McLaren take one-two as Red Bull self-destruct

2010 Turkish Grand Prix review

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McLaren scored a one-two finish in the Turkish Grand Prix with Lewis Hamilton leading home Jenson Button.

But the race hinged on a sensational moment when the two Red Bull drivers crashed into each other while leading the race.

Mark Webber led the race from the start and Sebastian Vettel moved up to take second behind him.

Hamilton, who had slipped back to third after starting on the dirty side of the grid, fought back, passing Vettel around the outside of turn three for second place.

Jenson Button had also lost a position at the start, Michael Schumacher passing him for fourth. He used the McLaren’s straight-line speed to swing around the outside of the Mercedes at turn 12.

Webber led the field at the start
Hamilton now set about trying to pass Webber, but couldn’t get close enough to make the MP4/25’s superior speed count. Webber pulled away through turn eight on every lap, Hamilton closed back in on the straight, but he couldn’t find a way past.

His job got more difficult when a slow pit stop due to a stuck right-rear tyre allowed Vettel by into second place. Now Red Bull had a one-two on their hands.

At first it looked like the biggest threat to them was an incoming rain shower. This was a surprise as none had been forecast for the race, and in the end the shower slowed down and petered out before it reached the track.

While the teams made preparations to deal with the rain, gradually Vettel began getting closer to Webber. On lap 41 he made his move, puling alongside Webber at the exit of turn 11.

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The pair made contact, Vettel bursting his right-rear tyre and spinning off the track. Webber kept going, but with a smashed front wing he had to make a pit stop.

The McLaren drivers could scarcely believe their fortune but Button, now up to second, fancied his chances of a third win. He drew alongside his team mate on the outside of turn 12 and scrambled past.

The McLaren pair fought hard for the win
That left Button on the outside of the last corner and Hamilton used his momentum to get back alongside. The pair touched wheels as they dived into turn one side-by-side and Hamilton seized the lead back.

Afterwards Hamilton said he was surprised to see Button so close to him. Both McLaren drivers were told to save fuel in the closing stages of the race and Hamilton felt that had helped Button:

The target they gave me was perhaps a bit slower than what they meant for me and suddenly Jenson was with me.
Lewis Hamilton

After that exchange Button never troubled Hamilton again.

The two front running teams had left their rivals so far behind that Webber was able to collect third place even after his extra pit stop.

The two Mercedes were behind him, Schumacher ahead of Rosberg.

Robert Kubica was close behind Rosberg having kept Felipe Massa’s Ferrari behind all race.

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Vitaly Petrov defended his eighth place from Fernando Alonso for many laps but Alonso finally forced his way through in the dying stages of the race.

The pair made contact and Petrov’s car was damaged, forcing him to make a pit stops and costing him a points finish. Nonetheless Petrov set the fastest lap on his final tour.

That promoted Adrian Sutil to ninth and Kamui Kobayashi into tenth, scoring his and Sauber’s first points of the year.

Eight cars finished out of the points with both Lotuses and HRTs the only retirements, along with Vettel.

Hamilton’s first win of the season moves him up to third place, nine points behind Webber. Vettel, who jointly led the championship heading into this race, falls to fifth.

2010 Turkish Grand Prix

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    Author information

    Keith Collantine
    Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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    107 comments on “McLaren take one-two as Red Bull self-destruct”

    1. Prisoner Monkeys
      30th May 2010, 15:48

      I’m sorry, Fernando, but there’s no polite way to put this: you suck.

      Actually, there probably is a politer way to put it, but let’s be perfectly honest here: you earned it this time, mate. Twelfth in qualifying is understandable; it can’t aways be your day. But you then spent most of the race looking at Petrov’s rear wing despite being told that he’d crack in due course. You had him – twenty laps later. And then you killed his weekend when you cut across him, despite knowingthat you had the racing line. A thoroughly Rejectful performance.

      1. give the guy a break, it was a tough race no doubt. i’m sure the renault had good traction which prevented alonso from overtaking. lets no be too unfair on alonso. he made up 4 places and got some valuable points.

        1. Prisoner Monkeys
          30th May 2010, 15:59

          So he should be excused for effectively putting another driver out of the race because it was a tough weekend for it?

          1. I think Alonso really screwed up: he should have overheated his engine or something…

      2. “And then you killed his weekend when you cut across him, despite knowingthat you had the racing line.”

