I can't remember if Lewis had 2 sets of unused softs left, I have a feeling he may not have. I think the safety car put paid to a 3-stop working - he would always have come out in traffic and lost more places than he could have made up.

Lewis Interview Yesterday seemed to be a bit odd, i can't really figure out why through

The McLaren PR lady had firm hold of his balls out of shot.

Yeah I think that might be the interesting thing that it was purely financial. Does this mean whither Lewis stays with McLaren is purely a money decision. No longer about feeling special support from the team and not thinking it is the best place to win championships. Understandable given the team mistakes this year.

In effect Lewis is fully in the shop window and up for sale for the right money.

Lewis may well go if he doesn't win the championship this year, considering the amount of amateur hour errors from McLaren. But I'd wait until after the rule changes in 2014, see who adapts best, and jump then if needed. If Vettel does go to Ferrari which is just a rumour at this stage for 2014, it would clear a space in Red Bull which Lewis could take if he wanted. The likelihood is he will stay at McLaren though.

I think he'll stay at McLaren until 2014, then go to Red Bull only if Vettel goes to Ferrari. I can't see him moving to be Vettel's teammate, and obviously he wouldn't go to Ferrari as long as Alonso's there either, so he doesn't really have anywhere else to go unless Mercedes and/or Lotus step up to such an extent that they become championship-potential options...

Another key factor is Adrian Newey. I believe he has a contract with Red Bull until 2014 (as does Horner) so the whole team could the split up, or they could decide to do a Schumacher/Brawn/Byrne type of move and head to a struggling team, just for the challenge. Red Bull without Horner and Newey might not be such an attractive proposition.

This'd be the same Ron Dennis who, at the last race, couldn't resist telling everybody in Montreal that due to the current economy Hamilton would certainly be forced to take a pay cut as part of any renewed contract?

Hardly surprising that Lewis decided make a similarly public response.

I'm surprised Nicole agreed to hand them over to anybody else.

After the way he was last year when Nicole left him, I would be surprised if he had a pair.

Bah!

Of course he has some.
I believe Nicole is having them made into a nice pair of ear-rings.

Been reading the posts about the last race. A lot of them made me laugh. Some people had no clue, all these calls for PM to be banned Funny didnt hear any of these posters calling for the same last year whilst Hamilton was playing dodgems.

There was one Ferrari fan who is extreme in his view of things, however there are also a couple of Hamilton who also hold the same extreme view. However since the majority of posters are Hamilton fans they dont get called out.

Whilst the accident wasnt Hamiltons fault, not to let PM pass was his own stupidity. There was no way he was going to hold of PM, so the smart thing was to let him pass. He was slowing himself down by fighting with PM, which meant that Schumacher and Webber could have caught him before the end. Hamilton has a lot of skill, pity he hasnt got the brains (or so it appears at times) to go with it.

As for the pit crew for screwing up Hamilton stop, thats not true either. The front jack failed, it was no ones fault. Blaming the pit crew makes no sense. True they have screwed up in the past, but didnt this weekend.

Was gutted when Vettel retired, that was a guaranteed win he missed out on. However was over the moon, when Schumacher finished on the podium. Hopefully Mercedes can provide him with a car that can finish more often. For Alonso to bring that car home in first place, was an absolutely brilliant drive. He had a lot of help of other drivers, but it was still an excellent performance.

Course, the reverse also applies.

Surely if you think Hamilton should have let Maldonado past then the same should have ALSO applied all the times last season when Hamilton crashed while trying to pass a slower car?

Fact is that there were plenty of better opportunities available to PM and his manoevre was clumsy in the extreme, particularly when you consider that he left the track and then caused a collision while rejoining.

While we're at it, can you cite an example of Hamilton leaving the track and then ramming another car while rejoining?

Didn't think so.

I agree with you up to a point. Hamilton needs to think long term. This season every point counts and so far he's been a steady points scorer but defending 3rd to the point of ending up with a DNF is no good. Better to end with a 4th.

However drivers have to trust each other enough to fight for positions without fearing being punted off the circuit and Maldonado is getting a bit of a reputation for himself. What goes for LH goes for him as well - there was no need to take the position there and then - he had time and the pace to take it anyway and he risked his whole race on a risky and ultimately illegal move. LH had every right to defend his position even if ultimately it would have been futile and personally I think Maldonado is lucky to have got away with just the 20 second penalty. He's a talented driver and a star of the future but he needs to cool down.

Each situation hs to be taken on its own merits, you just can not apply a blanket rule. In this instance I believe that Hamilton should have let him pass. Funnily so do a lot of other people.


I didnt blame Hamilton for the accident. Its clear there is only one driver at fault for the accident.


Really you cant think of a an example. I can, let me give you a clue...2008 Canada.


