andartop wrote:That was impressive driving from both, and a lesson to many others of the newer (and older) generation on how to battle while respecting the other driver.
Entertaining as it was, what I was thinking was how much benefit it was for Lewis to waste time trying to fend off a car he wasn't really racing against (as at that moment Lewis was on worn tires and would soon pit). The BBC commentators mentioned that Alonso lost about 1 second from Webber in that battle. If we assume Lewis lost about the same amount of time, it might have been just enough to get him ahead of Kimi after his pit stop (as he was 0.5 sec behind Kimi right after he rejoined).
It might not have made any difference in the end, as Kimi would have most certainly overtaken Lewis later based on pure pace, but at that stage of the race nothing had been decided yet.
Not bashing Lewis, just pointing out how every little detail may make a difference in F1.
I think it was just Hamilton wanting to have a little fight. He must've known he had no chance, but he sounded like he had no confidence at all and this was the only point in the race that he had a good fight in a forward position. Good on him, great piece of action from both of them.
It has been said all year about Alonso, but isn't it time to conclude that Hamilton also outperforms (maximizes performance) the McLaren. Button is a very good driver and he has been struggling for pace for a long time now, Hamilton is also starting to struggle. I think the McLaren is very slow at the moment, which is a bit shocking after the first few races.
Then, Alonso's strategy. It didn't work out obviously, but seeing both Ferrari's and Red Bulls very close to each other, I don't think it is a massive strategy error. It might just be that Webber was a little bit faster today, as Alonso couldn't make the gap very big using the primes in the first stint, whereas Webber was able to close down 10 seconds on Alonso. Very close, great fight, great winner, congrats to Webber. It is easy to blame the strategy, but for me the differences are too small to blame someone. If the rain had come, Alonso would've been in a better position for most of the race.
Finally, Perez vs Maldonado. Interesting comments from Perez, and I'm afraid for Maldonado that Perez is just voicing a general feeling of the paddock. It might've been a racing incident this time, but he seems to have a "racing incident" every time he gets excited. Wonder if one can still call it an incident or red mist/over-excitement/lack of race craft, because Maldonado having issues is the most consistent event of this season.
On that matter, Grosjean had a few moments as well today, with Di Resta and also later in the race. He got away with it this time, but it wouldn't be the first time for him either. He's more likable than Maldonado, but he tends to get overexcited as well.
So that was my little race review, I have to say I missed the rain. Nothing like a proper wet race.