        Petrov could’ve done far more to avoid the incident, too.

        1. Prisoner Monkeys
          30th May 2010, 16:02

          Maybe, but Alonso had the racing line. If what is being said in the discussions about the Vettel-Webber incident are true, then it seems pretty clear that the driver holding position is the one most repsonsible for ensuring a clean pass. You can’t have one set of rules for one driver, and a different set of rules for another.

      3. oh come on. The ‘fact’ that the team told fernando that he ‘had him’ is completly irrelevent. His team was trying to G him up, he still had to pass him. The Renaults and ferraris are of similar pace. We all know how hard it is to pass in F1 when you have a much faster car. If it was so easy, then hamilton would have had the red bulls earlier, and he would’nt have touched wheels with button when he re-passed him in turn one.
        I also you think you are drawing a very tenuious link between the Red Bull incident, and this one.

        “And then you killed his weekend when you cut across him, despite knowingthat you had the racing line. A thoroughly Rejectful performance”. Yes, and then to top of his weekend, fernando intentionally hit his rear wheel against petrov’s front wing risking a rear puncture for what? Well if he knew that was going to be the result, i sugesst with his recents woes, that he would have avoided such a contact. I’m sure, petrov could have also done more to avoid contact.

        “I’m sorry, Fernando, but there’s no polite way to put this: you suck.”

        Well PM, i thinnk you are completley wrong on this one.

        1. An all around poor weekend by Alonso, Most likely because he just couldn’t get his car to do what he wanted it to do, all drivers suffer from that (Like Massa?)

          But his move on Petorv was careless, Almost as careless as when that Torro Rosso cut in front and took of the HRT cars wing a few races back. It wasn’t on purpose, but it was something that could have been avoided.

      4. Is McLaren trying to hamper Lewis to help Jensen, again….why was Lewis told to slow down and conserve fuel, allowing Jensen to get close to him and attempt an overtake, and when that didn’t stick THEN Jensen is told to conserve fuel!?

        Why was Lewis brought in 1st, when it clearly better for McLaren to wait for Red Bull and give Lewis a lap of clear air in order to pass Webber…

        All this doesn’t add up and if one puts it in the context of the season, then a clear pattern emerges……

        Not mention the tiresome prattle by commentators on “Lewis’ aggressive style” and how “Lewis is hard on his tires” in contrast to “Jensen’s smooth style” and how “cool” and “clever” he is…

        Jensen is not in the same league as Lewis, anyone with even a passing knowledge of F1 would tell you that, yet there is a whole campaign to under mine his achievements despite being the most exciting driver to hit F1 since Schumacher!!

        1. You posted this in a different article, so I will post my same response.

          Yeah. because McLaren would purposely botch a pit stop so as to loose a position to a competing team.

          And if you watched the bbc coverage they said that McLaren were already going to pit, but Red Bull pulled Webber in at the last minute to cover them.

        2. Anyone with a passing knowledge of F1 would tell you that Mclaren wouldn’t sponsor and “groom” a youngster over the last 15 or so years, only to try their hardest to ensure he doesn’t win. Why would Mclaren undermine his acheivements? Be more grateful to Mclaren, the team that have played a big role in the talented driver he is today.

          1. Lewis didn’t look too happy on the podium for some reason. I thought Jenson drove well within himself and stayed in touch with Lewis easily when both Red Bulls and McLaren we re racing for 40 laps. When Lewis re-took Button into turn 1 he did push him off the track i though and Jenson never troubled him again,

            I’m a fan of both but I don’t think JB gets enough credit…

            1. Indeed, whenever JB wins, people bang on about why he didn’t “deserve” to win.

        3. 1st Paragraph:
          So you are in favour of team orders then?

          2nd:
          RBR was reacting to McLaren, not the other way around.

          3rd:
          That Legard is a terrible commentator? there’s a pattern for you.

          4th:
          Yes, the commentator fuelled public misconception is McLaren’s fault, your right.

          5th:
          Jenson is in the same league, It’s known as Formula one.
          A whole campaign? Really? led by whom pray tell? Mclaren? hmmm… so your saying the new guy is getting preferential treatment over the teams prodigy. Nice try though.

