Bomber_Pilot wrote:Mika1 wrote:Incorrect. He was cruising.
"I was cruising up until that point [that Perez was closing]," said Hamilton. "And then I heard he was catching at a second a lap up until about 14s so then I tried to balance that over a certain number of laps.
Incorrect.
Do you have evidence for that?
And besides, who would be in cruising mode right from the start?
Someone who was a second clear of the person in second place and was therefore controlling the race and able to conserve fuel for any real threads?
"I was out on my own for most of the race and just tried to manage the gap behind me. I was cruising at the end, but, once I heard that Sergio Perez had got past Fernando Alonso, I had to push a little to keep the cushion over second place."
In other words... he only ever had to push to defend against Perez. Alonso
matching (note, not exceeding) his pace was not considered a threat, so he carried on cruising.