Fuel Level Cause Race Disrepute

[DaveKillens]

What happened at Malaysia was an anomaly. Due to the wet start and uncertain conditions soon after, the field got strung out more than expected, and we witnessed the race scenario of the 1-2 cars on the same team, a safe gap to the 3-4 cars on the same team, and they had a safe gap on the 5th place car. Therefore each team had the luxury of implementing team orders, and of course, we all saw what happened.

The controversy this thread deals with is that Hamilton was required to turn his power levels down because his fuel level was low, and the assumption that Rosberg did not have to.

This scenario is very uncommon, and we probably will not witness such a scene again this season. If only Alonso had not crashed, if only Massa had not lost so much ground at the beginning, if not for those and other circumstances the game would have been played much differently.

Racing is all about balancing risk versus reward. And choosing the fuel level is part of that risk management. Sometimes it all works out perfectly, sometimes you wind up with more fuel than you want, and sometimes you can even run out of gas.

Although what happened in Malaysia between Hamilton and Rosberg left many fans with a bitter taste in their mouths (myself included) I can also think of races where the same strategy was employed and resulted in an enjoyable win. For instance, in the 2011 Japanese Grand Prix Button started low on fuel, and at one point near the end of the race he had to go into conservation mode. The car behind him was closing at an alarming rate, but in the end, Button conserved enough to maintain a safe gap and win a race that was very special for him.

But what was the real issue here? is it that Hamilton started low on fuel, or that team orders got in the way of us fans watching cars race for position? Personally, I believe it was the latter.

And please, do not forget that when Brawn made his decision, he was in a situation where a team that had not enjoyed bringing so many points home in one race was a rarity, he could not afford to risk so many valuable points and the momentum it brought.

[flmkane]

"Just_a_fan" I think you're conveniently turning a blind eye to the fact we were robbed of an exciting conclusion to the race. The NR incident was the only other potential "scene" which could have made the race more exciting in those final laps. Please explain how you truly enjoyed the Mercs in tow at the end of the race. Even LH said NR should have been on the podium's 3rd step during post-race interview.[/quote]

a) we are by no means entitled to an exciting conclusion to the race, because the only means with which we could consistently have exciting conclusions is by rigging the race, altering the characteristics of the track by varying grip levels(sprinklers), forbidding team orders etc, which all do nothing more than turn F1 into a reality game show. Winners know how to win, we should not pretend we know better.

b) I enjoyed Merc's 'tow' because I saw a brilliant result for them after 3 disappointing years. The fact that team orders were involved is irrelevent, because that is the nature of a team sport. Are we also gonna ban Barcelona from passing the ball to Messi because it's not exciting?

c) As for Lew saying he felt it was not right. Seb also apologized to Webber. What's your point?

[Stradivarius]

I think it was concluded earlier that Hamilton was more critical on fuel than Rosberg. This means that Rosberg was in fact in a better position than Hamilton, but was denied to take advantage of it and that is probably why some people dislike the team order. Personally, I don't see it as a big problem, but I still understand the furstration from those who wanted to see Rosberg make the podium and feel that he was denied this by his team.

Regarding those who feel they were robbed from seeing some great racing in the end, I am afraid there was never going to be any great racing. Either Hamilton would have run out of fuel, or he would have been forced to stop fighting Rosberg. Either way, there wouldn't be any real battle for 3rd place. I understand Ross Brawns reason, but I don't think it is very accurate to say that the only alternative to team orders was to see both drivers running out of fuel. I think most of the people who have protested against the team order would be fine with instructions from the team to fight for 3rd as long as they made sure they saved as much fuel as necessary to finish the race (with a reasonable margin) and didn't crash into each other or run off the track. In short: "Given your fuel level, do as much as you can, but make sure you finish the race." This would not make the drivers run out of fuel, but it is still very different to telling one driver to save fuel and the other driver to hold his position.

[Pup]

In his defense, he did say "more exciting" racing, not "great" racing.

Personally, I think seeing both Hamilton and Rosberg run out of fuel while fighting for position would have been quite exciting.

People make a fuss over team orders when it hurts the team underdog. When it helps him, they make a fuss over the great show of sportsmanship, team camaraderie, etc. It's probably the most predictable thing in the sport.

[Clew]

@Clew - there's been a lot of really great discussion in this thread which more than answers the questions you keep asking.

Yes, I'm serious about wanting an exciting "show" over the WHOLE 90 MINUTES...not just the start of the first 6 turns of the race......certainly not the blink of an eye 2.4 second pit stop. I want to see drivers fight in the first third of the race....the middle third of the race and the end third of the race.

Hey, you're right Cam, there's a lot of great dialog on this particular thread about race strategy involving the "fuel level" variable.

I just don't understand why RBR got their fuel levels right and Merc didn't. Surely you'll agree the fight between Webber and Vettel towards races end was more exciting than Lewis and Nico. Surely you'll agree hearing Horner tell Seb to stop...being silly than hearing Brawn say, we got it wrong on the radio.

Come on Cam...really, if you were Vice President of Marketing of some company ready to lay down $millions in advertising, would you chose the race drama of RBR or the thud of Merc? Seriously!

[Cam]

@Clew - I understand your feelings and they're mirrored across forums all over the internet. Problems is, us fans, us mere mortals, simply don't have all the facts. We can sit here and try to dissect why a team makes a decision - whether it's right or wrong as we see it - but we can never fully appreciate all the many and varied facets that go into why a particular scenario plays out.

RedBull and Mercedes are no dummies. They're 2 huge corporations on the planet. Both have teams of people dedicated to decisions, planning, PR and all the other aspects driving the business forward. We have to give them some credit that they know what they're doing. RedBull have just won 3 x WCC and 3 x WDC - so it seems they have some control over the results - no matter how bizarre or fractured it 'may' appear on the outside looking in.

You want get an exciting show for 90 minutes. Those days are gone my friend. The entire saga is all scripted from day one, with everything tightly controlled and hardly anything of real info in the public domain - for example, we have never seen a copy of the RRA - so imagine what else we don't see.

Results will continue to be skewed to satisfy the results the top tier want. Worrying about something which is not only ingrained in the sport, but is the driving factor steering the sport forward, seems a waste of time.

Us F1 fans are left to pick around the edges of technology and results joy and sadness. Enjoy your scraps.

[Clew]

Scraps falling from another table other than RBR would be nice. It's just getting boring as the Ferrari/Schumacher days a few years ago.

[beelsebob]

We have confirmation in the form of Hamilton's column at the BBC...

1) Both cars were fueled the same.
2) Lewis had used more because he had been fighting and harrassing the bulls
3) Neither car had enough fuel to not need to fuel save