        4. Totally agree with you mate, but you’ll be labelled a crazy for seeing what is in front of your eyes.

          McLaren clearly want blue eyed Button to win – they know no matter how much they hamper Lewis (poor pit stop, instructions to slow down so that Button can overtake), Lewis will still bring home the points for the constructors. I would be very wary if I were Lewis. It stinks to high heaven.

          1. So the pit stop was on purpose?

            Ridiculous.

          2. The only thing that stinks to high heaven is the attitude that the team that sponsored him for so long would suddenly sabotage him and his chances. I agree with Mike, you are being ridiculous.

          3. Ned Flanders
            30th May 2010, 19:35

            Mike and David- don’t give S Hughes’ comments any credibility by replying to them. Hamilton is great, probably favourite driver, but these anti McLaren conspiracies are completely ridiculous

        5. By your logic, I see that McLaren try to hamper JB, because after he tried that overtaking move (which happen while he is conserving fuel), he is being told to save even more fuel thus making his lap times drop into 1:31. You will realize this if you look the lap times, where before the the move they were doing 1:30, at the time JB tried to overtake, LH ended up doing 1:33 and JB 1:31, after that LH in 1:30 and JB still in 1:31.

          Basically either LH is sleeping/making a little mistake or he is suddenly slowing down to much on that lap to save fuel. Basically JB had every right to try overtake LH if he was driving that slow. You know who else in 1:32-1:33 at that time? Timo Glock. Others were doing 1:30-1:31 at that time.

          1. Yeap, HAM was slow in S1 and very slow in S2 that lap, I had the live timing on and thought HAM had made a mistake in turn 8

            BTW, BUT was faster than HAM in sector one for most of the race but slower in S2.

        6. I agree with you 100%
          Lewis better watch his back at Mclaren!

      5. I tend to agree. This is the second time Alonso has clipped a guy’s tyre trying to overtake him and forcing him to pit because of it. Alonso should be more respectful of the drivers around him.

      6. I’m sorry, PM, but there’s no polite way to put this: you are a Alonso hateboy (I invented the word hateboys similar to the word fanboys)

        Actually, there probably is a politer way to put it, but let’s be perfectly honest here. The Ferraris did not have pace today. Renaults did have the pace today. Remember, Petrov was the only driver who was able to put up a fight to Lewis Hamilton at Malaysia, he is no ordinary pushover.

        And when the stewards see absolutely no fault in that incident, I fail to see how you manage to interpret that as “cutting across”. Look at the replay; at turn 3, the racing line is curving to the left. Alonso only held onto the racing line. Petrov had sadly, lost the position at turn 2 itself, and did not have the racing line for turn 3 either.

      7. Ned Flanders
        30th May 2010, 19:33

        Er… may I ask what’s with your obsession with Petrov? Is he your brother or something? He’s ok but I reckon you’re the only person who thinks he’s the next big thing

      8. Thank you Prisoner Monkeys.
        I concur!

      9. this obviously sounds like an alonso hater…

      10. Paul McCaffrey
        30th May 2010, 23:53

        Oh please, Prisoner Monkeys. Racing incident. I don’t know how to put this, but your comments often suck.

      11. Agree with Prisoner Monkeys, Thats over agressive… poor Petrov hes a good guy not even blaming Alonso’s fault.

    2. Seb Seb Seb… what have you done?

      im sure he’ll regret it at the end of the championship.

      Wonder what Horner will say now. It’s gonna be interesting.

      BTW, why Mclaren asked Hamilton to save fuel BEFORE Button? a bit biased there?

      1. not if Hamiliton was burning fuel faster than Button in his attempt to overtake Webber?

        1. They asked him to save fuel and then said “both cars are the same”. Pretty easy assumption for Hamilton to make that Button had the exact same instructions.

          Also, when we heard the respective pitradio messages on the tv feed, and when they were actually broadcast might not correlate exactly. The time we heard Buttons might have been a repeat of a previous message with the implied meaning being “stop trying to do what Red Bull just did and bring the 1-2 home please”.

    3. Rob Gallagher
      30th May 2010, 15:52

      Hmm I wonder if Hamilton’s subdued celebration was due to him being under the impression that Jenson was going to slow down too, but then found Button right behind him. I must say it was a great race with lots of overtakes, paticually with the great skill of the McLaren boys. I hope Turkey keeps it’s place on the calendar as it will be soorly missed otherwise.

