RajDatta

Quotes from both drivers from another forums:

Fernando Alonso:

“In a race like this, anything can happen. We did five pit stops to change tyres, which is definitely unusual: all in all, I think we took the right decisions at the right time. In a race like this you only understand at the end what would have been the best thing to do, as neither on the pit wall nor in the car do we have a crystal ball! I made a serious mistake at the start as my reflexes let me down and I left early. It’s never happened to me before and I am very disappointed with myself. Luckily, despite the penalty, I managed to finish fourth. The passing move on Felipe? If he was not my team-mate, there wouldn’t be so much talk about it and for me it was a normal move and it definitely won’t compromise our relationship. We have a great potential and we must hope we get some normal races like the one in Bahrain. The start of the championship has gone well: we have shown we are competitive on all the tracks and we have what it takes to win the title. Clearly, we have to up our points tally and improve our qualifying performance. McLaren deserve the top spot, because even though they might not have the best car they have got the most out of it every time.”

Felipe Massa:

“This was a very complicated race and clearly I can’t be happy with the result. Of course, two points are better than nothing, but in the upcoming races we have to do better and that means working on the development of the car. Right from the start, it was difficult to make the right choice in terms of what tyres to use because of the changeable weather. As for the passing move Fernando made, I ended up on a puddle of water coming out of the hairpin and slightly lost control of the car: he managed to get inside me, passing me going into the pit lane. I lost some places because of it, as I had to wait for his stop to be finished. In the closing laps, I was struggling a lot with the tyres, but Michael was suffering worse than me and I managed to pass him. We have seen how the situation can change radically from one race to the next: we need to work as hard as possible to try and get the most out of the potential at our disposal.”

With the amount of stops Alonso had to make, I would give him the drive of the race, followed very closely by Lewis Hamilton. Seems like Alonso has had the worst of luck so far (with the jumped start his own doing). He is still collecting points though. Hopefully, the cream will rise to the top, as the season progresses.

PTurbo965

So how bad should Hamilton be penalized for his racing in the pits with Vettel? I think he is going to lose something. However, they should have made him do a stop'n'go during the race and be done with it.

wilhelm

One thing I missed was how Alonso made up so many spots after the 2nd SC restart. I thought he was in like 10th before the SC and all of a sudden he was in 5th or 6th after the restart.

Larry Herman

It happened on the clusterf*** of the 2nd restart because of the super slow pace of Button. Hamilton & Alonso benefitted, and Vettel and Webber lost out. Since Button wasn't penalized, it was a good move for him though. The 2 safety cars stints obviously helped the 4 stoppers and made it a closer race than it would have been otherwise.

Circuit Motorsports

No penalty. Both Vettel and Hamilton were reprimanded.

http://planetf1.com/news/3213/610099...amilton-Vettel

Video of into and out of pits for the two of them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7xwG63jWTA

Sure looks like Vettel cuts down on him intentionally at the end. Then after the race Vettel's quote

Ummm yeah, even the 'good' ones try to change the facts after the race

Larry Herman

Funny, I saw Vettel ahead of him in the proper pit lane. And even if Vettel moved over a little, he never left that proper lane. What that video shows was Hamilton not wanting to lose the position even though he was clearly behind once they got out of the pit boxes.

Flying Finn

Hamilton AND Vettel have both been given a warning (Hamilton's 2nd so far)...

So (again) a slap on the wrist of Hamilton but why did Vettel get a same penalty as Hamilton?
He was ahead of Hamilton on pit lane when McLaren released him. 1st of all, it's a mistake from McLaren to due so, 2nd, since Vettel is ahead of Hamilton, he needs to go behind him, not drive side by side.
What was Vettel supposed to do? Pit lane is for one car and a car that's ahead, stays ahead.

+1 Vettel was ahead so the pit lane is "his". Hamilton was behind so he should've moved behind, not stay side by side.

Indeed, that sure was a mess... It would be interesting to see who has where (as far as track positions go) before & after that parking lot Button created.

PTurbo965

Interesting. I guess the FIA will consider getting upset when Hamilton runs down some guys. Until then, the FIA probably enjoyed the on screen action and don't want to penalize a star. Normally the FIA makes a pretty big deal about the various lines drawn on the course.

multi21

Will the Evil Empire (McLaren) ever get a penalty for anything? That's 3 incidents, in two consecutive races where Hamilton (weaving and pit lane violation) and Button for going too slow on a restart, should have received some kind of penalty.

British bias

sweanders

I am not sure that Button did anything wrong, seemed on the replay like he slowed down early doing a great job to control the restart at the line.

I've been in a similar race start in a 22 car start with Ginetta spec cars. Lead driver decided to start as slow as in first gear and first half the field was in either 1st or 2nd gear. It was a true cluster*** going through turn one.

I was qualified 14th right in the middle of the pack and had to resort to an escape road after cutting across a gravel trap. Came out 4:th into the race again. That was my first ever start in that series and found myself alone for a couple of laps before the faster drivers caught up to me. It sure is interesting with racing sometimes. My experience from that race was in the wet as well, but in a contact series like that it didn't seem to matter much, dry racing is just as wild in that series.

Thing is that the leader controls the pace until the last SC line and everyone else is mandated to stay within 10 car lengths. As long as the leader does not make any sudden maneuvers he can choose to go as fast as he finds suitable and it is a part of the game.
It is also part of the game that the followers stay as close as they can and jump the throttle as early as possible.

Problem is when the mid-pack and rest of cars realize that they should have waited longer for the jump and it all comes together like an accordion. In my experience it is rarely advantageous for the leader to carry much speed or start accelerating early so in my opinion Button executed the restart spot on perfect.

ltc

I would disagree.
Steve Matchett read a brief paraphrasing of the FIA rules on the leader's responsibility on a restart.
Button clearly took that and stretched it to the limit as far as possible...IMHO he stepped over the limit and fortunately did not cause an accident behind him.

sweanders

Luckily there was no accident, just plenty of action. Which F1 needs.

Could be a reason why they were soft on Hammie and Seb as well - it makes for an interesting race.

ltc

I like action, especially wheel to wheel and strategy, but in both cases (Hamilton...entering and exiting the pits and Button....restart race pace) I believe it put people at risk for no reason.
Both cases clearly showed lack of character, IMHO.

As for Little Miss Sunshine and her entrance to the pit lane with her teammate, I was definitely not surprised, nor was I surprised by the team's reaction and post race comments from the driver's involved.

Luca bought his little bitch, now he has to sleep with her. It will be interesting to see what his reaction is the morning after, if she fails to win the WDC.

333pg333

He does seem blessed even though I still disagree that he was weaving in a dangerous manner in Malaysia. He was evading and the other car was following.

Larry Herman

As much as this can be debated "ad infinitum", all Vettel did was to leave his pit box and immediately get into the pit exit lane and up to speed. When he saw Hamilton make a desperate lunge from behind to try and challenge him to the exit, he moved over to the edge of the lane line and held his rightful ground. I like how aggressive Hamilton drives, but this was CLEARLY all of his own making.