glock was the slowest through S3, the pass was completed within ~3 seconds of being in the sector (less then, but for argument sake). And TG had a faster lap then JT anyways Source..post 666 of this thread.. Sector 3 starts at T11 and the pass happened between 11/12. Image Unavailable, Please Login
You guys make some really great points and I appreciate your respect and courtesy in debating the issue. One thing that often keeps me from posting my opinions is the lack of courtesy from some of the members on here. That said, you've got me 95% convinced with about 5% doubt, so hats off to you both. Now for humor sake, I think LH was the only one sliding all over the track on wets compared to Timo. If we could only get different camera angles focused on this specific event, my 5% would be gone. However, that 5% of me lets me believe that no other camera angles will be released.
Hey no problem. It is easy being respectful when someone asks for clarification or qualifies that their opinion is up for interpretation or debate. It is normally the chest pumping 'my guy is best' people who get slammed. Getting back to the original post 2 things strike me: 1. Any thought of a McLaren to Toyota bribe is crazy. Toyota can buy McLaren 10 times over and not break a sweat. Not only that they need EVERY point they can get if Toyota is not to pull the plug on the F1 program that has yet to bear any real fruit. 2. The biggest issue on the last lap was tires. LH was on the right ones and TG was totally on the wrong ones, worn out, and cold. I do not believe that more camera angles would prove anything. On a fairy high speed corner LH just had MILES more grip than TG. LH may have been sliding but he was doing it at much higher speeds than TG could achieve. This was wonderfully illustrated by Nick Heidfeld at Spa where he passed like 6 cars for position on the last lap. You would think that any driver would be able to hold off a charge for 'just a few more corners' but when the opponent has grip that the other can't begin to dream of, the skill of all the great World Champions combined would not be of help.
On your 1) comment: at the end of the 07 season, I believe Toyota execs threatened to pull the plug on the program by end of 2010 if the results didn't improve. I'd like to think Toyota took this threat seriously as I would definitely call them "most improved" for the season. Let's see what next year brings.
