IT JUST DOESN'T ADD UP!
I just re-watched the entire 15 minute Q3 session and I'm afraid a lot of things just don't add up in regards to this apparent team penalty against Hamilton:
Just as an aside, in qualifying, the fact the lollipop was raised doesn't really mean anything.
In Q2, at Alonso's stop, the tyres were changed, the lollipop was raised, but then the lollipop guy gave him a 5 second countdown using his fingers to tell Alonso when to go.
Actually it was his first stop in Q3 with seven minutes remaining in the session, and if you go back and look at it, the lollipop man is still very much holding down the lollipop while counting down with his fingers in front of Alonso. When he reached "one" he lifted the lollipop and Alonso started to go... as anyone knows that the lifting of the lollipop is the go signal to a driver.... and as a point of fact on how important the lollipop is in communicating to a driver when to go and when not to go, the moment they saw he had a problem with the right front tire warmer, the lollipop man immediately brought the stick back down to be sure Alonso stopped. When they fixed it seven seconds later, the lollipop lifted and off he went.
Yes, drivers have radios, and even if the lollipop guy mistakenly raises the stick, if the driver is being told to stay, I suspect he would. However, the lollipop man ALSO has a radio, and yet he ifted the stick, and had this been a mistake, then why in those ten seconds did he never once put the stick back down? Hmmm.
BTW: Considering what happened in that stop with the seven second delay because of the tire warmer, you'd also expect the team to not only allow the tires to get cold while waiting in the pits, but not not send Alonso that close to the time limit, because if he had another tire warmer mishap, he too would have missed his last qualifying lap. Honestly, the more you look into this, the more guilty Alonso looks.
So now fast forward to Alonso's now infamous second and final pit stop, the lollipop man again holds him with the stick down for an extra 20 seconds, and then lifts the lollipop... ,but this time Alonso stays put for another 10 seconds before leaving with everyone just standing there doing nothing but waiting with Hamilton's new tires. I'm sorry, but this doesn't add up.
In any case, I see Alonso having nothing to do in this whole thing, going WTF when Hamilton was supposed to let him pass
This is what completely lacks credibility. When was Alonso supposed to pass Hamilton???
The only time Hamilton was in front of Alonso was at the start, and that was just for the warm-up laps and to burn off fuel. Besides, even then, Alonso was never even close to Hamilton, and in fact was being shadowed by Kimi all the way to the first set of pit stops.
Did you pay attention to the first pit stops? Because his team held Alonso back 40 seconds in the pits, and because of the mishap that cost him another 7 seconds, Alonso left the pits 20 seconds ahead of Hamilton! Hello???? It wasn't Hamilton who was in front of Alonso after the first pit stop, and before his first hot lap! It was Alonso in front of Hamilton!
Did Alonso have some special warp drive that was going to allow him to pass everyone on the track and make up the 60 second gap between himself and Hamilton in just one warm-up lap and one hot lap before making his final pit stop??? It’s unbelievable!
Hamilton ALREADY did his last lap. He wasn't supposed to do another one. If he followed the team's orders, this wouldn't have happened since he'd have another lap to do. So, it's not like he was held back from doing his last lap, but he still tried to make ANOTHER one.
This makes no sense.
Hamilton finished what you claim was his last lap with 3 minutes and 25 seconds still left in the session... and he was behind Alonso of course!
So we are being asked to believe that Hamilton was told to let Alonso pass, even though he was 20 seconds behind Alonso already when they had finished their fuel burn-off/warm-up laps and first pit stops???
So we are being asked to believe that although they didn’t do it before, when the Lollipop man lifted the stick they still didn’t want Alonso to leave the pits???
So we are being asked to believe that for some reason no one told the lollipop man that Alonso had to be held another ten seconds to punish Hamilton, nor did they tell him over the radio to put the stick back down during those 10 long senonds???
So we are being asked to believe that despite being able to “punish” Hamilton for not allowing a pass even though he was behind Alonso, by simply holding Hamilton up in the pits, Ron Denis decides instead to break the rules, risk Alonso being relegated to P22 and instead hold up Alonso ???
So we are being asked to believe that Ron Denis would do anything to jeopardize his team and drivers over a total non issue???
So we are being asked to believe that despite witnesses reporting seeing Alonso’s physical therapist signaling him from the garage area, that just so happened to coincided with Alonso finally leaving the pits, it had nothing to do with it???
So we are being asked to believe Ron Denis was angry at Alonso’s physical therapist, because Hamilton didn’t allow Alonso to pass, even though he was 20 seconds behind Alonso???
I have no doubt McLaren and F1 will do everything in their power to try and come up with an explanation for all of these events, but for me the proof was captured on camera.
