Dennis says Hamilton triggered delay
Saturday, 04, August, 2007, 19:56
McLaren boss Ron Dennis says the controversial pit lane incident involving his two drivers during qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix was triggered by Lewis Hamilton failing to heed instructions earlier in the session.
Fernando Alonso beat Hamilton to pole position after the British rookie was forced to queue behind him in the pits and then ran out of time to post his final flying lap.
Alonso held station in the pits for around 10 seconds after his mechanic had removed the ‘lollipop’ – the traditional signal for a driver to leave his stall – leaving Hamilton to sit helplessly while the seconds ticking away.
That prompted widespread suggestions that Alonso had deliberately held up his team-mate in order to deny him pole.
But Dennis insists Alonso was simply following a countdown from his engineer and did nothing wrong.
“Fernando was being counted down by his engineer,” Dennis told reporters at the Hungaroring.
“He’s under the control of his engineer. He determined when he goes. That’s the sequence.
“And if you think that was a deliberate thing, then you can think what you want. I have given you exactly what happened.”
Dennis said it was Hamilton’s failure to stick to the agreed procedure during the fuel-burning phase of Q3 that was the catalyst for the delay.
“We have various procedures within the team and prior to practice we determine how it is going to be run, what our strategy is, and how that’s going to be enacted on the circuit,” he said.
“They were out of sequence because Lewis should have slowed and let Fernando past,” he said.
“And he didn’t. He charged off. That’s how we got out of sequence.”
Dennis explained that the plan was for Alonso to complete an extra fuel-burning lap and that Hamilton had been told to let him past to facilitate this.
“In this instance, it was Fernando’s time to get the advantage of the longer fuel burn,” he said.
“The arrangement was that we reverse positions in the first lap.
“That didn’t occur as arranged. That was somewhat disappointing and caused some tensions on the pit wall.
“We were, from that moment on, out of sequence because the cars were in the wrong place on the circuit and that unfolded into the pit stops.
“It complicated the situation and the end result was Lewis not getting his final timed lap.”
Dennis was at pains to stress that McLaren continues to treat both its drivers equally, and that the tensions that arise on such occasions are inevitable when dealing with such competitive individuals.
“Let me make it a very honest answer: it is extremely difficult to deal with two such competitive drivers,” he said.
“There are definite pressures within the team. We make no secret of it.
“They are both very competitive, and they both want to win, and we are trying our very hardest to balance those pressures.
“Today we were part of a process where it didn’t work, and the end result is more pressure on the team.
“But what you hear is the exact truth of what happened, and we will manage it inside the team through the balance of the season.
“Obviously Lewis feels more uncomfortable with the situation than Fernando.
“That’s life, that’s the way it is, and if he feels too hot to talk about it then that’s the way it is.
“But what I’ve done is give you an exact understanding of what took place today
Can someone enlighten me please?
