I bring this up because it seems that conventional wisdom was largely wrong in the European Grand Prix.
While Hamilton and Vettel's track position in front of the Safety Car effectively gave them a free pit stop by hook or by crook; it seems that the best course of action for others would have been to stick it out in a Kobayashi style way.
With this simple staying out strategy, Kobayashi, 17th at the release of the Safety Car, was able to leap Fernando Alonso, Sebastien Buemi, Nico Rosberg, Felipe Massa, Pedro de la Rosa, Jaime Alguersuari, Vitaly Petrov, Michael Schumacher, Vitantonio Liuzzi and Nico Hulkenburg.
Several drivers' decisions to pit rather than attempt to make up places is understandable. But it is difficult to reconcile the decisions to bring in these drivers:
I wonder if a shift from the idea of a "free pitstop" should occur if, for example for a proximal second driver, it is clearly unlikely that the pitstop would be free.
It is also nice to see Sauber continuing to pull out the strategies that they continually executed for Nick Heidfeld in previous years, and vaulting Kobayashi into a position he did not merit under the order of the start of the race.
I realise that all this is only obvious in hindsight!
While Hamilton and Vettel's track position in front of the Safety Car effectively gave them a free pit stop by hook or by crook; it seems that the best course of action for others would have been to stick it out in a Kobayashi style way.
With this simple staying out strategy, Kobayashi, 17th at the release of the Safety Car, was able to leap Fernando Alonso, Sebastien Buemi, Nico Rosberg, Felipe Massa, Pedro de la Rosa, Jaime Alguersuari, Vitaly Petrov, Michael Schumacher, Vitantonio Liuzzi and Nico Hulkenburg.
Several drivers' decisions to pit rather than attempt to make up places is understandable. But it is difficult to reconcile the decisions to bring in these drivers:
- Michael Schumacher - who had missed the pitlane and hence sat 3rd. Even without sophisticated GPS it is obvious that a second lap under Safety Car would run the risk of red light syndrome
- Felipe Massa - knowing he would be stacked behind Alonso, would Ferrari not have been better to try to get Massa to do the Kobayashi role and hold off Button. In fact, Kobayashi's presence could have presented Massa a buffer. It would have been overly sensible of Ferrari to try something rather than condemn Massa to the 10-20 club for a second race running!
I wonder if a shift from the idea of a "free pitstop" should occur if, for example for a proximal second driver, it is clearly unlikely that the pitstop would be free.
It is also nice to see Sauber continuing to pull out the strategies that they continually executed for Nick Heidfeld in previous years, and vaulting Kobayashi into a position he did not merit under the order of the start of the race.
I realise that all this is only obvious in hindsight!