brendo

^ fair enough, thanks for the explanation.

without being sure, or knowing that vettel is motoring along, mclaren played their cards correctly.

now, how about fixing the rule so that the SC doesn't randomly pick up whomever and give an advantage to those cars ahead of it - close the pits and this whole mess is avoided. (I know it's too much to ask to have a reasonable set of sporting regs, just saying...)

Larry Herman

What a BORING race. Except for Kamui, there was no racing. Button was 2 seconds a lap faster than Kobiyashi but still could not get by, and it cost him second place. The only way that Kamui could pass was with new options against completely degraded prime tires, not to take anything away from his last lap heroics. These non-passing tracks suck.

paradisenb

Kaumi!! Kaumi!!!

LH cheated and got away with it....again. His 2nd place finish was the result of (gift from) the stewards. Clearly they had to know he would beat the field with a simple drive though instead of a stop n go.

MS almost got the fastest lap. The guy is not showing much and I'm wondering if he can get back to form this season or at all.

MUSSBERGER

..

RajDatta

I am sure you drive better than Alonso, and would have fared better

Sean F

In all seriousness, are you saying Alonso did well today? I would call it pretty embarrassing.

fuenfer

I wondered why Hamilton slowed down at that point, and I think it was a deliberate move to keep the safety car between him and the Ferraris. He slowed to keep the Ferraris behind, and then tried to speed up before the safety car line but got the timing a bit wrong and ended up crossing the safety car line just a moment too late. Brilliant or dastardly, depending on your point of view.

Veloce Raptor

CORRECTED









Professional Racing and Driving Coach

multi21

Just saw Windtunnel with Matchett (who doesn't have a dog in the fight), but he commented that Hamilton absolutely should have stayed behind the safety car and was surprised he was "only" given a drivethru penalty. He said a 10 sec. stop and go would have been more appropriote and said the stewards have the say on what penalty is given. As I said, the Golden Boy gets away with rule violations yet again and is leading the WDC.

I'm not defending Alonso, in fact the FIA should consider pulling his superlicense for letting a lowly Sauber pass him on a track that has no passing

This track was a borefest last year and continues to be so. I'm not going to even set the DVR anymore for these street races that produce no action. What a change from the Canadian GP that was exciting from start to finish.

Luckily for everyone, Silverstone is next and almost always produces a good show.

wanna911

But doesn't Button being 2 seconds faster than Kamui insinuate that he could have made a pass on him considering Kamui had to have been about that much faster than Alonso/Buemi when he passed them?

Ray S

What are you talking about Pete. First, the safety car was just coming on track and had not passed the blend line yet. Second, he received and served a drive through penalty. He was able to pull up to Vettel and hold the position but the penalty did keep him from challenging Vettel for first. He may have had a genuine shot at first as Vettel admitted he flat spotted his tire.

Wayno, one more race closer to winning our bet.......

European Grand Prix Results - 27 June 2010 - 57 Laps
POS DRIVER NATIONALITY ENTRANT LAPS TIME/RETIRE
1. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault 57 1h40m29.571
2. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes 57 5.042
3. Jenson Button Britain McLaren-Mercedes 57 12.658*
4. Rubens Barrichello Brazil Williams-Cosworth 57 25.627*
5. Robert Kubica Poland Renault 57 27.122*
6. Adrian Sutil Germany Force India-Mercedes 57 30.168*
7. Kamui Kobayashi Japan BMW Sauber-Ferrari 57 30.965
8. Fernando Alonso Spain Ferrari 57 32.809
9. Sebastien Buemi Switzerland Toro Rosso-Ferrari 57 36.299*
10. Nico Rosberg Germany Mercedes GP 57 44.382
11. Felipe Massa Brazil Ferrari 57 46.621
12. Pedro de la Rosa Spain BMW Sauber-Ferrari 57 47.414*
13. Jaime Alguersuari Spain Toro Rosso-Ferrari 57 48.239
14. Vitaly Petrov Russia Renault 57 48.287*
15. Michael Schumacher Germany Mercedes GP 57 48.826
16. Vitantonio Liuzzi Italy Force India-Mercedes 57 50.890*
17. Lucas di Grassi Brazil Virgin-Cosworth 56 1 Lap
18. Karun Chandhok India HRT-Cosworth 55 2 Laps
19. Timo Glock Germany Virgin-Cosworth 55 2 Laps**
20. Bruno Senna Brazil HRT-Cosworth 55 2 Laps
21. Jarno Trulli Italy Lotus-Cosworth 53 4 Laps

R Nico Hulkenberg Germany Williams-Cosworth 49 Exhaust*
R Heikki Kovalainen Finland Lotus-Cosworth 8 Accident
R Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault 8 Accident
FASTEST LAP:
Jenson Button Britain McLaren-Mercedes 54 1:38.766

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

* Button, Barrichello, Hulkenberg, Kubica, Petrov, Sutil, Liuzzi, Buemi and De la Rosa given 5-second penalties for failing to meet the lap time requirements when the Safety Car came out following Mark Webber's accident on lap 9.
** Glock given a 20-second penalty for ignoring repeated blue flags during the race.

Larry Herman

Nobody is going to accuse Button of being a brilliant passer but 2 seconds a lap? Understandably it is harder to pass in F1 cars because of the short braking zones and air turbulence, but it seems like in most cars one would get passed like a freight train if the car behind was 2 seconds quicker. The problem has to be that the extra speed is coming in places that the faster car cannot capitalize on.

multi21

From the video, it looked like the safety car was going to go over the blend line when he saw Hamilton behind him and pulled back. Further, the safety car was past the pit limit line and then a second line in the blend line. I would venture to say no one on Rennlist knows the exact rule, but these guys in F1 do.

From what Matchett said, Hamilton should not have passed and Alonso was so adamate that he called the race results "Manipulated". Call me crazy, but when a 2 time WDC calls the race fixed, he is going to be fined very hard by the FIA or FOA.

Circuit Motorsports

Pete, you can read what I typed above.

The only grey area I can see is if the safety car is supposed to follow the blend line. I can't imagine any reason that it shouldn't follow the blend line rules. And he did put a tire across it and looked like he was coming across.

There is a line across the track almost near the end of the blend line. That is the safety car line. That point is where the safety car is considered "in control' and no passing can take place. Hamilton balked as he saw the SC come across the blend line. If he hadn't he would have been past the SC line well before the SC. Since he did they crossed the blend line within 10 feet of eachother and less than a second of separation. Truly miniscule IMO. By the letter of the law it deserved a penalty. By the spirit maybe, maybe not. He got a penalty for a hokey situation that could have gone either way IMO.

Anyone saying that the British favoritism was at work here is stretching a bit. What he got was way worse than the guys who sped under the safety car. 5 second penalty after the race when it's a black and white situation that Whitmarsh talks about every drivers meeting probably.

ltc

I believe that the team should be congratulated on a tire strategy that allowed him to be in the position to use the new options at the very end of the race with excellent track position.

Nicely done IMHO.