Bet you wish you didnt add that now

I agree with this. This really applies to every driver, especially this season.


I agree with what you say. Hamilton (any driver really) should feel confident that the other driver wont do anything stupid whilst racing. As I said to SI, there is only one driver to blame for this accident, and it isnt Hamilton.

PM could be a good driver in the future, but like you say he needs to calm down and use his brain more. Having loads of skill and no brains wont get you far.

Don't recall Hamilton going off the track in Canada and then ramming another car as he rejoined.

IIRC, he ran into the back of Raikkonen at the pit exit cos he didn't realise th pit exit was closed and Kimmi was parked-up waiting to leave.

Certainly a dumb, rookie mistake but (as you said) hardly comparable to what PM did last weekend.

*EDIT*
I should also say, I thought we were discussing all Hamiltons crashes last year.

I agree and I think he will calm down.

Hamilton was off the track (he was in the pit lane) and ran into the back of a stationary car, whilst joining the track. To be honest I think this incident was worse than what PM did. Avoiding a stationary car has to be easier than avoiding a moving car. Both were easily avoidable though.

Deleted, Its not worth it

Think a bit about braking distances and the bit I've put in bold doesn't work...

And do you really think your argument is helped by you being a pedant about off-track and on? It's clear that the debate was about leaving the circuit into a run-off area and rejoining, not leaving the pit lane, and you were asked for an example of that, so what you're talking about is a different situation entirely, which I doubt anyone here would defend Hamilton for, but which is irrelevant for present purposes.

I'm afraid I don't buy the argument that Lewis should have let Maldonado through - he took the racing line into the corner which he had every right to do, and he was racing the other car. Yes, PM would have overtaken eventually, but could have done so without causing an incident, so should not be getting a free pass forward just because the car in front has no tyres. That's simply not racing, and I'd be surprised if anyone here would suggest otherwise. They were so close to the end of the race that Lewis theoretically could have kept PM behind, or at least until the DRS zone in the next lap, by simply placing his car in the right places. So why should he be denied the chance to defend his place in every legal way, which is what he did? Yes, the points would have been better in the long run, but he couldn't have known that PM would come back onto the track in such a dangerous way.

I like Hamilton, but he's by no means my favourite of the drivers, so I'm not speaking from any biased standpoint, but I do think Maldonado was lucky to get away with the small penalty he got.

The pit lane *is* part of the track.

It's interesting that on lap 10, Grosjean pulled exactly the same manoeuvre on Hamilton around the outside of Turn 12. The difference was that with the Lotus alongside him, Hamilton held a slightly tighter line so Grosjean was able to stay on the track. They didn't collide, but Grosjean got past through 13. Why did Hamilton "let" him past? He didn't have to yield. The fact is that Grosjean was making a legitimate attempt to pass. It wasn't reckless, and it wasn't dangerous. It was racing. When two cars are side by side, it's the responsibilty of both drivers to avoid an accident. They did that, and survived to carry on racing.

When Maldonado challenged and was alongside, Hamilton went wider at Turn 12 with the result that Maldonado ended up off the track. He would no doubt claim that he was "forced" off the track, which isn't allowed. Of course, Hamilton was entitled to hold a line, but Maldonado was also entitled to challenge for the place! It's motor racing!! If the roles had been reversed, I'd have been very surprised if Hamilton hadn't challenged (especially if he'd overtaken another car in the same place on lap 10) and I'd have been equally surprised (and somewhat disappointed!) if he hadn't kept his foot down and tried to "bully" past the other driver. I do have to say that if that had been the case, quite a few people would be calling for Maldonado to be banned for forcing another driver off the track!!

The accident was Maldonado's fault, and he can argue until the cows come home that Hamilton shouldn't have "run him off the track". However, challenging at that place on the track was not reckless or dangerous, so I really cannot understand the calls for him to be more severely punished!

Hamilton didn't have to yield to Maldonado, but he didn't have to yield to Grosjean either. Not giving up on a bad job when Maldonado was alongside him wasn't against the rules, it just wasn't thinking of the big picture.

Given the state of his tyres, I don't think there was much Hamilton could have done to modify his racing line through the corner if he wanted to.

In the situation we were discussing, Hamilton came from a long way behind. He had plenty of braking distance.


The way Si phrased the question, it wasnt clear at all. He asked an open question, which I answered.


Whitmarsh also has said that Hamilton should not have defended so hard. Most people opinions of the incident is that PM fault, but hamilton was stupid for defending so hard. If you want to hold a different opinion, then thats your prerogative, but you are wrong in this instance.

In theory all the cars could have broken down and Kartikayan could have won the race. There is no point in discussing theory, in reality there was no chance that Hamilton could have kept PM behind him.



Your theory, does have a strong bias towards Hamilton. Just out of interest, were you calling for similar penalties last year for Hamilton?