Comments on: Turkey 2008: Massa Roars To Victory

By: Ago

Ago — Sun, 11 May 2008 20:30:20 +0000

I didn’t had to wait for the race or even for Lewis’s comments: Yesterday on your qualif’s post I already made the comment about Lewis and the tyres, while you discussed router problems with Alianora so you didn’t noticed it

I made the comment that only Lewis and Felipe didn’t improve their times between Q2 and Q3 -Massa explained why in the saturday press conference and kept the soft to Q3-

I also, very diplomatically, asked the question as where did Lewis found the missing tenths to qualify in 3rd position on hard tyres when all the others improved from Q1 to Q2 by switching from harder to softer and kept the softer for Q3. Obviously the answer was fuel and the reason for it was soft tyre’s problem for Lewis.

I also believe that Bridgestone felt they had to issue this statement because McLaren had this unfair comment on them. When it goes wrong Ron always feels like he has to put the blame on somebody else Nothing new under the sun…

PS : I noticed that when Lewis is low on fuel it’s strategic, and I remember when it’s Fernando it’s for the fans or marketing oriented… Let’s be fair many people are ready to cheat a little bit if they can gain an advantage… For Lewis it worked and that’s great, for Fernando, in Spain, it didn’t and I’m sorry for him… but this time he did it again and he ended 6th, quite a good result and another step in the right direction. Currently 8th only 1pt behind the 7th… finishing in the top 6 would be the proof of his true value.

And don’t take all that for you Steve… I like this “free speech” place and you know it

By: Oliver White

Oliver White — Sun, 11 May 2008 16:44:09 +0000

@Ago: Well, as you just got the alarm in your RSS reader, I think it’s fair to say that when I wrote this post, all I had to go on, “officially”, were the comments from Hamilton in the press conference. Had I speculated, I would got into trouble that way – sometimes there is no pleasing some people!

Please, take the timing of the post and the re-direction to a more recent post as perhaps the situation has changed with time.

By: Ago

Ago — Sun, 11 May 2008 16:38:37 +0000

Sorry Oliver you wrote “Lewis Hamilton did well to finish in second, splitting the red cars and controlling a tyre problem from Bridgestone.”
A tyre problem from Bridgestone? Nope. A driving problem from Lewis. That makes a slight difference doesn’t it ?

Just now got an alarm from my RSSReader : A spokeswoman from Bridgestone said :In actual fact, nobody else has had a repetition of any of those problems this year, with the exception of Lewis,” she added.”He is the one driver who perhaps with his style of driving has put higher forces onto his front right tyre.” (woaw that is very tactfully said!)
(…) Bridgestone advised McLaren on how long they felt the tyre was safe for the Briton to drive on and the team then decided he should make an extra stop as a precaution.
(Autosport http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/67359)

I guess “trhe Briton” doesn’t include Heikki. Lewis is a great guy but are we going to change all rules -including the use of cranes ;-( – to please him? The man has got all the talents it’s time to show he can adjust to a given situation. I’m pretty sure he’s got what it takes so why all this blah blah? Come on Lewis move !

By: Oliver White

Oliver White — Sun, 11 May 2008 16:22:20 +0000

What's this "official McLaren-stamped explanation" stuff? Lewis said in the press conference he was forced to do a three-stopper due to a risk with his Bridgestones letting go if he did a two-stopper. Regarding Lewis's, McLaren's and Bridgestone's handling of the tyres, I have a whole post dedicated to the matter: Should McLaren Think About Reinventing The Wheel? Indeed, 2008 isn't going so well for Hamilton, even Ron Dennis got a bit annoyed after qualifying.

By: Ago

Ago — Sun, 11 May 2008 16:18:16 +0000

Hi Oliver

Cannot follow you on that “official-McLaren” stamped explanation about Lewis tyre’s problem.
Don’t get me wrong here : Lewis did a fantastic job and his 3 stops race was a great achievement showing fantastic abilities as a driver!
That said how can ANYBODY believe that fairy tale about the Bridgestone problem?

- As far as I know the tyres are randomly given by Bridgestone on every GP week-end. How is it possible that ONLY Lewis experienced problems with its tyres?
- Was it the car then? How is it that Heikki didn’t notice anything?

The only obvious thing is that Lewis is ruining his tyres much more than any other driver. It is already acknowledged that Lewis is hard with the tyres and I can only conclude that Lewis did a poor job with the softer set.
Only because of his fantastic driving abilities he was able to achieve the result we have seen.
That can be a bit of a problem for the rest of the season…

Heikki was unlucky with this puncture he had, and Kimi played it very safe with its front wing damaged : he is leading the championship on a bad day he goes in “damage limitation” mode.

Amazingly despite his fantastic race a very good result Lewis arrived in Turkey 2nd in the championship and he is leaving it in 3rd position. Compared to last year, and everybody admits it was a fantastic year for Lewis, the facts are that after 5 GPs Lewis is 10 points late (28/38) and Kimi 12 points ahead (35/23). McLaren is 34 points late (42/76) and BMW 14 pts ahead (44/30) Ferrari 7 pts ahead(63/56)… Trouble trouble…