Chinese GP 2012 - Shanghai

[GTO]

What exactly caused Schumi to retire. If they failed to tighten the wheel nuts properly, his RR tire was still on the car. Why couldn't he have driven back to the pits to fix issue & rejoin race?

[GrizzleBoy]

What exactly caused Schumi to retire. If they failed to tighten the wheel nuts properly, his RR tire was still on the car. Why couldn't he have driven back to the pits to fix issue & rejoin race?

It was his front right and it would have been irresponsible for him to drive a car round a track that he couldn't be sure would have four wheels on it at the end of the lap.

He avoided any further potential damage, avoided a possible safety car incident and saved the team money as the stewards took his decision to stop the car safely into account when deciding whether to fine the team for unsafe release.

[ajdavison2]

... which they did do.

[Ferraripilot]

(Brawn has confirmed Nico is harder on tires).

Do you have a link?

Will Buxton on Speed's coverage of the GP stated he spoke with Brawn earlier who advised him Nico was more harsh on tires than Michael.

[GTO]

What exactly caused Schumi to retire. If they failed to tighten the wheel nuts properly, his RR tire was still on the car. Why couldn't he have driven back to the pits to fix issue & rejoin race?

It was his front right and it would have been irresponsible for him to drive a car round a track that he couldn't be sure would have four wheels on it at the end of the lap.

He avoided any further potential damage, avoided a possible safety car incident and saved the team money as the stewards took his decision to stop the car safely into account when deciding whether to fine the team for unsafe release.

-R u sure it was front tire? It looked like rear tire mech. that waved his hand.
-What's irresponsible about it? He still has all 4 wheels on. I'v see cars w/ 3 wheels being driven around the track.
-avoid further damage? ...avoid safety car? ...saved the team money? Why are those driver's concerns? That's more of a team/engineer's concerns & decisions to inform the driver about. He's paid to race & finish races.
-unsafe release? I don't believe so. It was a heat of the moment error by mech. I've seen far worse in which the team recv'd. no fine.

[pocketmoon]

Defo front right tyre. Just rechecked footage on BBC

[Shrieker]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned how McLaren screwed Lewis royally in the 2nd round of pitstops. He basically did all the hard work coming up on Button's tail, and before the 2nd stops the gap between them was fluctuating between 1.9-2.1 secs. Then it suddenly went to 2.6 secs and they brought Lewis in, bringing him out behind Massa's group. 2 laps later they pitted Button and brought him out in front of Massa's group. Everyone's saying how Button missed a shot at victory at the final stop but essentially Lewis was in the same place as him before he got screwed up by pit strategy !

Were his tyres so bad that they decided to pit him and bring him out behind Massa's group ? It makes absolutely no sense at all. He could have gone on 2 or 3 laps more maybe losing between 0.5-1 secs to Button every lap but still come out ahead of Massa's group which was so crucial.

If Lewis' side of the garage is so incompetent I'd be willing to lend a hand. If they aren't...well... I sure as hell don't want to comment on that, Lewis just should get the f**k out of there asap.

[GrizzleBoy]

What exactly caused Schumi to retire. If they failed to tighten the wheel nuts properly, his RR tire was still on the car. Why couldn't he have driven back to the pits to fix issue & rejoin race?

It was his front right and it would have been irresponsible for him to drive a car round a track that he couldn't be sure would have four wheels on it at the end of the lap.

He avoided any further potential damage, avoided a possible safety car incident and saved the team money as the stewards took his decision to stop the car safely into account when deciding whether to fine the team for unsafe release.

-R u sure it was front tire? It looked like rear tire mech. that waved his hand.
-What's irresponsible about it? He still has all 4 wheels on. I'v see cars w/ 3 wheels being driven around the track.
-avoid further damage? ...avoid safety car? ...saved the team money? Why are those driver's concerns? That's more of a team/engineer's concerns & decisions to inform the driver about. He's paid to race & finish races.
-unsafe release? I don't believe so. It was a heat of the moment error by mech. I've seen far worse in which the team recv'd. no fine.

I'm quite sure it was the front right guy waving both hands and slapping the ground after Micheal pulled off. Maybe I need to watch again, but I'm pretty sure it's front right.

You're asking what is irresponsible about driving a car from beginning to the end of a lap at drasstically slow pace, while your tyre could at any moment drop off your car as other cars whizz past you at speed of over 300KM/h?

Massa hadhis face screwed up by a tiny spring hitting him at the wrong time. Many argue his brain is also not the same.

