I believe the rules state that the driver has to have manual control of the clutch. Therefore if he pulls it back a bit the clutch will slip more. Therefore the driver is not locked into a pre-defined clutch motion - that would be launch control, which isn't legal. So the driver retains control, even if it is tightly scripted and well setup control.

You or I wouldn't be able to do much with them. But the difference between a really REALLY REALLY good driver (Webber) and a so stunningly good driver that people will talk about him like people talk about Fangio (even if they don't like him now, or his winning ways, and with the addition that it's a safer age with more computers) like Vettel (or Schumi, who was also amazing at starts) is that sort of tiny margin of feel.

Hard to believe. But that's because most people think that driving an F1 car is either really easy ("a monkey could win in a Red Bull") or virtually impossible ("No way can a driver with a manual clutch possibly have any control over the slip of the clutch against speed, torque and revs").

Quote from N I K I :

Right. That would mean he risks a touch too much then. I'll watch the replay of pit-stop incident later. I haven't yet, no time at the moment.

No it doesn't. It means he has bad luck. He appears to risk no more and no less than anyone else. In fact I'd say he doesn't risk that much - most of his moves are well thought out and relatively risk free.

Joining this late, but I do know Singapore was a manufacturing fault on Hamilton's gearbox. He is no harder on components than anyone else. Just terribly unlucky.

Also, to put a giant wrench into NIKI's "OMG CONSPIRACY WEBBER GOT HOSED BY WHEELGUN" was Williams. Both Bottas and Maldonado both had issues with their right front tyres being fitted.

Well indeed the wheel gun man had 3 stabs at it and as he is into his 3rd stab the man on the right (who took the old wheel off) is suggesting to take the wheel off. Perhaps he was suggesting that they put the wheel off and on again and wheel it in and I've seen that before happen and wheel gets wheeled in. He even puts a hand on at which point the car is dropped down and let off (credit to quick reflexes to move his hand out of the way too).

The wheel gun man is the one who gave the green light without making sure the wheel is 100% wheeled in. [THAT IS THE POINT OF DIFFERENCE WITH OTHER PITSTOPS THAT TAKE PROLONGED TIME] He was uncooperative with teammates and responsible in that instance. Therefor, only he knows what really happened there. Did he Piquet Jr it, or did he not. Maybe we will never know that, the suspicion lies with him.

Big risk to take for not much reward. If they want Webber to lose (for some reason, which I don't really buy either) there are better ways to "disadvantage" him, not that Seb needs much help beating him.

Who in particular would be behind it, and why? It's serious enough that if the media/other teams found out, then such reckless endangerment would have plenty of people asking for the team to be excluded from the Constructors' Championship, and possible both drivers too since their aim is to make Vettel win it.

If you were telling me that it's Russian gambling syndicates who probably hold hostage the family of the wheel gun man, I'd be more likely to believe it, but RBR self-sabotaging with pit-lane shenanigans? No.

Swear NIKI is just actually trolling and trying to rustle some jimmies.

Trolling is my job.

Drivers championship is meaningless to constructors, why risk the team losing points in constructors championship?

Quote from DejaVu :

Drivers championship is meaningless to constructors,

Not at all, Constructors are basically 50% of a drivers championship effort, if not more. Every WDC is just half of a constructors championship.

We're talking in context of Vettel + Webber, why sacrifice team points for 1 driver to take the win? Conspiracy theory is idiotic.

The drivers championship is the most important thing to the top teams like Red Bull, Ferrari, Lotus, Merc. Outside of the top 3 or 4 teams, then they care about constructors more than drivers. But outside of usual team orders, they wouldnt do anything. I mean even in the extreme case with Massa in Austin, there was logic that it wouldnt be a huge disadvantage for Massa and was a big advantage for Alonso because of the dirty side of the grid being so terrible. No way would they do anything like what happened to Webber on purpose, they could kill people...of course they wouldnt do that on purpose.