      1. Yeah, I presume that he was trying to work out whether McLaren didn’t tell Button to slow down or if Button ignored it. He must have felt that one was to blame.

      2. Ye thats right, nobody really mentioned that Jenson caught Hamilton because Lewis was already slowing down. Lucky that Lewis made the place back up otherwise there would have been a bigger fight at M than at RB

      3. yeah i think so too about hamilton’s glumness.

        most importnatly the race had (attempted) overtakes for the lead.

    4. Thanks Keith!

      Now we have 2 weeks to take in the aftermarth of the Red Bull incident, as well as the run up to the Canadian GP!

      i can hardly wait…

    5. Umm was Jensen suddenly dropping off Lewis after the overtake tantamount to team orders? Which effectively denied the fans watching an entertaining battle to the line.. that was disappointing to me and although impossible to regulate (and I don’t want anymore FIA interference) but surely FOTA should be aware of their ‘duty’ to entertain? Not a bad race and now the WTC is really close – BTW where did that little Spanish fella who moved to Ferrari this year finish, I didn’t see him all day?

      1. yep pretty much. seems sensible after what the red bulls did don’t you think?

        1. if you’re a team boss of course, but I’m a just fan of motor racing so absolutely not.. I was slathering at the prospect of those two going at it for six or so laps..

          1. yeah true. depends who you are. a neutral fan like yourself would’ve love’d longer battle, a mclaren fan wouldn’t just in case something bad happened. I just wanted Lewis to win his first race of the season, not button.

      2. Had Hamilton not believed team orders were already in play (ie. the “surprised” comment), I doubt we’d have seen the initial dual between the McLarens. He was a couple of tenths per lap faster all weekend.

    6. good race, very tight at the front, and some great drama, can’t expect much more than that from a dry race :D

    7. HounslowBusGarage
      30th May 2010, 15:55

      I think that’s a bit hard PM – racing incident etc. But Petrov definitely deserved better for all his efforts. He drove well and even got fastest lap after replacing the tyre.

      1. Prisoner Monkeys
        30th May 2010, 15:57

        Sorry, but I just don’t like seeing an exceptional performance be undone by a driver who ought to know better. Especially when said driver escapes unscathed.

        1. HounslowBusGarage
          30th May 2010, 16:05

          Agreed.
          (Your comment was a bit too short. Please go back and try again.)

        2. Ned Flanders
          30th May 2010, 19:37

          It was a racing incident. Petrov knew the stakes, if he didn’t want to risk a crash he should’ve backed out. (I’m glad he fought for it though, it was great to watch)

    8. “McLaren take one-two as Red Bull hit self-destruct (Turkish GP review)” sounds to me as McLaren propaganda for reportes you need to keep more neutral.

      A headline like the heatheaded Vettel crashes Webber succession dream is more to the point. You look way to much as a englishmen. But i am glad vettel did that so my favorite Sutil came into the points.

      1. Well, Mclaren crossed the line first and second (hence “Mclaren take one-two”) while the two Red Bull drivers crashed into each other. Vettel turned across into Webber, but Webber didn’t really give him enough room, so both drivers had a share of the blame (mostly Vettel’s fault), therefore “as Red Bull hit self-destruct”.

      2. ????? Are you joking?

      3. haha I knew that someone would pick a hole in headline, simply because people assume that if a British team do well it shouldn’t be reported by an ‘englishmen.’

        What I didn’t know was whether the criticism would be serious. And I honestly can’t tell. Could be sarcasm seeing as there is nothing wrong with the headline.

    9. i think ‘self destruct’ is a bit misleading! but yeah, it’s a shame.

        1. except of course, keith posted first

          1. ha! lol. that is awful from ESPN!

    10. I think the reason hamilton didnt seem to happy with the win was because it was kind of given too him and that with the fuel problem a fight between the two brits wasnt possible and he is the kind of guy who likes too win by racing for the lead not getting given it.

      1. Win is a win. They made a mistake, you don’t so you win.

        Racing it’s not only about who is the fastest, but also who doesn’t make mistakes.

