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Egmont's F1 column: Tainted title?

So, Lewis Hamilton is off to Brazil to become the first rookie ever to win the F1 driver's title.

Apart from an amateur blunder in China, the youngster has driven faultlessly all year long.

A lot of the time, he was a lot more than just faultless, of course. Lewis was magnificent in Canada, hard as nails in the USA, sublime in Japan and his Monza pass on Raikkonen, for one, defied belief.

On the other side of the spectrum, his cleverly calculated dive inside Trulli at Monaco - putting his nose in the gap, but waiting to make sure that Jarno would not turn in on him - also showed how mature Hamilton is, in understanding the finer nuances of the passing game.

So good is he, that Hamilton might even have surpassed Alonso as the best overtaker and the best wet weather driver in the game.

Yet, does he deserve the world title?

Hungary

To answer that, we must go back to Hungary. Not many people understand the ins and outs of that weekend, but it was a pivotal moment in the championship - one in which Hamilton had virtually stolen the title from underneath Alonso's nose, should he go on to become champion.

Up to then, the McLaren drivers have had equal chances to utilise the "shorter first stint strategy", which seemed to be crucial in 2007 - running lighter in quali, securing the best possible grid position and go on to finish, from there, ahead of the other team car.

With the exception of Spain, where Alonso got clobbered off the road in Turn One, this had very much held true of every single race up to Silverstone - the lighter McLaren in quali had the better race result.

Then came the Nurburgring, and what with the chaos created by the weather, the "shorter first stint strategy" went out of the window.

Advantage gone

And so on to Hungary, where it was Alonso's turn to run lighter in quali. The pattern (as explained above) seemed to predict that Fernando would be on pole and win the race from there.

Lewis knew this all too well. In the two previous races the momentum had swung Alonso's way, and after the 'Ring Hamilton's championship lead had been cut to two points.

With Fernando set to win in Hungary, the two protagonists would have entered the summer break dead level. The world championship, in effect, would then have been decided over the next six races, with the double world champion in the ascendancy, having at last found his feet in McLaren and on Bridgestone boots.

Then Lewis went to work. In Hungary, he was fuelled for a first stint of 19 laps, versus Alonso's 17.

But that was not all. Because it was Alonso's turn to benefit from the optimum race strategy, and he was therefore fuelled lighter, and would therefore have been the quicker of the two McLarens in Q3, he was supposed to run first, on a clear track, to take advantage of this lighter tank.

It was also his duty to pull a little gap over Hamilton, so that the McLarens could be served one after the other, without any hold-ups, when they pitted for new rubber after their fuel burn phase.

Getting complicated

That was one half of the theory.

Here's the other, much more complicated half.

Alonso was fuelled for 17 laps in Stint One of the race. By the time he was about to start his cycle of two banzai laps at the end of Q3, the theory was that he would still be carrying at least 23 laps worth of fuel - for an out lap after fresh boots have been slapped on, a fast lap plus a slow down, followed by another similar cycle.

That's six laps plus the 17 of his first stint.

At a similar stage, Lewis would have been carrying 19 plus 6 laps worth of fuel.

However, if Alonso was going quicker than Hamilton in the burn-off phase - and such was the plan - he would, in effect, be more than two laps lighter than Lewis, at the start of the banzai phase.

Weight "penalty"

To cover this disparity, McLaren had, in all their wisdom, decided after Monaco to fuel the cars such that they would be dead equal in weight at the start of the banzai phase. That now, bar the natural difference needed to go a little bit further or shorter in the race.

And yes, it's quite complicated to explain, let alone calculate.

Yet the reality is that Fernando started Q3 with fuel for 17 laps plus 6 - plus a little bit more than what he really needed. Call it a weight penalty, if you like - imposed by McLaren themselves - to ensure that Alonso would not start his banzai phase with a comparative weight advantage over Hamilton, just because he's had the opportunity to run faster in Q3 and burn off more fuel.

This, conversely, meant that Hamilton had been carrying fuel for 19 + 6 laps - but without the extra fuel "penalty" imposed on Alonso. He would run slower, burn off less fuel and start the banzai phase on the exact level required by 19 + 6 laps.

So, as they started Q3, the difference in fuel levels between the two Macca drivers - and therefore also weight - was not quite as big as one might have assumed, for drivers intending to open their race accounts with 17 and 19 laps each.

Ignoring instructions

Complicated?

Yes, and it gets even more so, as Alonso was carrying even more extra fuel than he should have - over and above the self-imposed McLaren "penalty" - just in case he could manage to bang in an extra lap in Q3, get more fuel credits and run one lap longer in the opening phase of the race, therefore shrinking the pit stop window during which Lewis had a chance to be lighter and faster than Fernando, to only one lap instead of two.

It was thus an imperative for Alonso to run first, in Q3, given the specific fuel loads of the two McLaren drivers. Such was it calculated; such was it agreed upon; such has it been happening inside the team, ever since Monaco.

Then Hamilton decided to play it differently in Hungary. He chose to ignore the agreement and go it alone. He even chose to ignore several reminders from the pit radio, to let Alonso past on the first burn-off lap in Q3.

What could the team do? Jump over the pit wall fence and pluck him from the cockpit of a moving car?

One extra lap

Afterwards, Lewis claimed that he was afraid to let Fernando through, in case Raikkonen took advantage and slipped by as well.

That could have been true as from Lap Two in the burn-off phase, after Alonso had run slightly wide at the back end of the circuit to let Kimi close up the gap.

But on Lap One of Q3, the two Maccas ran well ahead of Raikkonen. It would have been extremely easy for Hamilton to let Alonso through.

Instead, he took the law into his own hands and screwed the Spaniard, not only by forcing him to go slower than Alonso should have gone, but also by negating the possibility of an extra quali lap for Fernando.

In fact, Lewis' cynical actions secured the extra lap for himself.

For just think back a little, to that last pit stop. Who was right behind whom?

Then think back to the start of Q3. Who was right behind whom?

That's right. In the process of Hamilton charging off and Alonso dropping back, the Englishman had actually gained a full lap on the Spaniard. He started Q3 in front of Fernando and ended it right behind him - with one lap each, to go.

Giving the finger

Carrying less fuel than he should have at that stage, with Alonso carrying a whole lot more because he was unable to shed his "penalty" in the burn-off phase, the cars were suddenly of equal weight.

Yet the youngster still had the crucial advantage of getting more fuel credits back, to run a longer opening stint in the race.

In effect, then, Hamilton was crooking Alonso out of a win right there and then by doing some daylight robbery of his own, along the way giving the finger to Fernando, Ron, Martin Whitmarsh and all of the team's best brains.

And McLaren was helpless to stop him from doing it.

So Fernando decided that he would stop Lewis.

Unfair penalty

And what happened next, in Hungary?

Alonso got demoted five places on the grid, whereas it should have been Hamilton, if anybody, who got punished.

In the event Hamilton picked up ten points, versus Alonso's five.

Had the stewards been fair and square, though, they would have punished both - which would have placed Kimi Raikkonen in a very strong position for the title, this weekend - or actually they should have punished neither (as it was an intra-team problem for McLaren to sort out).

Such a decision would have given Alonso the win, and a second to Hamilton.

That's a seven point swing, which would have tallied up to a three point lead for Fernando, going into Brazil this weekend.

So, would Hamilton have deserved the title, if he pulls it off this weekend?

Methinks not. Lewis is a brilliant driver, but such a triumph - if it comes - would be tainted by far more than just the Stepneygate scandal.

And that's bad enough, already.

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