2012 British Grand Prix lap chart

10 comments on “2012 British Grand Prix lap chart”

1. 

   andae23 (@andae23)
   9th July 2012, 8:55

   Looking at Maldonado’s pace during the last 15 laps or so, I wonder: did he have a problem or so or did he really just gave up? If so, then that would be the first time a driver has ever given up during a GP as far as I know.
   1. 

      AdrianMorse (@adrianmorse)
      9th July 2012, 9:42

      @andae23, he did a 39-lap stint on the hards.
      1. 

         andae23 (@andae23)
         9th July 2012, 9:46

         Still strange that they decided to stick with the hard tyres, even though he already was 3 seconds off the pace 15 laps from the end. Why didn’t he then make a pitstop?
         1. 

            AdrianMorse (@adrianmorse)
            9th July 2012, 10:02

            Very good point. I guess they were trying to win back the time from his extra pit stop, but it was clearly not working, and they should have put him on new tyres to at least enable him to do some good laps.
   2. 

      --- (@brazil2007)
      9th July 2012, 17:05

      Actually, other drivers have given up, and in a much more dramatic fashion. In the 1999 Japanese GP, Damon Hill came into the pits with a perfectly undamaged car, then got out, saying that he was so far down that there was no point in carrying on, as he was so far down the order.
2. 

   AdrianMorse (@adrianmorse)
   9th July 2012, 9:20

   When Hamilton took the lead of the race at the end of his first stint it looked as though he was on course to gain some places. But McLaren seemed to leave him out longer than was reasonable, even as he began to lose time to the cars he was trying to get in front of.

   The reason for that became clear in his final stint, which was also on the hard tyres: McLaren simply weren’t making the rubber last as long as their rivals. This serves to reinforce the fact that there is no strategic solution for a car that isn’t quick enough.

   @keithcollantine, I agree with the final sentence, but I’m not sure tyre wear was the problem in the first stint. He lost a bit of time battling Alonso, but the lap after Alonso had passed him was not all that bad. In general, I like the idea of going a bit deeper into a stint and coming back at the others with fresher tyres at the end, though doing a 7-lap stint on the softs didn’t help Hamilton, especially since covering Grosjean proved futile. Why Hamilton had no pace in the final stint I guess I will never know, as I’m not expecting a phone call from Woking to discuss strategy with them.
3. 

   BasCB (@bascb)
   9th July 2012, 12:20

   Its really amazing to see how Grosjean got back to the front after the collision with DiResta. And its interesting when you compare how Maldonado couldn’t get anywhere after dropping back because of hitting Perez.
   1. 

      Valter Tänav (@velodrive)
      10th July 2012, 23:45

      It was because Perez and Maldonado were on the out-lap(he had to make an extra pit stop or stay out long with the same tires – which was a bad decision). But Grosjean just made his pit stop 10 laps earlier than others, he didn’t lose nothing special with that(soft tires were anyway as bad as they were).
      1. 

         F1 Lunatic (@f1lunatic)
         13th July 2012, 6:38

         I dont know i you will come back to read this comments, but boy-o-boy, some intelligent gray cells at last, among the comments.

         such a simple logic, aint it? First pit stops were an average of 12-13th lap …. soft tyres were worse than the harder ones, Raikkonen was held up initially …. Perez/Maldonado did not finish ….. Schumy and Hammy had un-competetive tyre wear and actually fell backwards…..Lotus have always been strong on tyre wear….All top 10 cars except the Lotuses actually fell backwards as the race progressed in bigger proportions than Grosjean moving forward…..if anything, in the last few laps he lost many seconds to Raikkonen, who set the fastest lap of the race, and Raikkonen could have easily stretched that advantange to at least 12-15 secs if only there were few more laps, or if only Grotus had called him in much earlier.

         Yes, Grosjean did drive a good race at the end, but no more than Raikkonen, and no better than Webber or Alonso, and frankly not in any way more talented than schumy or hammy. As usual, it was the Pirelli tyres that had the final say.

         ……Reminds me of Tokyo traffic, the early car need not reach the office the fastest, the traffic signals actually decide who reaches first!!!
4. 

   AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
   9th July 2012, 19:06

   That 2nd stint by everyone pretty much sums up this season!

Comments are closed.