        Short: Lewis should be happy. I would ;]

    11. Some comments about this race:
      1) I really enjoy to listen Button when he wins a race, because I think it is a genuine joy.
      What the happened to Hamilton? Why he was apparently so upset after wining a race?
      2) Apart the unsuccessful attempts by Hamilton on Vettel/Webber, the only overtakings
      within the first positions we watched was between drivers belonging to the same team.
      It seems than that it is only possible to overtake if the car in front of you
      is exactly the same as yours.
      3)I enjoyed it anyway…

      1. Hamilton was really downbeat given he won and put in a great performance. Maybe because of (a) the rubbish pit stop that let Vettel ahead and (b) Button going past AFTER (apparently) McLaren telling Lewis to slow down to conserve fuel (and being told Button had done the same). Can anyone confirm that?

        1. You’ve got it in one!!!

          1. Jenson looked decidely sheepish too…

        2. What’s interesting is, Webber was also saving fuel and Vettel was only a little bit better with his fuel load.
          So it seems the teams had trouble getting enough fuel in the cars to have a battle all GP long.
          This might prove to be exiting for further races, as the fight intensifies and all will have to fight for the wins and positions instead of just coasting to the podium.

          I think it was a nice show put on by Button and Hamilton, and Button did apologize for it on the radio after the finish.

    12. That was a classic. Say no more…

    13. F1
      Sebastian Vettle has now paid the price of being to agressive to his own team mate. Will he learn from this, we will have to see. He will not be popular in the garages for a number of reasons in particlar the Red Bulls are now not leading the constructures any more. He has now alienated himself and damaged some of his relationship/Respect between himself and Webber. Everyone knows that Webber was on par to make it 3 wins from 3 pole start. Vettle now has been pushed way down the points order. Well done to Webber for being professional at the after race interview even though it must be a bitter pill.
      Congratualions to the two Mclarens for being right on the pace. This is race is a strong indication that Red Bull will not be having it all their own way for the rest of the season.

      1. Strangely the team seems to blame Webber for it more than Vettel.
        Vettel felt it was not fair, as his car was damaged during qualifying and had about a lap more of running without fuel saving. To me it looked the team wanted him to get in front.

        So maybe Mark will take the nr. 1 to another team next year?

    14. Hamilton’s subdued nature after the race was almost definitely as it appeared that he’d been told to ease off and been told that both cars were doing the same. For Button to then cruise up to that back of him and take 1st position must’ve lead Lewis to suspect foul play on the part of either Button or the team.

      1. I don’t believe McLaren would ever deliberately undermine Hamilton (or Button), the issue is probably over Lewis being told Jenson was also turning down his engine and then being caught by him. Also Hamilton could justifiably argue that it was his relentless pressure on the Red Bulls (using up more fuel) which provoked Vettel’s mistake and gave Button a better position – for the practical reason that RBR didn’t want to turn down Vettel’s simultaneously with Webber’s as Lewis was right behind (something Horner confirmed) and for the psychological reason that HAM’s pressure probably helped force Vettel into a misjudgment.

        Still Hamilton sorted the problem out with a great retake of the lead.

      2. You are right. Lewis looked very unhappy for someone who had just won a race!
        He can see it
        Whitmarsh is trying to sabotage him!!!!!

    15. Close to ridiculous from Redbull. On the forum they where saying MW engine had been turned down, an that Chritian Horner, unbelivably was backing Sebastien. If he his it’s for this reason, he reckons he could loose a driver over this, an if he has too he’d rather keep Vettle, because his sponsers, austrian backers, German fans are more important to his team than Weber, he must also belive that Vettle is fundementally the better driver.

      Great race for McLaren, there on merit though I don’t think either driver was going to overtake a Redbull today. Don’t know how much fuel saving was codeword for hold station but generally promising for the rest of the season.

      Weird from Ferrari, they could’ve won in Monaco and they wern’t this far behind in Barcelona.

      Finally, to all of you that arn’t already, LISTEN TO THE FIVE LIVE COMMENTARY. It is heads an shoulder infront of the telly convo. Marty may be good but as he’s got no chemistry with Legard it counts for a good deal less than the interaction between Davidson and Croft. Really improved my race.

      1. Horner is now apparently saying that it was Webber’s fault as he put Seb on the dirty side and Web was going slow to save fuel. Unimpressed is a word that springs to mind

        1. hmmm, agreed’d

          incidentally steph, back from the live blog, as it says in ma post. Definatley switch to 5live on the redbutton. It’s less like radio commentary than the tv commentary. Brilliant stuff.

