Pit stop hiccup fails to stop Hamilton (Turkish Grand Prix analysis)

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Hamilton lost two seconds - and second place - in his pit stop

Lewis Hamilton scored his first win of 2010 in Istanbul – despite falling behind Sebastian Vettel twice during the Turkish Grand Prix.

Take a look at the race data in detail with the F1 Fanatic race analysis and interactive charts below.

Lap 1

Position change on lap 1

By the end of lap one the top 13 drivers were all in the same order they started – but the first lap was a lot more exciting than that.

Both McLaren drivers lost places but took them back during the first lap, Hamilton passing Vettel and Button passing Schumacher.

Pit stops

Turkish Grand Prix pit stops

Sebastien Buemi and Nico Hulkenberg both pitted at the end of the first lap after colliding. But, unlike Fernando Alonso at Monaco, neither felt able to complete the remaining race distance without a further pit stop.

Lewis Hamilton lost a position to Sebastian Vettel in the pit stops not just because Vettel came in first – a stuck right-rear cost Hamilton more than two seconds.

An early first stop for Alonso paid dividends, getting him ahead of Kamui Kobayashi – who he’s been stuck behind until that point – and Adrian Sutil.

Race progress

You can see the position of every car on every lap using the interactive chart below.

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Tick/untick drivers’ names to show their laps, click and drag to zoom

Drivers’ lap times

You can see the lap times for every car using the interactive chart below.

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Lap chart

Turkish Grand Prix lap chart

Unusually, it wasn’t until the second half of the race that we saw the first retirement.

Vitaly Petrov was on course for eighth place before banging wheels with Alonso.

Sutil had to pass Kobayashi twice – doing it once at the start of the race and then again towards the end after his pit stop had dropped him back behind the Japanese driver.

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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    37 comments on “Pit stop hiccup fails to stop Hamilton (Turkish Grand Prix analysis)”

    1. Lewis didn’t seem that happy with winning. He’s a true racer and was disappointed that he didn’t take the victory on merit from Webber in the first place. Still, his move on Button to get the lead back was brilliant if not VERY risky.

      1. Not sure if that was the real motive for being so downbeat about the win. If so, Lewis is wrong: it was his pressure that helped force the Red Bull error. Whatever the case, he showed his light years ahead of Vettel in terms of maturity now – while also (still) knowing how to overtake properly.

        1. and he didnt complained about the pit inciddent by the way vettel was going to spit him fro webber anyway cause he got in earlier and posted fastest lap of the race cause by the time fresh harder tyres were already more efficient

      2. Yes his reaction to winning was fascinating to me.

        We may never know the true story, but I assume it could be one or a combination of these things:

        – There was a communications cock-up. He thought they were formation flying to the end, whilst Jenson didn’t understand that. He was therefore miffed because he almost lost the race win, and before the debrief they will have had in the evening he didn’t know what Jenson’s intentions were and what he knew and when.

        – He didn’t like winning the race at the expense of other peoples misfortunes. He’s a racer and it seemed like a charity victory to him.

        – His relationship with Nicole thingywhatsit isn’t going too well. I noticed on the BBC forum that she lovingly looked over to him when they were posing for a photo and he kind of ignored her. (This is total speculation and i’m not sure about this)

        – Some other unknown personal issue. Coulthard in the forum suggested that he was in a Zen state and this win was not that special to him because he was so calm and had had many before.

        -Maybe he is singly focussed on the championship and this result only gets him to 3rd place and so it is not a great success, but merely a stepping stone.

        ha. :-) there you go! wild speculations over.

        1. Zen state? lolwut?

          1. I dunno. Coulthard said it. blame him, not me. ;-)

            1. This might just be another conspiracy coming.

              But I thought he looked quite tired. could he have just been happy the race was over?

