Hamilton decision-making under the microscope


Lewis Hamilton has come in for criticism © Getty Images
Lewis Hamilton’s decision-making ability has come into question after he crashed into the side of Felipe Massa on lap one, causing his early retirement from the Italian Grand Prix. This incident has raised questions about his temperament and ability to bounce back. Kevin Garside of the Daily Telegraph questions how much we should really be expecting from Hamilton. “Perhaps this is how it must be with Hamilton, an instinctive racer compelled to chase the impossible through gaps that don’t exist. He took the best part of an hour to compose himself before walking out into the sun to face the cameras. This was Hamilton’s third DNF of the season but the first of his own making. Occasions like this are perhaps reminders to us not to expect too much. “On the days when Hamilton’s insane alliance of guts, skill and derring-do appear capable of delivering the world it is easy to forget he is only 25, an age when it is all too common for boys to believe themselves men.” Byron Young of the Mirror also pulls no punches about Hamilton’s performance and was heavily critical of the manoeuvre which meant he left the weekend pointless. “To say that his dive down the outside at Della Roggia chicane was optimistic would be generous. Mystifying, definitely, with so much at stake. So often Hamilton has made them stick but yesterday the outcome was all too predictable.”

Source: http://blogs.espnf1.com/paperroundf1/archives/2010/09/hamilton_decisionmaking_under_1.php

Eitel Cantoni Bill Cantrell Ivan Capelli Piero Carini Duane Carter

Massa threatened with jail over team orders


© Getty Images
Brazil’s F1 fever may have overstepped the mark after a local prosecutor threatened Felipe Massa with a six-year jail term if he “defrauds” the sporting public by letting Ferrari team-mate Fernando Alonso past at Sunday’s grand prix. The story, reported by a local paper and picked up by the Daily Telegraph, is the latest of several anti-Massa reports to emerge from his home country since the team orders controversy at the German Grand Prix earlier this year. The Daily Telegraph's Tom Cary reckons that Massa simply isn't living up to his home crowd's high expectations.
“A public raised on a diet of Emerson Fittipaldi, Nelson Piquet and Ayrton Senna were simply appalled and saddened in equal measure by Massa’s apparent lack of ambition.”

Source: http://blogs.espnf1.com/paperroundf1/archives/2010/11/massa_threatened_with_jail_ove.php

Geoff Crossley Chuck Daigh Yannick Dalmas Derek Daly Christian Danner

Team order rule needs a re-think


Jean Todt arives for Wednesday's hearing © Getty Images
Formula One should look at abolishing the controversial ban on team orders after Ferrari escaped further punishment for their manipulation of the German Grand Prix result. That is the view of the Daily Telegraph’s Tom Cary, who is of the opinion that the team orders rule now needs to be seriously looked at because of its obvious shortcomings.
“Whether you are for or against team orders, if the FIA could not back up its own rules and nail a competitor in a blatant case such as this the rule really does need reviewing. Perhaps Ferrari’s thinly-veiled threat to take the matter to the civil courts if they were punished too harshly scared the governing body, who as much as admitted the flimsiness of its rule."
Paul Weaver, reporting for the Guardian in Monza, was in favour of the ruling which keeps alive Ferrari’s slim chances in an enthralling championship.
“The World Motor Sport Council was right not to ruin a compelling Formula One season by taking away the 25 points Alonso collected in Germany. That would have put him out of the five-man title race. But the council was widely expected to increase the fine and possibly deduct points from the team, as opposed to the individual. In the end, it could be argued that common sense prevailed. But the decision will dismay those who were upset by the way Ferrari handled the situation as much as anything else.”
The Daily Mail's Jonathan McEvoy expressed outrage at the FIA tearing up its own rule book by allowing Ferrari to escape unpunished.
"Although the race stewards fined them £65,000 for giving team orders in July, the FIA World Motor Sport Council, to whom the matter was referred, decided not to impose any further punishment. It leaves the sport's rulers open to derision. It was, after all, their rule they undermined. In a statement, the WMSC said the regulation banning team orders 'should be reviewed'."

Source: http://blogs.espnf1.com/paperroundf1/archives/2010/09/team_order_rule_needs_a_rethin_1.php

Conny Andersson Mario Andretti Michael Andretti Keith Andrews Elio de Angelis

Life in the pit lane


The Mercedes pit crew prepare for Michael Schumacher in Singapore © Getty Images
Away from the world of multi-million-pound car development laboratories and drivers whose small change takes care of the Monte Carlo harbour fees, another drama will play out in Singapore this week. The Independent's David Tremayne joins F1's unsung heroes.
These are not select millionaires but up to 16 ordinary, yet gifted, guys; team mechanics who have worked their way up the system and often migrate from team to team, are paid real-world wages of between £30,000 and £50,000 a year, are drilled to perfection – and whose split-second synchronisation brings their teams huge rewards.

Source: http://blogs.espnf1.com/paperroundf1/archives/2010/09/life_in_the_pit_lane.php

Rubens Barrichello Michael Bartels Edgar Barth Giorgio Bassi Erwin Bauer

Doctors use Formula One pit crews as safety model

American Medical News reports hospitals in at least a dozen countries are learning how to translate the split-second timing and near-perfect synchronisation of Formula One pit crews to the high-risk handoffs of patients from surgery to recovery and intensive care.
"In Formula One, they have checklists, databases, and they have well-defined processes for doing things, and we don't really have any of those things in health care."

Source: http://blogs.espnf1.com/paperroundf1/archives/2010/10/doctors_use_formula_one_pit_cr.php

Phil Cade Alex Caffi John CampbellJones Adri·n Campos John Cannon