Race suspension blunts Button’s charge

62 comments on “Race suspension blunts Button’s charge”

1. 

   Hairs (@hairs)
   30th May 2011, 0:09

   During the wet race which was red-flagged in Korea last year, Mercedes changed the setup of their cars completely on the grid – in that case, everyone was stoked because it looked like making the race a lot more exciting, as opposed to the Red Bull procession it was expected to become. Plaudits for Brawn being clever and thinking on his feet, and the rules for allowing this sneaky race-improving idea possible.

   Fast forward to today, and we all hate it.

   Same rule, different situations, different results.

   Button deserved that win today, though – good strategy calls, blinding pace, only to have his team-mate bring out a safety car for no good reason and make his life difficult.

   One McLaren driver had every right to be fuming after the race and slating one of his fellow drivers, but it wasn’t the one mouthing off to camera…
   1. 

      Rob
      30th May 2011, 0:23

      Seems your forgetting about alonso. He deserved the win just as much as Button.
      1. 

         bosyber (@bosyber)
         30th May 2011, 9:25

         I found it interesting that after the race, Alonso said, with respect to the red flag and changing tyres something like: without that it would certainly have been third for Vettel – but not a win for himself. I think he wasn’t all that certain he could have held Button (but had been looking forward to the fight).
         1. 

            Atticus (@atticus-2)
            30th May 2011, 9:44

            Alonso also said he would maximalise the degradation of Vettel’s tyres to his own advantage, and try to pass him on the last lap. It could have been almost as epic as Suzuka 2005. If he would succeed… He said he would try it because he had nothing to lose, or much less than Vettel.

            Whether it was just a word game afterwards or real intent we’ll never know.
            1. 

               JerseyF1 (@jerseyf1)
               30th May 2011, 18:25

               I’d love it if he did actually say “maximalise”
      2. 

         Hairs (@hairs)
         30th May 2011, 12:44

         I’m not forgetting about Alonso at all. I just think Button, of the 3 drivers, did the best job on the day – he was consistently fastest, pulled out a massive gap, and had it not been for bad luck, he would have won it with ease. Alonso did well, but he wasn’t second on merit.
         1. 

            NW
            30th May 2011, 15:57

            So he was handed out the 2nd position? and how exactly?
            1. 

               Burny ekkelstone
               30th May 2011, 19:34

               duh!! The safety car mate!

               The safety car gave him second place.
               (1) He was never on the same pace as vettel/button.
               (2) If safety car had not interrupted, both vettel and alonso wud have pitted for the REDs, where effectively the ‘bull’ wud have kicked more dust into the horse and zoomed off.
               (3) But the ‘arrow’ could still have overtaken the ‘bull’
   2. 

      matt90 (@matt90)
      30th May 2011, 2:10

      I think it would be reasonable to not allow any changes to cars, including tyres, except for a possible change between the extreme compounds- e.g. wet to intermediate, dry to wet etc. That way in the event of a simple crash like yesterday the racing can resume from where it was before. I felt robbed of a thrilling conclusion when Vettel essentially got a free pitstop.
      1. 

         zecks
         30th May 2011, 6:16

         I agree, the korea gp was different because there was different weather between qualifying and the race and it had barely started. Monaco only had 8 laps of proper racing at the end which was more like a glorified parade. Frankly they should have just called the race when they red flagged it.
         1. 

            Hairs (@hairs)
            30th May 2011, 12:46

            But then you’re essentially arguing “We want a rule that states you’re allowed to do whatever you want on the grid to the cars but only if the punters have decided that it would make for a more exciting race.”

            Talk about artificial rulings!
            1. 

               matt90 (@matt90)
               31st May 2011, 18:37

               Sure, in this case it would make it more exciting, but I think it would just makes sense to not allow tyre changes anyway.
      2. 

         Fixy (@)
         30th May 2011, 15:01

         Repairs on the car should be banned too: if Hamilton had a broken rear wing he would have lost places/retired, but the red flag helped him a lot.
         1. 

            matt90 (@matt90)
            31st May 2011, 18:35

            I think that would probably be fair. Even if it isn’t his fault, if he sustains damage during the normal race distance (before any countback if that were to occur) it should not be allowed to be repaired at any point, probably even in the evnt of a sudden and destructive downpour.
         2. 