          1. Is it really that good? Does it have Davidson on, because he’s great during practice. I can’t imagine not having Brundle commentating as I find him very insightful, which makes me hesitant to switch.

            1. @matt. I didn’t try for ages because I didn’t want to miss Brundle, he is indeed pretty good. Davidson an Croft do make up for it though, you slightly miss Kavitz an the ocasional Coulthard they’re bringing in this year which is a shame. But having two interesting, knowledgable commentators who get on and have a good idea about whats happening more than makes up for Brundles insights.

      2. Paul McCaffrey
        31st May 2010, 0:44

        During the German SkySports post-race interviews, Sky showed Nico Rosberg a replay of the Vettel-Webber contact, and Rosberg said it was Vettel’s fault. Wunderbar!

        I agree with Rosberg. The commentators stated that the contact occured in the braking zone and that Vettel’s car veered right under braking. Rosberg clarified that the braking zone started much later, the contact occurred on the power.

        What I hear a lot of pundits saying is that if a driver is being passed, he must move over to allow himself to be overtaken, should the overtaking car change direction. Quatsch!

        1. thanks for that paul, would have loved to seen that

        2. Nico is great, good to say it out in the open. He also stated, that the Michael move in Monaco was “cool but probably not legal”.

    16. It is just me or Webber AGAIN didn’t respect the line of the guy that is passing him ?

      1. How so? Webber didn’t turn into Vettel. He gave Vettel enough room.

      2. I can’t understand why Webber didn’t chose to go the right!! Had he done that and regained the racing line before his teammate, he would have repassed Vettel.

    17. I’m a Mclaren fan and I watched the race with my Dad (a Red Bull fan). I was not happy when Seb got ahead of Hamilton, but I enjoyed the look on his face when the RBs collided. After that he kept repeating Vettel is a prat (someting he normally says about Hamilton) and went down the pub.

    18. In the forum Button said he was saving fuel from much earlier, presumably when Crofty said he was saving his tires. Button had gotten into a better rhythm with this and Hamilton was just settling in, which would explain why Button had an advantage on the straight, but also why Hamilton was surprised as he didnt know Button was used to it. So please stop this rubbish about McLaren helping Button! In fact, I think Hamilton was a bit out of control in his Turn 1 overtake, and Button did have the ability to challenge again: he made up almost 2 seconds on the last lap!

      1. when hamilton was comfortably cruising home and then slowed right down to take the flag. you can’t read anything into last lap times, unless the respective drivers are still fully going for it (ie. neck and neck)

    19. Charles Carroll
      30th May 2010, 16:53

      As far as Petrov vs. Alonso, I was okay with the result. I would have loved to see Petrov hold off the former champion, but I also love the fact that Alonso was willing to take the risk and force his way past. Its racing, and if you want to win, you will take chances. I give credit to both drivers, and though Petrov ended up on the short end of the stick, he still had a marvelous race.

      A sign of things to come, I believe.

    20. Charles Carroll
      30th May 2010, 16:57

      I’ll also say, that as a new fan, and one steeped in NASCAR territory, I far prefer racers who are aggressive and take chances, even crashing out if it happens. I like Vettel, Button, Hamilton, Petrov, and Alonso as a result.

      Guys who simply lay down in front of others, like Glock, or are overly conservative I find dreadfully boring.

      Races like this will win over NASCAR, Indy, and other fans. It has won me over.

    21. I’m really sorry for Petrov. He was going good almost all race and he deserved finish in points.
      It looks that he is a fighter, and I’m sure we will see many good battles with him in the future.

    22. Webber is a hard guy to pass, he should give more ground imo, but it was vettel who moved towards him.

      I can understand Lewis’ frustration, when the team tells you both the cars are in fuel savings mode you don’t expect your team mate racing you!

      1. but Button said he started saving fuel before Hamilton.