        2. he did seem physically knackered after the race when getting out of the car. And we know Lewis is one of the fittest drivers

      3. Electrolite
        31st May 2010, 12:08

        I think he was not as enthusiastic simply because he was being mature and controlled over the whole thing. He knows as well as anyone he should have won at least a race by now, so he was happy, but not jumping to any conclusions as it’s obvious how tight and competitive the season has been and will be. Not a Hamilton fan btw!

    2. I feel the whole Mclaren situation was a result of miscommunication. There was ambiguity in the team radio transmissions and misunderstanding in the way each driver interpreted their radio transmissions. In the heat of battle these things happen.

    3. Is Lewis Hamilton too fast for Whitmarsh’s McLaren?
      I can not help but wonder how many times this year McLaren have managed to put Lewis on the back foot. Is it Whitmarsh’s intention to oust Lewis for Jenson?

      I must say, I believe so. Because Whitmarsh can thank his lucky balls for RB’s calamity Seb distracting us all from a McLaren team order AGAINST Lewis. Hamilton’s reaction says it all he now knows something is really fishy. And as the saying goes: the fish always stinks from the head down.

      1. Whitmarsh is trying to impede Lewis – 100%.

        It’s despicable.

        It will never be admitted or proved unless someone from the inside spills the beans – like Crashgate 2008.

        Button is obviously the blue eyed boy in that team and Lewis will have to work twice as hard to counter the favouritism.

        Botched pit stops, miscommunications, instructions to hold while letting Button race – it’s all adding up.

        1. Ah come on, are you REALLY putting racism into the discussion? =/

          1. there is no racism here mate. i think the ‘blue eyed boy’ bit is just a way of giving over an innocent impression of jenson.

        2. Wow. Come on guys. :-)

          why does everything have to be a conspiracy theory? Human beings are flawed and cock-ups happen. It’s just the way it is.

          1. Yes Nick F,

            I used to work in a enviroment where the head purposely try to disadvantage someone only to conviniently blame it on a junior staff cock-up.

            and by the way, the history of LH and Whitmarsch gives us a reason to believe the conspiracy thoery.

            for those that dont kow the background, the story behind the scene is that many years ago b4 LH advent in F1, he wanted to have a seat in an F1 car earlier i think at 18 or 19years old. Whitmarsh was adamant that Lewis should do one or two more years in the lower Formulae. There was an argument, Whitmarsh tore up Lewis contract and asked him and his dad to look for a drive elsewhere. They left and after a day or two, Ron calmed down the situation and had LH resigned to Macca. LH did an extra year in the lower Formulae and the next year he had the race seat in 07 next to Alonso. The rest is history as they say. I think that bad blood still exist b/w MW and LH which is leading to favoring Button especially in the absence of Ron

          2. Yes Nick F,

            I used to work in a enviroment where the head purposely try to disadvantage someone only to conviniently blame it on a junior staff cock-up.

            and by the way, the history of LH and Whitmarsch gives us a reason to believe the conspiracy thoery.

            for those that dont kow the background, the story behind the scene is that many years ago b4 LH advent in F1, he wanted to have a seat in an F1 car earlier i think at 18 or 19years old. Whitmarsh was adamant that Lewis should do one or two more years in the lower Formulae. There was an argument, Whitmarsh tore up Lewis contract and asked him and his dad to look for a drive elsewhere. They left and after a day or two, Ron calmed down the situation and had LH resigned to Macca. LH did an extra year in the lower Formulae and the next year he had the race seat in 07 next to Alonso. The rest is history as they say. I think that bad blood still exist b/w MW and LH which is leading to favoring Button especially in the absence of Ron.

        3. that is a ridiculous theory. i’m not saying it’s false, but it’s probably unlikely.

        4. David Johnson
          31st May 2010, 9:50

          I don’t think there was any miscommunication at McLaren? I think Button was pulling a sly one !! and I think if the roles were reversed…I think the “fans” perspective would be clearly different…

          I don’t think there is any bias..racially or otherwise within the McLaren team…unfortunatly the same cannot be said of some the comments on this and other boards…a chip on the shoulder comment is a clear indicator of someone with great ignorance

      2. Hm, team orders?

        Well on the one hand, one can think Whitmarsh was trying to let Button win by telling Lewis to save fuel. But after that dice, they told Jenson to save fuel as well so some may say Whitmarsh let Lewis win at Jenson’s expense.