            Tricky
            2nd June 2011, 7:07

            I think a good compromise would be to allow the car to go to the pits and be repaired, and then roll out after all the cars on the grid have passed on the restart (parc ferme on the grid, but not in the pits). This could be the same rule for changing the tyres, except as stated to change from wets to inters etc. It could create an interesting racing further down the grid, with some cars electing taking the free pit stop and going to the back. But there is a problem, how you get the cars into the pits?
2. 

   Steven
   30th May 2011, 0:21

   Keith – great work

   Can you do me a favor though and try and explain how Kobayashi and Sutil ended up in 4th and 5th after the safety car? I couldn’t and still can’t work it out, despite having the live timing, bbc, star sports and your live blog open at the same time!

   All I can think of is that the safety car must have picked up Webber and Hamilton and allowed Kob and Sut to race around at race speed and get to the pits well before Hamilton and Webber got back round.
   1. 

      US_Peter (@us_peter)
      30th May 2011, 1:32

      Look at the lap chart, that’s the best way to see it. They were both steadily working their way up as drivers ahead of them pitted early in the race. They had basically already made it up that far before the SC, so when most drivers pitted under the SC, they held those positions.
      1. 

         Steven
         30th May 2011, 2:00

         but thats what i don’t understand.

         Neither Hamilton or Webber pitted under the safety car. When it came out, Webber was no more than 2 seconds behind Kobayashi, yet, Kobayashi was able to stop, change tires and get out ahead of Webber??

         How?
         1. 

            Oliver
            30th May 2011, 3:26

            Kobayashi made only one stop mate. Webber made multiple stops. The problem is when you stop you may feed back into traffic.
            After Webbers first stop, he dropped back to 14th place by this time Kobayashi was running 9th or so. kobayashi then went on to do many more laps and found some clear air to run at a consistent pace.
            Sutil did the same. In Monaco, track position is king.
            1. 

               Steven
               30th May 2011, 8:20

               yes, i get that.

               Webber made 2 stops, same as Hamilton (excluding drive thru). However neither stop was made at the safety car period for Massa.

               Before the safety car came out Webber is 2 seconds behind Kobayashi (according to the above charts). After the safety car he was still behind, despite the fact Kobayashi made his pit stop during this period when Webber stayed out. HOW? How do you do a pitstop in less than 2 seconds?? :)
         2. 

            Pieman40
            30th May 2011, 13:15

            Once the safety car comes out the drivers have a set delta time they have to drive to, which is much slower than a flying lap. I aasume KOB and SUT were close to the pits and ducked in, while WEB etc., were driving slower to the Delta.
3. 

   F1-flabmatics
   30th May 2011, 0:36

   One of jensons best drives completely outclassing vettel and 3 people comment on it versus 600+ on a joke made by hamilton. F1 fanatics for sure lol
   1. 

      Ads21 (@ads21)
      30th May 2011, 0:41

      lol I think that has more to do with the fact that the Hamilton article has been up all day where as Keith only posted this about 30 mins ago
   2. 

      Oliver
      30th May 2011, 3:33

      Perhaps, Button out classed the field. But who gets glory for dribbling the entire field, then scoring an own goal.
   3. 

      Mads (@mads)
      30th May 2011, 14:54

      I don’t see why people think Button had such a good race. He didn’t make any mistake, but did Alonso do that? No. Did Vettel do that? No.
      They all drove a brilliant race, but I don’t see why Button was better then the others I just don’t.
4. 

   Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
   30th May 2011, 0:39

   As Button said, Fernando was prepared to attack Vettel. He had 6 more clear chances at St Devote.

   We could’ve seen a brilliant fight for the lead. Up to that point of the race, I didn’t care if Vettel won or not. I wanted to see what Alonso had in mind, and how Button could gain from the situation.

   I also wonder why Mclaren fitted super-soft tyres on Button’s car instead of Softs in his second stop.
   1. 

      David BR
      30th May 2011, 2:13

      I’m not convinced Alonso would have risked enough to get past even an ailing Vettel. But I was hoping Button could time a clever pass, when they we reaching back-markers say.

      One thing I didn’t get was why McLaren didn’t stick Button on softs for the third stint and maybe try running to the end.
   2. 

      BasCB (@bascb)
      30th May 2011, 7:59

      As for the super softs, same reason Red Bull were going to put Vettel on another set of reds at that stop.
      Only with the confusion they messed up and put him onto yellows, enabling this one stopper (well almost, see red flag)!

