That was a great qualifying.
Yes, they completely butchered it. They removed a slow chicane and a single-file-only section through a double hairpin. In its place, they put in a pair of fast sweepers and made Brooklands a viable overtaking spot by turning it into a tricky mid-speed sweeper that feeds into a hairpin.This track has been totally butchered beyond recognition just like the last venue in Austria
What was he supposed to learn? Mercedes told him to back off if he didn't think he could go faster, and he made a judgement call. We saw Vettel and Button running two seconds down through the first sector; it wasn't until they got to Stowe that they found that incredible dry line. Neither Hamilton nor Rosberg had any way of knowing that would happen at the time. Based on all of the available information, Hamilton made the best choice available.
"Incredible dry line"? It's as if everyone forgot the significant rain that was falling in the last sector on the initial runs. We saw Kvyat and others crawling through Stowe, Club and Vale at a molasses-like pace. Therefore if it had stopped raining there/eased off, there would have been many seconds to gain in the third sector, even if the rest of the lap was a little slower. It was obvious that time would be gained in the last sector, not likely before, so aborting after the first split is a daft decision. Admittedly, the team didn't help Hamilton by puzzlingly asking him to let Rosberg through if he didn't think he could improve (which he would not have known until the end of the lap). Rosberg was faster in the first sector and that, along with the misleading message, would have influenced Hamilton to make the wrong decision and abort his lap. Hamilton isn't stupid, but he was clearly careless and naive.
Like I said, Vettel was two seconds down at the first split. They knew they would have gotten some time back in the last sector, but I doubt anyone would have anticipated there being a good five seconds, given that Vettel was further down at the second split, then improved to be nearly two seconds ahead across the line.
Vettel was 1.3 seconds down at the first split and 2.5 or so down at the end of sector two. And that is peanuts compared to what they were losing in the final sector on the first go around some 8-9 minutes earlier. So even if Vettel didn't gain 5 seconds on Hamilton in the last sector, 2.5 seconds being taken back was still well within reason considering previous conditions in that sector and reason enough for Hamilton to not abandon his lap.
Maybe others, but I'm equally critical of Perez and his stop-for-afternoon-tea out-lap. Both made awful misjudgements.
