Kriss wrote:They said the upgrades didn't work because of the colder weather, so they should try them in Bahrein.
They should practice the pit stops as well
According to this Kimi was supposed to run 28 laps on used medium tyres
http://en.mclarenf-1.com/index.php?page ... 20Grosjean
It doesn't matter how many times they repeat it, what they did during the race was not their original plan. If you are really going to do a two-stopper, you don't do your two stops with the 3-stoppers to make the 3rd stint half of the race, and even less with used tyres. I don't buy it.
If it had been planned as a two stopper, the only 2 reasons I can think about to pit earlier the second time are:
1.Problem with the tyres. But if that were the case and they only managed 18 laps with new mediums during the 2nd stint, it was evident they were not going to survive 28 laps with used mediums. So, nope, this was not the case.
2.Traffic. Also not the case. Kimi was on clean air when he pitted and came out on traffic stuck behind Massa. So, nope, this is also not the case.
I think they were going to do a 3 stopper but when they timed so badly both stops and Kimi went back on track behind Massa, they lost all their chances to the points. Their only chance from that moment on was to try to make it to the end with that set of tyres. It was a huge gamble but they were out of the points anyway.
Of course, the other chance would have been to pass Massa, but:
1. It would have meant only one point anyway.
2. There was not a chance that Räikkönen could pass anybody today on track, and that was clear already since yesterday. For whatever reason (set-up, whatever) his car was fast in S1, but he was slower in S3 so there was no chance for him to pass anybody in the DRS area. Since it was impossible to pass in any other area... no chance.
As a matter of fact, one of the reasons Kimi managed to stay as 2nd for so long even with those old tyres was that the car he had behind him was Vettel, who also had problems in S3 all weekend.