I can see I'm going to need to re-read the radio transcripts, but from what I saw at the first pit stop lap as the track was becoming ready for slicks Hamilton was contacted on radio and said he could cope. The lap before Button had said he could not, after Hamilton has been checked with Button was told to pit.
Hamilton pitted in reaction to the gaps and strategies around him and stayed static on the track.
As I think has been mentioned before, if the forecast rain had turned up the lap after Button pitted this thread would have taken an entirely different perspective.
I have heard the comments that a lap doesn't go from dry to wet in one lap, however this was not a dry track, it was a damp track with a dry line. Also, the downpours in Malaysia can take you from dry tyres to full wet in about 3.5 seconds, so I personally believe that Lewis could not have gained a place and did not lose a place through strategy, but if the weather conditions had changed he could have been leading.
Cracking try McLaren, shame the weather gamble didn't work for you, and get those pit stops cleaner so the conspiracy addicts don't get drawn in.
More like people are more intent on winning arguments on the internet rather than questioning why a top team like McLaren can't make what, to most people, looked like a straightforwardly simple pit call.
Despite you, ExtremeNinja, KekeTheKing, myself and a few others asking what, to my mind, is a perfectly valid question, it seems like some seem determined to have the mindset that solely because it's an incident which happens to involve a certain Lewis Hamilton, anyone who happens to question the goings on of said incident must secretly want to bum him.
As a McLaren fan, the next time a McLaren driver (either of them - understand?) has to rely on a call from the pits to help determine the outcome of a race, I can't say i'll have 100% confidence in the pitwall making the correct decision. And I don't think it's unreasonable to ask why.