Speaking of RBR Conspiracy against Webber is as much true as Ferrari's conspiracy to help Alonso in the DWC by ruining Felipe's race every time he's ahead/close to Fernando...

Quote from IsaacPrice :

The drivers championship is the most important thing to the top teams like Red Bull, Ferrari, Lotus, Merc. Outside of the top 3 or 4 teams, then they care about constructors more than drivers. But outside of usual team orders, they wouldnt do anything. I mean even in the extreme case with Massa in Austin, there was logic that it wouldnt be a huge disadvantage for Massa and was a big advantage for Alonso because of the dirty side of the grid being so terrible. No way would they do anything like what happened to Webber on purpose, they could kill people...of course they wouldnt do that on purpose.

What you just said, is Exactly wrong.

The Constructors is always the most important for any team, after all thats where their paycheck comes from.

I don't think that's true. It's always been about the drivers championship for everyone. That's what people remember. That's what sells the merchandise, way more so than a meagre constructors trophy that nobody can really recall the winner of. It's important at the time, and it makes a difference financially from the revenue split, but it's not the main prize.

Drivers championship is the media presence which in tern is good for sponsors, Constructors is still the bread and butter though.

Quote from Stig209 :

Speaking of RBR Conspiracy against Webber is as much true as Ferrari's conspiracy to help Alonso in the DWC by ruining Felipe's race every time he's ahead/close to Fernando...

Well the difference is Massa's status in Ferrari is far from a 'conspiracy' because they are open about it. Which I applaud.

Quote from Mustafur :

Drivers championship is the media presence which in tern is good for sponsors, Constructors is still the bread and butter though.

You just contradicted yourself. Media coverage these days is what makes money. The prize money from the FIA/FOM for a constructors championship will be 10times less than the money made from a WDC victory.

Quote from BlueFlame :

Well the difference is Massa's status in Ferrari is far from a 'conspiracy' because they are open about it. Which I applaud.


You just contradicted yourself. Media coverage these days is what makes money. The prize money from the FIA/FOM for a constructors championship will be 10times less than the money made from a WDC victory.

Sponsorship money is usually used for the season spending as it guaranteed where as the constructors money tends to be the profit they will make for the year.

You keep believing that if it makes you happy.

The driver's championship is a manufacturers championship in all but name really.

I remember Steve Machett saying in The Mechanic's Tale that the CWC is still most important to the members of the team.

That said, I'm sure they recognize that all the public really cares about is the DWC.

I'm sorry to anyone if I lead you believe about this RedBull conspiracy deal. I was talking out of frustration with only visual information and mostly even memory of event as I saw it happen live. After reading telemetry of the event it was just a terminal error from the system more than the man involved himself! The combination of Webber's status, ammount of bad luck he's generally having and couple of pit-stop issues and timing as he was finally battling for victory lead me to extreme in that matter.

I guess since Webber is unofficial no2 driver of RedBull, he has unofficial no2 pit crew as well, nothing more to it.
More luck next time.

Quote from N I K I :

I guess since Webber is unofficial no2 driver of RedBull, he has unofficial no2 pit crew as well

They actually go out to the entryway 40 minutes before the race, grab 10 guys, and they're the pitcrew for mark for the day.

Quote from N I K I :

I'm sorry to anyone if I lead you believe about this RedBull conspiracy deal. I was talking out of frustration with only visual information and mostly even memory of event as I saw it happen live. After reading telemetry of the event it was just a terminal error from the system more than the man involved himself! The combination of Webber's status, ammount of bad luck he's generally having and couple of pit-stop issues and timing as he was finally battling for victory lead me to extreme in that matter.

I guess since Webber is unofficial no2 driver of RedBull, he has unofficial no2 pit crew as well, nothing more to it.
More luck next time.

I already pointed it out before that Marks pit crew actually hold the Pit stop record, so its not the case.

Quote from Mustafur :

I already pointed it out before that Marks pit crew actually hold the Pit stop record, so its not the case.

But can you call it a record if only 3 of the tyres are properly attached?