Larry Herman

Who else thinks that Renault made a huge tactical error by bringing Alonso in early? He was clearly faster than Michael and had enough of a gap on 3rd place to trundle around behind him for another 6-8 laps. Then he could have laid down 2 or 3 hot laps, pitted for less time, and easily come out in front of Michael. At that point, he would have an equal or lighter car on fresh tires and could have cruised to the victory. Being stuck behing Michael for a few more laps was no big deal. I think that Renault panicked.

mooty

larry,

michael was slower, but alonso had problem passing him. assuming alonso stayed out a few laps longer, he may still not be able to pass michael, despite MS being slower. and say alonso stayed out 3 more laps and then pitted, MS would have followed into the pit like he did. woudn't the result be the same? just wondering as i have never raced... just a spectator.

Palting

Michael had more gas, and could have stayed out until Alonso ran out of gas. Alonso HAD to pit. Smart move by Ferrari to pit right after Alonso before Alonso could build up speed. Bummer. I was rooting for Alonso.

Larry Herman

Actually, Alonso had more gas. His first pit stop was after Michael's first, and he took on more fuel. He could have outlasted Michael. But you are right, it was very smart of Michael to stop immediately. Every lap that he would have stayed out would have made him fall farther behind.

Mooty, based upon same number of pit stops, if you are running equal times with your opponent and can stay out longer you have a decided advantage. After he pits, your opponent will be heavy with fuel and will be running slower laps while you are very light and can run faster laps. That could gain you some ground on the track, and when you came in for your pit stop, could also take on less fuel for a shorter stop, and exit the pits AHEAD of your opponent. This was classic pit stop strategy, utilized to it's ultimate potential by none other then MS.

I remember a race quite a few years ago where Michael was trailing Mika (I think) by about 3 seconds, and after the second round of pit stops, came out 5 seconds ahead and took the victory. It was insane because everyone thought that Mika had it in the bag. Every aspect of Michael's 2 laps after Mika pitted, his in-lap, and his out-lap were thoroughly dissected to show exactly what had happened.

M758

Hmm, 2005 Imola
A "Slow" Alonso holds up a "Faster" Schumi to win.

2006 Imola
A "Slow" Schumi holds up a 'Faster" Alonso to win.

Interesting reversal of fortune don't you say.
I think however in 2005 the Alonso only held up MS for the last 10 laps or so.
Schmui's car seemed to suck on his 2nd set of tires, but held off Alonso enough to force is pit stratagy and even managed to hold him off for a round of pitstops. 3rd set of tires for MS were good enough to keep Alonso back and even force Alonso to run down his tires in an attempt to pass.

Alonso NEEDED to pass MS in the exhange of pits stops. He failed and was not fast enough on track. Poor planning? Maybe. Bad luck on tough to pass track? Certainly. However that is racing.

I think this win by MS is a great example of well excuting driving and race tactics. Clearly Alonso was faster, but racing is not purely about who is faster. Now it will be interesting to see if this marks a resurgance for Ferrari or it was just a lucky break.

Premier Motorsp

Larry's right. Alonso for sure had more fuel on board. The obvious move was to sit there until MS pitted.

Maybe there is something we don't know. Alonso looked really ragged at the end of the race. I have never seen that before from Alonso. Maybe his car was not 100% either.

Amazing to watch how badly MS and Alonso smoked their teammates. That has to be rough for Fisi and Massa.

I think MS broke his car during the second stint. He looked like he was driving weird lines. I'll bet he knocked the front toe out of whack and then ruined the front tires. The Ferrari engine sure looked good.

Chris Cervelli
Premier Motorsports

Larry Herman

Chris, what exactly is "whack" and how do you know if you're out of it? I hope that my car is in whack. I'll call you tomorrow.

hatchback

At the post-race press conference, Michael acknowledged errors made by his team. Anyone care to speculate which errors he was thinking of?

chris walrod

My first thought [when Alonso pitted early] was good move Renault, get him in since MS was holding Alonso back, A LOT. Then when Ferrari pulled MS in, I thought, ****, there goes Alonso's chance at winning.

Alonso did have more fuel on-board, but at that point in time, the decision to pit Alonso early was SOP, but the fact that Ferrari pitted MS the lap after shot that all to hell. MS pitting a lap later enable Ferrari to fill one lap's worth of fuel less = less fill time.

ALonso's car got off the corner ten times better than the Ferrari, but the Ferrari clearly had the HP advantage. HP always wins (well, almost)

JCP911S

Alonso took the "textbook" strategy when you are being held up by a slower car... pit early and get clear track to expand the gap... each lap you spend behind the slower car is a 1/2 second you lose.

Ferrari made a clever counter-move. Had MS stayed out he would have lost at least 1/2 a second a lap to Alonso... so by coming in immediately, they turned it into a pit-stop battle where, presumably, they have at least an equal chance, if not an advantage...

If Renault made a mistake, it was by not anticipating the Ferrari counter-move, and then showing their hand.. Ferrari could time the Renault stop, and make sure they shortened their stop sufficiently to make sure MS came out ahead of Alonso.... which he did...

Alonso was clearly quicker through the turns, but Ferrari had more speed down the straights... which always gives the defending car the advantage... Alonso's only hope was pressuring MS into a mistake... not likely...Alonso made a good effort, but MS was flawless... Alonso didn't have a chance.

Flying Finn

I agree they should've waited longer (I think Alonso had fuel for 6 more laps).

Similarily I was wondering why didn't McLaren change their strategy and pit Kimi early when he was stuck behind Webber?

Larry Herman

That is the textbook strategy, but you have to examine it in the context of the race. If you were being held up, and the leaders were getting away, then you have to pit. But, if you are ******* the leader, even if he is holding you up, and 3rd place has no chance of catching you, then you wait. You saw what happened when you pit first!

JCP911S

Yup... I bet in hindsight, they wish they'd stayed out. Of course, they didn't know how much fuel MS had on board... if MS could have outlasted Alonso, then they would be in the same boat... interesting

tdf360

I was surprised at JPM outshining Kimi this weekend, very uncharacteristic.

He did say after the race he thought something had been damaged in a curb encounter, but didn't know what.

Gary

MomentumGuy

I wonder if Ferrari went to a two stop strategy instead of a three stop when the saw that they were not pulling away from Alonso the way they needed to. Would that have caused them to add more fuel during the first stop?

Another interesting thing I saw was that the back side of the Ferrari lolipop was a convex mirror. When they flipped it over (presumably to green), the driver could see if the crew was clear.

Wonder if something like this might have prevented Button's mis-cue in the pits - he would have been able to see that the fuel rigging had not been detached.