      Call that luck, after first a bit of help in Q3. Vettel did a very good job of making that work it seemed. Really a shame about the red flag allowing them to change to new tyres.
5. 

   jackal40 (@jackal40)
   30th May 2011, 2:16

   I have to say, this pretty well ruined the race for me. Everything leading up to the red flag was exciting and action packed. Then, park the cars during the red flag, change tires, fix damage, make adjustments which just resulted in a procession for the final six laps.

   Alonso and Button deserved the opportunity to fight Vettel for the win, and they were robbed of that chance. Why didn’t they just call the race at the red flag like the announcers thought they were going to? What did we gain from having them run the six remaining laps – in my opinion, absolutely nothing.
   1. 

      Tom L.
      30th May 2011, 13:08

      “Alonso and Button deserved the opportunity to fight Vettel for the win, and they were robbed of that chance. Why didn’t they just call the race at the red flag like the announcers thought they were going to?”

      I think you’re contradicting yourself there! By restarting the race, they gave Alonso and Button a chance that they certainly wouldn’t have done had they not restarted. Less of a chance than before the red, certainly, but in those 6 laps anything could have happened, Vettel could have hit a barrier…
6. 

   DJ
   30th May 2011, 2:36

   We forgetting that Vettel did 56 laps on those soft tyres. That is a huge feat by itself!!!!!!!
   1. 

      David BR
      30th May 2011, 2:52

      +1 Everyone’s got so tired of him winning pole and the races, it’s hiding the fact he’s becoming quietly very impressive. I’d have liked to see the top 3 battle to the end, but even so Vettel’s improving all the time. Much as I sympathize with Hamilton’s frustation at Monaco, Vettel’s lead is well deserved and Hamilton has never shown the same deadly consistency. It’s an awesome achievement of concentration.
      1. 

         David-A (@david-a)
         30th May 2011, 5:06

         +1, good point David BR
      2. 

         Atanu (@ilovevettel)
         30th May 2011, 7:37

         Excellent point David… Thats an remarkable achievement with this year’s Pirelli tyres.
   2. 

      AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
      30th May 2011, 9:40

      Could not agree more. People over-look that. He managed to defend in Barcelona.

      Vettel was never looking at anything less than a podium and 1st spot was well deserved in my opinion.

      By the very nature of consistency it is the lack of disparity in performance that turns people off. For me, that’s one of the most exciting things about the sport. That level of dominance will always impress me.
7. 

   Oliver
   30th May 2011, 3:17

   Great analysis Keith.
   On paper, Button was going to win the race. But what ?!!!! 3 stops!!! Who stops 3 times at Monaco without having an accident.
   Mclaren or Button made the wrong call. I was just laughing in my head when Brundle was calling him a genius for stating the obvious, when he could see that the cars ahead didn’t stop for tyres.
   Even in Bacelona, having a faster car doesn’t guarantee you an overtake. Then you want to overtake while racing inside a straw?

   Mclaren keeps bring upgrades to the cars while their pitwall keeps makind a downgrade.
   Mclaren didn’t want this win. Their focus is being a clothing company.
8. 

   Oliver
   30th May 2011, 3:45

   Had Button come back directely behind Vettel, with his fresh tyres, then perhaps he had a chance. But bringing him behind Alonso also? Come on.
   HRT is maybe 7 seconds slower on race pace, even while on worn tyres, if they don’t give way, you can’t lap them. Then you want Button to overtake Alonso, in real life?!!!
9. 

   sumedh
   30th May 2011, 5:40

   People seriously need to take a closer look at their own perception of Vettel.
   Here he is – driving on tyres that are more than 50+ laps old and defending against two very highly rated World Champions and still people think Button drove outstandingly and Vettel was lucky?
   Mind you, Button is considered to be the king of tyre preservation and Vettel is trumping him at his own game. Not only this lad the quickest driver, he is also the one taking most care of his tyres. Kudos to him! He will have deserved the title which he is going to win in 2-3 races.
   1. 

      AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
      30th May 2011, 9:43

      And I would be thrilled for him if he does do that. I will always respect anyone who deserves a WDC and this lad certainly does.
   2. 

      lecho
      30th May 2011, 10:56

      To be honest I don’t see it such an achievement when you realise that he was doing this preservation by losing 2-2,5 seconds per lap to Button and Alonso at one stage of the race. That’s something to be done only in Monaco this year (with DRS), when you can effectively block cars behind you. See that when Button is engaging his preservation skills, it don’t affect his tempo as much as Vettels. And Jenson’s yesterdays drive was stunning, one of the best of his career imo, he deserved the chance to take it.
      1. 

         sumedh
         30th May 2011, 11:17

         His tyre preservation hasn’t been a one-off case lecho.

