The 'stupid' McLaren

The race at Hockenheim was not the most spectacular that one would ever see, but as in pretty much every other race in Formula 1, one can be sure that controversy can be stirred up at the mere drop of a pin, or the bend of a hairpin.

In Germany yesterday, Vettel was at the center of two altercations, at both times with the McLarens. Initially, it was a case of something that is described now as ‘stupid’ driving on the part of Hamilton and the second was a daring move on Button that led to him being presented with 2nd place trophy on the grid but one that was subsequently stripped off, being handed a 20 second penalty.

The first incident. A most bizzare situation. Hamilton’s race was ruined, effectively, when he ran over some debris that led to a puncture on a rear wheel. Hamilton rejoined and clearly, his pace was still very good. Unless something catastrophic happened, his hopes of a podium or even points seemed remote.

The leaders came up to lap him. Alonso was in the lead, Vettel in second. Now, Vettel was closing in on him. He lapped him. Hamilton, however, was in no mood to relinquish. He effectively un-lapped himself by going past Vettel and in doing so, angered Vettel, so much so that he ended up losing momentum which later led to him losing a place to Button (which he reclaimed later).

The interesting thing is that Hamilton was well within his limits to un-lap himself. It is in the rules that he can. He is allowed to reclaim his track position as long as he does not impede the other car in doing so. The interesting part is the last part of that; that he not impede the other car. Now, it was abundantly clear that if that were a straight fight and if he had pulled off that exact move on Vettel, it would’ve not been looked at twice. It would even have been called a great overtaking maneuver. However, they were not and hence, it was not.

It has since been labelled as ‘stupid driving’ and ‘totally unnecessary’. While one can readily see the point of this argument, one need not concur. It can easily be argued that Hamilton was just being unsporting and perhaps even secretly, and not too visibly, assisting his teammate. Now, this is a wee bit far-fetched, or so one may think.

Hamilton was quite visibly upset that his race had been ruined for pretty much no fault of his own. He was understandably frustrated and he had a quick car. For him, logic was that he should be allowed to put his foot down and get on with it and that is precisely what he did. His logic: I am fighting for my position (pride) and why should I let go?

Now it is easy to get into the morality of this judgement and say that he was just on an ego-boosting exercise. Then again, looking at it from his perspective, there is a logic in that too. After all, it is not as if Vettel stayed on his tail after the move. Hamilton was sufficiently quick to pull away from Vettel, so much so that Vettel only managed to rid himself of the McLaren menace when he dove into the pits.

If one observes the incident itself, Hamilton gave Vettel the line into the corner and actually went ’round the outside to complete the maneuver. When he did come back onto track, he did not really dive in and cut Vettel off. He gave him a look and just accelerated away.

Vettel’s frustration at being unable to go past the McLaren was evident for all to see. He was, at first, aghast by the audacity of the move and waved his arms around all over the place. Perhaps it is worthy to think of what else was causing that ire. Perhaps he was angry at Hamilton. Or maybe he was just irked by the fact that, in truth, there was nothing much he could do to catch the McLaren.

In a racing situation, it was indeed a good overtake. There is no taking away from that fact. In this situation, however? One can always argue.