        Either way I don’t think the team is favouring anybody. There will be tension, Button and Hamilton are each other’s biggest rivals after all, but I hope it doesn’t explode like it has at Red Bull.

      3. Let me say this – I’m a huge Hamilton fan. That being said, I do not think Whitmarsh (MW) is trying to sabotage LH. I think MW is simply young, naive, inexperienced, etc. I really with Ron would come back. Strange as that may sound.

      4. far out, here we go again.

        What team orders against Lewis? What impedements?

        You’re saying things without actually explaining them.

        Are you meaning the pit stop? RB reacted to McLaren getting Lewis in. Had they not done that, Lewis would probably have overtaken Webber. It was McLaren making the call copied by RB, not the other way around. Had McLaren left Lewis out for a lap and his tyre burst you would be jumping around claiming that McLaren buggered that up too for leaving him out too long! They can’t win with you lot!

        Or are you suggesting Whitmarsh was out before the race putting superglue on Lewis’s wheel so it would stick in the pistop? Sticking wheels happen to every driver.

        Jenson plays a much bigger role in dictating his pit strategies, whereas Lewis leaves it up to the team. THAT is why they run differently, because Jenson speaks up and says “I want to do this, now!”, and Lewis just lets the team tell him what to do.

        BOTH drivers were told to lean out their cars, and it arguably hurt Jenson much more than Lewis. Jenson had the pace to challenge Lewis (as we saw), but they told him to lean out his engine and Jenson dropped right back. Surely if they were favouring Jenson they wouldn’t have told him to lean out so much, or told Lewis to lean out more so Jenson could have another shot.

        THERE IS NO CONSPIRACY, and you really are sounding ridiculous with your constant harping with absolutely no proof, or even evidence to back anything up! Change the record!

        What is McLaren’s motive to hinder Lewis? They have spent many millions of dollars getting Lewis to this point, he’s one of the top 2-3 drivers in the field, and he’s brought them a championship. Why would they try to get him out of the team and give another team what is really THEIR resource and someone THEY developed?

        1. to answer your last point first, the same reason Reb Bull try to screw Webber. Listen mate, in every team the Principal (boss) has an affinity with one driver in case you havent been watching F1 for long. happened with Senna/Hakinnen/LH under Ron, Horner with Vettel etc (i could gto on and on) and now we are saying Martin affinity seems to be with Button. It makes sense especially the history between LH and Whitmarsh. Read my post above

          1. bernification
            1st June 2010, 1:44

            in every team the Principal (boss) has an affinity with one driver in case you havent been watching F1 for long

            Man, not only are your arguments ill conceived and illogical, you are now resorting to patronising comments when questioned.

            I cannot believe the ridiculous conspiracies that are being thought up.
            Jenson tried it on. Simple as that.
            RB countered Mclarens pit stop strategy, there was no attempt to scupper Hamiltons race by pitting when they did.
            Did anyone notice that Vettel pitted only because the McLaren pit crew were out? It was a decoy to try and get Webber to pit, but RB countered with Vettel.
            Do any of you actually watch the race?

    4. Hughes, you really have a big chip on your shoulder don’t you? Is the world really such an awful place to you?

      1. Electrolite
        1st June 2010, 17:18

        If Hamilton doesn’t win, yes.

    5. Racism: silly! I was thinking more down the Lines of Whitmarsh wanting to write his own history within McLaren. Weakening Lewis and strengthening Jenson who Whitmarsh himself signed to the team whereas everyone was saying writing thinking it is a no win for jenson and therefor a no win for Whitmarsh. Lewis Is Ron’s kid. Whitmarsh i believe needs to prove himself over Jenson. Me thinks. Jenson Is bring cuddled in much the same aim as RB is cuddling calamity seb.