         He did one pit-stop less than Webber in each of the first 3 races. He did only a precautionary stop in Turkey too. If you rewind back to 2010, he was the driver who did an entire race on soft tyres and pitted only on last lap, he also gained 2 places by doing that. In current F1, tt is rare that a driver gains positions by staying out on worn tyres but Vettel did it.
         The media does not choose to highlight this aspect of Vettel’s driving concentrating only on his poles and amateur wheel-to-wheel racing.
      2. 

         Tom L.
         30th May 2011, 13:12

         “he was doing this preservation by losing 2-2,5 seconds per lap to Button and Alonso at one stage of the race. That’s something to be done only in Monaco this year (with DRS), when you can effectively block cars behind you.”

         And this was the situation they were in! Why shouldn’t he drive that way? If he’d driven like that at, say, Turkey, then criticism of his tactic would be completely justified. Running your race according to the characteristics of the circuit is hardly something you can begrudge a driver.
10. 

    geekracer2000 (@geekracer2000)
    30th May 2011, 7:33

    Easy to say Button would this and Alonso would that with aftermath in hands. What stopped them to overtake Vettel before the red flag then? They waited for Vettel to make mistake or DNF from him, other than that they wouldn’t do anything.
    1. 

       bosyber (@bosyber)
       30th May 2011, 9:29

       Yes, but it is the fight we missed – had Vettel been able to hold his lead with his 60 lap old tyres, after a fight for over 10 laps at the end, that would have been much better than the 5 laps of qualy run we got. With the new tyres, he certainly had it much easier.
    2. 

       frederick
       30th May 2011, 10:12

       Perhaps they were told to wait a couple of laps as their teams were predicting Vettel’s tyres were about to ‘go over the cliff’
    3. 

       BBT (@bbt)
       30th May 2011, 20:26

       People have short memories, Button was told via the radio that Vettels tyres would fall of the cliff i.e wait you’ll have your chance. That was either the lap before the red flag or the lap of the red flag. Personally I think barring a mistake or easy overtake Alonso was going to do it on the last lap. The last two laps before the stoppage Alonso had a couple of sniffs, looking very much like it was only a matter of time.
11. 

    Dvid
    30th May 2011, 9:24

    Why was Alonso not penalised for cutting the chicane when all four wheel went off the track as he defended to Button ???
    1. 

       bosyber (@bosyber)
       30th May 2011, 9:32

       Somehow the chicane cutting only counts if you do it trying to overtake, not when defending. I guess that’s because it is much harder to know if you would have lost the position than to see that you gained a position while going off track. It’s another effective way to make overtaking harder in F1, for me.
12. 

    AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
    30th May 2011, 9:37

    It must have been a boring suspension for Sutil, he was the only one who didn’t take new tyres!

    Petrov seemed to be doing well with his tyres but I guess we will never know whether or not he planned on a pit-stop. He most certainly would have changed had he not brought out the red-flag himself.

    I’ve said it before but i’ll say it again. I couldn’t see Alonso getting past Vettel. I believe Button catching Alonso put him under more pressure to defend, allowing Vettel a bit of breathing space. Alonso seemed a bit sloppy just before the red-flag, he was losing grip. Howver, the more exciting thing is that we will now never know and it makes for a wonderful ‘what if’ moment for years to come!
    1. 

       brendant (@brendant)
       30th May 2011, 10:59

       Sutil’s right rear came off in the big crash and he pitted right away for a new set. There probably was more pressing work to be done on the car than changing 2-lap old tires which had only seen action under the yellows.
13. 

    Atticus (@atticus-2)
    30th May 2011, 9:51

    What really disturbed me concerning the suspension was that Vettel and the Red Bull effectively made one big and one smaller mistake during the race – and still they got away with it.

    The big was that they didn’t call him in during the first SC, the small was the quite long first pit stop.

    Compare this to Monaco 2010. Alonso made a slight error, losing the rear for a moment on the bump towards Massenet (on FP3!) – and that tiny mistake cost him the championship in hindsight! He had such a good setup on his car back then for Monaco – like Lewis had yesterday, similar outcomes.

    So overall while I acknowledge Vettel’s feats you have mentioned above (e. g. tyre preservation), I feel that this win is somewhat.. unjust. Or at least needed a major slice of luck.

    And I don’t like it when luck plays this big part.
14. 

    Mark (@marlarkey)
    30th May 2011, 10:39

    They have to look at the whole safety car situation… how safety car deployment interacts with other rules.