    23. We are not blind or stupid but if Martin Whitmarsh keeping doing this helping Button over Hamilton or favoring Button Over Hamilton then i think it’s time Hamilton to look for find another team next year, because what we have seen today is not good. i wonder why McLaren trying to handicap Lewis to help Jensen, again…and why was Lewis told to slow down and conserve fuel, because to give a chance allowing Jensen to get close to him and attack , and when that didn’t work out then Jensen is told to conserve fuel!? what a joke.
      i don’t like this and really make me crazy, we all remember China and Singapore. AND NOW IT’S REALLY STINKING MCLAREN SIDE

      1. My feelings exactly!
        Thank you

      2. Except Mclaren aren’t trying to handicap Hamilton. Both drivers were told to conserve fuel (with Button being told that the situation was “critical”). It’s just that Hamilton eased off more than Button did, only for Hamilton to brilliantly retake the lead.

        1. Quit all this Mclaren favouring this, Mclaren favouring that rubbish! Geez, imagine the uproar if Button had won!

    24. @ scribe or any one else who can answer. How do u get the radio 5 live commentary on over the BBC f1 feed? I thought with red button but on my freebies today it was just tennis? But I do agree they are far better from what I heard on the practice sessions.

      1. HounslowBusGarage
        31st May 2010, 12:09

        Start up two instances of your web browser. One for the BBC1 video feed with the sound off and the other one for the 5Live feed.
        Then start a third version for the F1 Fanatic Live Blog!

    25. I am so happy Lewis won!
      And oh yah, Vettel is toast!

    26. Great drive from Hamilton and Button, neither put a foot wrong and gave us some great driving. Without putting eachother out.

      Same to Webber, Vettel obviously is getting frustrated with Webber’s superior form as of late and made a very rash move in a desperate attempt to take back his lead.

      Well done to Kobayashi and Sauber, delighted to see them double finish and in points; and Petrov too!

      1. I know Petrov wasn’t in the points, just well done to him! Sorry about that.

    27. Nobody seems to be mentioning the great pass lewis did around the outside of vettel at turn 3 on the first lap.

      Also, i was pleased to see some aggressive moves from button; he did brilliantly to hang it around the outside of hamilton- brave move.

    28. sounds like i picked one hell of a race to sleep through

      1. YOU SLEPT unbelievable!!!!!!!

    29. maestrointhesky
      30th May 2010, 22:09

      I am from the school of thought that Hamilton can learn a lot more from Button than people think so, well done Ham! You beat off Button’s opportunism in a way that you probably would have let get to you in the very early part of the season. Button appears more of a renegade when it comes to team orders. Hamilton also did it without crashing into his teammate. I think both teams miscalculated how close they would be relative to each other and RBR in particular, thought they could have saved fuel much earlier having pulled out the usual gap they’ve managed with every lead they’ve had. It didn’t happen though so well done McLaren! There’s only one thing left now if you’re listening. EXHAUST DRIVEN DOUBLE DIFFUSERS! You need more rear end down force!

      With regards to the main talking point, Vettel’s fault – 100%! He tried a very similar thing down the pit lane with Hamilton at Shanghai where he suggested Hamilton tried to ‘touch’ him. A very different result when you try it at 190mph though! He needs to rein his neck generally but more to the point, he should have driven within the space Webber allowed him. I’ve never been a big Webber fan, and yes, he perhaps could have yielded to Vettel knowing that he had to save fuel earlier which would have enabled the team to score a potential maximum. That is a not in a race drivers’ instinct and hats off to Webber, he was going to make the pass as difficult as possible. Had he managed to keep Vettel behind for that lap they would have both been in that ‘fuel saving’ mode and the tactic could have paid off the with a Webber win. The fact remains, Vettel tried to drive into space that wasn’t there and the stewards should reprimand him for causing an accident!

    30. It sure was great to watch a dry race where the most exciting action was happening up at the pointy end! Kudos to Hamilton and Button for respecting each other’s space during that cool scrap they had towards the end, and the bonehead award goes out to Vettel and Webber for being so dang (Red?)bullheaded. I mostly blame Vettel, but Webber surely could have left him just a tad more room. Fun stuff! I’ve now got high hopes for McLaren in Canada. Those long straights should suit the car well.

