2012 German GP - Hockenheim

[HVS5b]

This is just a harebrained theory, out of the blue.

People were crying foul of the Red Bulls getting away with the mapping shenanigans earlier before the race. Could this perhaps be "affirmative action" on the stewards' part? By that I mean - they were afraid that the public would perceive them as favoring Red Bull? Maybe, for example, the stewards found the case either borderline legal, or perhaps on the fence, but decided to do this to quell thoughts that they were perhaps favoring Red Bull. Thoughts?

Must admit, that was exactly my initial reaction. Nevertheless the penalty was deserved.

SV once again throwing the toys out the pram when things are not going exactly to plan, beginning to like the man (and his team) less and less with each passing race. A shame really because it's all so unnecessary.

I bow and scrape at the feet of Alonso. Genius driver and kudos must go to Dominicali for helping turn their season around, he has always come across very well on the BBC interviews.

[Nando]

They did....but did you notice neither JB or LH could pass FA in Germany? Just a thought...

I don´t think Hamilton wanted to pass Alonso to be fair. He was clearly there to mess with Vettel.
In order to help Button.

Remember his car was damaged as well.. he came on the radio said he did not feel comfortable and just before that he set the fastest lap of the race at the time.
And he had fresh rubber. He could have gobbled up Alonso if he wanted to.

The Vettel thing would have worked on track had it not been for Button shooting his tires.

[raymondu999]

They did....but did you notice neither JB or LH could pass FA in Germany? Just a thought...

I don´t think Hamilton wanted to pass Alonso to be fair. He was clearly there to mess with Vettel.
In order to help Button.

Remember his car was damaged as well.. he came on the radio said he did not feel comfortable and just before that he set the fastest lap of the race at the time.
And he had fresh rubber. He could have gobbled up Alonso if he wanted to.

The Vettel thing would have worked on track had it not been for Button shooting his tires.

Not convinced. Hamilton had damage, and his pace was deteriorating as the race went on. I'm not sure he would leave Alonso alone - if he had the pace I'm sure he would've tried overtaking. The two aren't exactly best friends.

[Nando]

Not convinced. Hamilton had damage, and his pace was deteriorating as the race went on. I'm not sure he would leave Alonso alone - if he had the pace I'm sure he would've tried overtaking. The two aren't exactly best friends.

Yea he had damage but it wasn´t a factor when he was 1m from Alonso.
It wasn´t like he had problems catching Alonso, he just never presented an attack in the DRS zone.
It was obvious his job was to help Button with Vettel.
Vettel just dropped after that and apart from the pit stop that was what really allowed Button to get by Vettel.

They aren´t full-fledged enemies either, small-talking and joking on press conferences means you don´t hate each other.

[Kiril Varbanov]

Hard to judge myself, being overly modest in general

I have strong mechanical inclination, used to be a mechanic apprentice, following the sport since 1988. I have prior media experience, used to study aerodynamics along with a real aircraft pilot, I have done two CFD simulations in the past (all unofficial, I keep low profile), so it's mostly based on trust and knowing each other well - the first TV appearance, then it was "great job", so the second invitation came.
There are other bits and pieces in my life which are unrelated to F1, but my outlays are mainly for books (aero stuff).

I still wonder why people like Scarbs don't get a full time F1 job - he's, well, very talented, at least, but I guess the rivalry in UK is tough. Oh, AMG has just posted that: "How to get a job in F1".

Enough with myself, thank you for your interest, once again, some proper racing was seeing in Germany this weekend, I hope to see more of the same in Hungary.

[Pierce89]

They did....but did you notice neither JB or LH could pass FA in Germany? Just a thought...

I don´t think Hamilton wanted to pass Alonso to be fair. He was clearly there to mess with Vettel.
In order to help Button.

Remember his car was damaged as well.. he came on the radio said he did not feel comfortable and just before that he set the fastest lap of the race at the time.
And he had fresh rubber. He could have gobbled up Alonso if he wanted to.

The Vettel thing would have worked on track had it not been for Button shooting his tires.

You honestly believe Hamilton was specifically helping Button? Please!!

[Shrieker]

At the time I thought Hamilton was genuinely pushing to overtake Alonso. I think the car wasn't quick enough to do that, damage might've contributed also.

[Nando]

You honestly believe Hamilton was specifically helping Button? Please!!

Yes i do. Hamilton was out with a broken car, he wanted to retire, the team then told him to get out.
Why? probably because they realized he could make it tricky for both Alonso and Vettel.
Team work in my opinion and a win/win situation for Button and Hamilton.

[Owen.C93]

I don't think that was the case because noone knew how fast Lewis was going to be, they sent him out because the car wasn't badly damaged and Lewis was just upset. Then he started messing with the leader while leaving Jenson alone and and it was a happy coincidence.

[morefirejules08]

You honestly believe Hamilton was specifically helping Button? Please!!

Yes i do. Hamilton was out with a broken car, he wanted to retire, the team then told him to get out.
Why? probably because they realized he could make it tricky for both Alonso and Vettel.
Team work in my opinion and a win/win situation for Button and Hamilton.

Im not sure how you think McLaren could know on lap 3 when they told lewis to go back out that he would be in a position to upset vettel some 32 laps later

[Nando]

Im not sure how you think McLaren could know on lap 3 when they told lewis to go back out that he would be in a position to upset vettel some 32 laps later

I think they saw with Button that he had pace to win the race. Which he in a way had.
But again, its just my opinion. I think it was pure team work.

On lap 10 button was already up to third for example.

[hardingfv32]

Is there a chance that Hamilton just used up his tires getting as far as Alonso. That Hamilton was not managing his tires properly or the team did not know how to manage then do to the rain sessions.

Brian

[Jackles-UK]

Is there a chance that Hamilton just used up his tires getting as far as Alonso. That Hamilton was not managing his tires properly or the team did not know how to manage then do to the rain sessions.

Brian

If you're one to believe the "McLaren-used-Lewis-to-help-Jenson-jump-Vettel" theory then it could be that rather than being a little reserved with tyres at warm-up as is usual these days he was told to just nail a few quali laps, try to have Vettel/Alonso and then retire shortly after that. Did he make another stop (for tyres rather than retiring) after the unlapping fiasco?

[otbsti]

If you're one to believe the "McLaren-used-Lewis-to-help-Jenson-jump-Vettel" theory then it could be that rather than being a little reserved with tyres at warm-up as is usual these days he was told to just nail a few quali laps, try to have Vettel/Alonso and then retire shortly after that. Did he make another stop (for tyres rather than retiring) after the unlapping fiasco?

To answer your question; yes he did stop for tires again after the unlapping incident. I think that Hamilton actually did help Button by engaging in the unlapping debacle as it no doubt put some distance in between Vettel and Alonso and slowed Vettel down just enough to get overtaken in the pit sequence. In regards to Lewis coming back in for tires again, I'd have to assume he was out there for data gathering purposes. There was never a hope for scoring points after being a lap down, so it came down to data acquisition and seeing what a lower fuel load did with the softs.

[strad]

You honestly believe Hamilton was specifically helping Button? Please!!

Yes i do. Hamilton was out with a broken car, he wanted to retire, the team then told him to get out.
Why? probably because they realized he could make it tricky for both Alonso and Vettel.
Team work in my opinion and a win/win situation for Button and Hamilton.

Of course he messed with Vettlel...That's his job.