    There have been too many cases where a driver/team making perfectly correct and advantageous tactical decisions have found themselves worse off as a result of a safety car.

    Deployment of the safety car should have a neutral effect on the race. It should neither give advantage too nor disadvantage a driver/team.

    This tyre change situation is simply the latest loophole exposed… the whole piquet-gate situation was another… closing the pitlane was another…

    Instead of waiting and fixing safety car related loopholes they should have a wholeseale review of the rules in relation to possible effects of safety car deploymnet.
15. 

    box this lap
    30th May 2011, 12:04

    Button was really really quick in that McLaren, and Vettel! so long on those tyres. Nice to see this all.
16. 

    Miss Chief (@miss-chief)
    30th May 2011, 12:21

    I have to agree with the general consensus. Hamilton needs to shut his mouth and let his driving talk. he also needs to take more responsibility for making his own decisions. he’s no Rookie now and should be telling the team what he wants to do.

    I also agree with the race being red flagged and being allowed to change tyres. What a stupid idea and robbed us completely if an exciting finish to the race. Rule should be changed so that tyre changes can only be allowed if a wet race is declared and Inters or Full Wets are being fitted.
17. 

    Tom L.
    30th May 2011, 13:21

    Although I can understand people’s frustration at being denied a 3-way fight in the final laps, I think the negative backlash is more a result of the fact that the result was a continuation of Vettel’s domination, rather than the bare facts.
    Vettel was indeed lucky with the timing of the red flag, but the rules are the same for everyone. They all had new tyres on after the restart; he was able to pull away because his car is the fastest. If it’s unjust that the fastest car wins, then I don’t see the point of motorsport!
    He also had a good slice of bad luck – a botched first pit stop that lost him track position which was no fault of his own, but which he fought back from, perhaps knowing that if there’s anywhere you can hold off faster cars on worn tyres at, it’s Monaco. He and the strategy team used their heads.
    He also managed to avoid a multi-car pile-up in front of him. He could have run into Alguersari or one of the others, but he didn’t.
    Had it been Button who had been in front, having done a long stint on tyres that were not expected to last that length of time and holding off the faster Alonso and Vettel, people would probably be praising him for his tyre preservation skills, his ability to keep calm under pressure. If we consider Vettel’s victory in this light, it was fully deserved.
18. 

    j-dubya
    30th May 2011, 15:18

    Conspiracy theory of the race: Perhaps Petrov was instructed to request removal, subsequent red flag, to clinch the race for Renault powered Vettel, and protect from the faster Ferrari and McClaren.
19. 

    sumedh
    30th May 2011, 16:31

    I disagree with the title regarding Button’s charge being “halted” due to the red flag. Button’s charge was halted by Vettel not the red flag.
    Button was within one second of the lead for the 15 laps before the red flag. Did he look like he could make a pass to get ahead of Alonso / Vettel? No. No reason to believe that the last 6 laps would have been any different. Button lost the chance to win when he decided to pit.

    I don’t get the talk that Vettel’s tyres would fall off the cliff in the last 6 laps. I think they had already fallen off the cliff, he was lapping 2-2.5 seconds slower than Button. But he decided to stay on-track and try defending. Wise move considering the track was Monaco.
    Bottom-line: Vettel trumped Button at his own game – opportunistic strategy, tyre preservation.
    1. 

       Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
       30th May 2011, 16:32

       I disagree with the title regarding Button’s charge being “halted” due to the red flag.

       The word “halted” does not appear in the title.
       1. 

          sumedh
          30th May 2011, 16:43

          ohh! my bad.
          Either ways, Vettel had everything under control on a slow car.
    2. 

       BBT (@bbt)
       30th May 2011, 20:32

       he was lapping 2-2.5 seconds slower than Button.

       That is not off a cliff, Mclaren were expecting the tyres to be undrivable in the last 6 laps, 6+ seconds slower, I guess we’ll never know, which is a shame. I personal thing Alonso would of won on the last lap.
       1. 

          BBT (@bbt)
          30th May 2011, 20:33

          personally think*
20. 

    Shimks
    1st June 2011, 19:56

    A bit late to comment but…

    I’ve just rewatched the race. What an epic. Button was absolutely magnificent. It was going to be his win, in my eyes, even after the first SC period robbed him of his 14 second lead.

    What a shame! You saw his face on the podium. He knew exactly what had happened to him.

    Was this the drive of his life (so far)?

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