    31. More than anything, it’s the comments of Horner and Marko that make me sick in my stomach. I hate the idea of conspiracy theories, and if not for this collision I’m sure the spotlight would be on the McLaren team instead and the reasons for Lewis’ subdued celebrations. However, when you have former drivers, commentators, and the larger f1 community as a whole share the opposite opinion to the team principal, you have to wonder where loyalty lies. Vettel has handled the entire incident rather poorly, but who can blame his mindset, when his team allow him to believe he was in the right? The way Marko made it sound, forcing another driver to brake on the dirty side of the track is a far bigger crime than turning into your team-mate right beside you. Funnily enough this result is great for Webber, but I’m left feeling rather sour about the post-race investigation.

    32. The race was epic. I think Mercedes were using F-Duct for this race but it seems like it was useless as Button pass Schumacher on lap 1 that was a great job because if he was struck behind him for too ling that could have spoiled his race. I don’t know what happened on lap 40 as the ESPN went for a commercial break & when they came back they showed the horrid picture of what happened when you don’t have team orders.The logo of Red Bull shows that two Bulls are fighting well that incident can be use in their PR event of Advertising!

      ‘SAVE FUEL’ was probably the coded message given to both Hamilton & Button as they fought between themselves but what a exciting race it was. Felt bad for Petrov but good Kobayashi as he scored his first point this season & first for Sauber. Strong finish from Schuamcher & Nico but it seems like the Prancing Horse is out of breath as they struggle in this race.

      I think on the slowing down lap guy from Mclaren sum it up beautifully ‘ We created pressure on Red Bulls & they CRACKED’ The car is fast but unreliable & now they have driver management issue.

    33. Praveen Titus
      31st May 2010, 10:05

      A race where team orders won, I think, except in the case of Red Bull where team orders made a mess of the whole thing. I wonder whether it is the team strategists who actually race the cars from their garages with drivers more or less functioning as puppets. We haven’t got rid of this team interference syndrome yet.

      Anyway the incidents did make the race a hot talking point. Without these failed overtaking measures the race would have been relatively boring.

      Finally, Bruno Senna is beginning to make an impression on F1 particularly with his overtaking move on the Virgin of Glock, I think.

    34. great race.
      the four front drivers within 2 seconds for most of the race and good overtaking moves.

      Vettel’s at fault on the move, he threw himself over Webber. Better luck next time.

      Well done to Hamilton that showed once more that he is an exceptional racer, full of “hunger”. Well done to Button for the super move on Hamilton.

      Hopefully we won’t see a war between team mates in the future.

      and all this conspiracy talk reminds me of the “Senna vs Prost vs Mansell vs piquet vs Mclaren vs Ferrari vs williams” years where people would get very heated discussions about F1.

      Roll on Montereal!

    35. Although I expected McLaren to be closer to Red Bull in the race than qualifying I didn’t think it would be so close between the four cars.

      If the Red Bull wasn’t so mighty through turn eight and so Hamilton didn’t loose ground on Webber there I think he would have been able to overtake him early in the race.

      But the most surprising performance was Ferrari, they seem to have really dropped down the order since the first race, they are supposed to be bringing updates to the next two races so maybe they will be back challenging at the front then.

    36. I loved seeing McLaren take the fight to Red Bull! The Redbull incident just proving that despite his massive and quickly maturing talent, Vettel is still young, and susceptible to error. In my mind Webber is still the man to beat, but with the MP4-25 so improved, he better look out for Lewis and Button. Also interesting is how far off the pace Ferrari were, major props to Petrov for holding off Alonso for so long. Massa couldn’t make much progress behind Nico and Kubica, but for the second race in a row he easily beat Alonso. All the pressure at the Scuderia has been aimed at Massa, but for the second race in a row, Alonso screwed up, had a poor starting position as a result and hurt his chances greatly.

    37. Did you guys noticed from the moment Lewis got out of his car, it seem to me that he wasn’t his usual self and I think there are many reasons. First of all it was a tough race, all the work he had done during the race was again comprised by his own team and to then have Jenson challenge him for the lead after he was told of slow down. If I was Lewis I would be very disappointed, he had a real chance to take the battle to Redbull (Which he did until his botched pit stop) and fight for the win, only to find time after time been hampered by this own team. Well done to Lewis, you deserve this win maybe not the way you may want only due to Whitmarsh but a good result. And for Button, I still like you but lost some of my respect today, trying to steal the lead while your team is napping is not nice, your becoming an opportunistic bore, if you want to race then let it be fair and even playing field. Whitmarsh get you act together mate cuz this pattern that we are seeing is far too obvious.

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