John Surtees died instantly when a tyre simply bounced in front of his car and hit his head and he was nowhere near top speed.

The stewards also did fine the team for unsafe release, but stated that Schumachers quick decision to stop the vehicle as soon as he realised the car was unsafe played a factor in how harsh their fine was.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned how McLaren screwed Lewis royally in the 2nd round of pitstops. He basically did all the hard work coming up on Button's tail, and before the 2nd stops the gap between them was fluctuating between 1.9-2.1 secs. Then it suddenly went to 2.6 secs and they brought Lewis in, bringing him out behind Massa's group. 2 laps later they pitted Button and brought him out in front of Massa's group. Everyone's saying how Button missed a shot at victory at the final stop but essentially Lewis was in the same place as him before he got screwed up by pit strategy !

Were his tyres so bad that they decided to pit him and bring him out behind Massa's group ? It makes absolutely no sense at all. He could have gone on 2 or 3 laps more maybe losing between 0.5-1 secs to Button every lap but still come out ahead of Massa's group which was so crucial.

If Lewis' side of the garage is so incompetent I'd be willing to lend a hand. If they aren't...well... I sure as hell don't want to comment on that, Lewis just should get the f**k out of there asap.

At this point in time, it seems that McLaren screwing their drivers out of positions is just a given now.

Noone is really surprised any more it seems.

Do you know that statistically, not a single car has passed a McLaren car on track this season apart from a McLaren? (Hamiltons poor start in Australia and Buttons mistake in Malaysia with the HRT).

McLaren are the only team to have not been overtaken on the track in 2012.

The only time McLaren has been overtaken on the tarmac (not including Buttons mistake) in 2012 is the very second the drivers stop in the pit lane.

McLarens strategy guys have looked less than sub-par since last season and their pit performance is statistically horrible in general this season.

[Lycoming]

It was the right rear... watch carefully, the camera angle plays tricks on you.

Ted Kravitz says that the guy put the nut on, but there was a problem. when he changed guns to tighten it the rest of the way, the car left. Hence the tyre was on, but Schumacher himself said that immediately he know something was wrong, and thus decided to stop. A pretty safe decision, no wrong there. There was certainly no guarantee the car would have made it all the way around safely.

[SiLo]

At this point in time, it seems that McLaren screwing their drivers out of positions is just a given now.

Noone is really surprised any more it seems.

Do you know that statistically, not a single car has passed a McLaren car on track this season apart from a McLaren? (Hamiltons poor start in Australia and Buttons mistake in Malaysia with the HRT).

McLaren are the only team to have not been overtaken on the track in 2012.

The only time McLaren has been overtaken on the tarmac (not including Buttons mistake) in 2012 is the very second the drivers stop in the pit lane.

McLarens strategy guys have looked less than sub-par since last season and their pit performance is statistically horrible in general this season.

Wow, just shows how rubbish their strategy has been, considering two front row lock outs.

[ParanoiD]

The main thing for this season is consistency.

Lewis hasn't won a race yet, and leading the championship (although only by 1pt)

[PlatinumZealot]

Has it ever not gone to the fastest qualifier?

[foxmulder_ms]

At this point in time, it seems that McLaren screwing their drivers out of positions is just a given now.

Noone is really surprised any more it seems.

Do you know that statistically, not a single car has passed a McLaren car on track this season apart from a McLaren? (Hamiltons poor start in Australia and Buttons mistake in Malaysia with the HRT).

McLaren are the only team to have not been overtaken on the track in 2012.

The only time McLaren has been overtaken on the tarmac (not including Buttons mistake) in 2012 is the very second the drivers stop in the pit lane.

McLarens strategy guys have looked less than sub-par since last season and their pit performance is statistically horrible in general this season.

Totally agree. Mclaren should have been much further ahead in the championship after these three races.

They might regret these errors at the end.

[foxmulder_ms]

Just out of curiosity if a driver qualifies on pole, but then receives a penalty for a gearbox or whatnot does the pole still count on their career stats or not?

Yes, the BBC commentary covered this – the penalty is applied in the race, not in qualifying, so they have qualified in pole position.

The Beeb got it wrong. The pole statistic is derived on the fia printout of the starting grid, after penalties applied. So says Sean Kelly. Pole position is based on the P1 grid slot, not based on qualifying.

I am with BBC on this one Qualifying is done then penalty is given. Hamilton was in the press conference not Kobayashi.

[raymondu999]

[...] they brought Lewis in, bringing him out behind Massa's group. 2 laps later they pitted Button and brought him out in front of Massa's group.

Actually Button also came out behind the Massa train