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@Michael FernerThey have to maximise the opportunities to kill someone in pit lane. The new fans love it.Michael Ferner wrote: ↑1 year agoCan someone remind me why they do have to stop at all? I mean, what's the point of it?Oliver Dale wrote: ↑1 year ago Question: if Alpine had told Ocon to abort his pit stop due to safety reasons i.e. people in the pit lane, would they have been disqualified due to not having done a pit stop?.
No, seriously it is because the teams have to use two of the three compound options of tyres per race. It just so happens that Ocon started from pit lane because he had to have some part or a suspension setting changed whilst the car was in parc ferme (which they were from after P1, actually no, I exaggerate, parc ferme was from the moment pit lane opens for qualifying on, in this case Friday afternoon. A couple of hours after the end of Practice 1. However dont start me on the parc ferme rant, thats another pet hate of mine.)
Where were we..... oh yes Ocon has started from pitlane and strategically started on the hard option tyre so he could run long. No point in starting on soft rubber for the quicker tyre warm up to minimise lost positions on the opening lap or two with cooler tyres, when you are already at the back) It was all working well when the SC was called on lap 10 ish. Ocon hard tyres now nice and warm, stayed out and gained track position as others who started on softer rubber stopped to take their alternative 2nd option compound.
His (and also Hulkenberg who also had to start from pit lane for breaching parc ferme rules and thus also started on hard tyres) hard tyres did not degrade at all, and as everyone had stopped bar him (and Hulk) they both found themselves running in the top 10, in the points. Problem was everone else had done their one pit stop. As the hard tyres were still as good as new they continued to run on them, their hope being that before the end of the race someone would go off or break down, another SC would be deployed and they could pit at minimal delay under the SC and thus more or less maintain their points position. They left it to the last minute with fingers crossed for an SC. Didnt happen so as they had not used the mandated 2 different compounds during the race they thus had to stop on the last lap purely to get around the rule that says 2 compounds to be used.
Had they not come into the pits they would have been dsq'd for not using two compounds of tyres. Although they did not end up doing a full lap on their 'new' tyres, they had stopped and changed tyres before Perez actually took the flag, thus met the ruling of fitting both compounds..
On the penultimate lap Hulk and Ocon were 10th and 9th. They ended up classified 15th and 17th.
The problem is no one had the sense to understand what was happening in officialdom land, despite mechanics with tyres running out into the pitlane to change tyres as required. No doubt the media photographers have all slipped silver dollars in official hands to be allowed to stand in pole position to run out and get that magic shot.... after all, no one usually stops right at the end like that.
Memory jog moment..... it used to happen all the time in the early noughties when the whole engine penalty thing started. If you were a DNF you avoided penalties, if you ran to the flag then had to change an engine before the next race you got a grid penalty. So cars not in the points would all rush into pit lane to DNF on the last lap to be classed as non finishers and get a penalty free new engine..
Does not make ANY sense to me!