      1. @Michael:
        I could’t have put it better myself if I try. agree with you 100%. Its prolly not racism but something dictated by big bucks corporate needs. Especially now Macca are selling road cars.

    6. “THERE IS NO CONSPIRACY, and you really are sounding ridiculous with your constant harping with absolutely no proof, or even evidence to back anything up! Change the record!”

      Well said, just look at the data and watch the race again. Jenson was quicker for the whole race in Sect 1, but losing out in Sect 2 to both RBR and Hamilton. He was just sitting 3 seconds of the lead looking after fuel and tyres for the first 30 laps.

      Hamilton just backed off way too much on the lap the Jenson caught him, prob though the win was all but done.

      Miscommunication that all.

    7. Even though most people are occupied with all the conspiracy theories flying around, i’d like to go off-topic a bit.

      This race proven 3 teams deserve high praise for a huge step forward.
      The 1st and obvious one is McLaren – getting up there, to RBR level, outstanding job.
      Second team is Sauber – they seem to have woken up from winter slumber. Clearly fighting at the front of the midfield is way more then you would expect of them after the initial 6 races. Driver lineup still seems to be their problem though.
      3rd team is the one that, in my humble opinion, made up the most of its loss to the frontrunners, and thats Renault. Not only were their cars faster then Ferrari’s, but also possibly than the Merc’s (hard to evaluate this, as Kubica claims he could go way faster then Rosberg did but was never able to overtake).

      All in all, we witnessed really big shuffle in pecking order, that was unfortunately overshadowed by Vettel & Webber clashing

    8. I actually found interesting comparison in this analysis. Choose three drivers: Kobayashi, de la Rosa and Alguersuari. The latter one made pit stop, and actually was closer to Sauber drivers in the end than just before the pit stops. Seems like he got stuck behind Hülkenberg for entire last lap and that explained how his last lap was slower. Hulk finished between de la Rosa and Alguersuari being lap down.

    9. Memo to McLaren: practice pit stops! A couple of seconds was all the difference between Lewis jumping ahead of Webber and falling behind Vettel. This season with no refueling they’re critical. So why are McLaren consistently slower??

    10. K. Chandra Shekhar
      31st May 2010, 18:42

      If the conspirancy between Lewis and Martin turns out to be true and imagin Lewis leaving the team in 2011 and pairing with Schumi at Mercedes.

    11. I don’t believe in a conspiracy at McLaren they are much too professional for that. Lewis was just cruising to the finish and not expecting to be overtaken by his teammate; after all he was told that Jensen had the fuel warning as well. However, Jensen saw a gap and went for it, just racing instinct! We saw Lewis and Fernando take an opportunity entering the pits a couple of GPs ago. I’m sure at this point Lewis turned up the fuel consumption to take the P1 back. I’m sure it will have no negative effect between the two drivers; it might even turn out in a positive way.

    12. ‘unfortunatly the same cannot be said of some the comments on this and other boards…a chip on the shoulder comment is a clear indicator of someone with great ignorance’

      @ David Johnson: Are you referring to my above comment or the comments of those who quite ovbviously do have a chip on their shoulder?

    13. Did Hamilton only loose time during the pit stops because of the delay with the right rear? On the laps before the stop by the end of each lap he was usually right behind Webber but when we saw them at the start of the pit lane Hamilton seemed to be further back?

      With timing of the pit stops I know they have been timing the time stationary and the total time in the pit lane, are these published as I would like to compare the times for the drivers

    14. The notion of a conspiracy theory against Hamilton to me doesn’t make sense. S Hughes mentions a botched pit stop as part of his evidence, but surely this is just human error? Didn’t Button retire at Monaco because a cover had been left over one of his radiators which caused his engine to overheat.

      Why is human error when it happens to Button but a conspiracy when it happens to Hamilton?

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