Boys,

Looks like the FIA has stepped up and applied a band-aid to a compound
fracture.

http://www.f1technical.net/news/11023?sid=0183fc3c59666b8cce07cc14f05ae5ee

Ron

Although he wasn't aware of it at the moment, Toyota driver Timo Glock
played a huge role in the championship battle yesterday at the Brazilian
track of Interlagos. Glock couldn't keep up Lewis Hamilton on his dry
tyres and finished the race in 6th position, giving Lewis the title. In
this interview Glock talks about his race.

*How did the rain at the end of the race affect your strategy?*
"In the final laps we saw that we had the opportunity to make up some
places due to the rain. It started to rain lighty on parts of the
circuit with around six laps to go and at that stage everyone was on dry
tyres. We took the decision to stay out on dry tyres even though the
intensity of the rain was increasing we were sure we could make up
positions when the other cars pitted for wet weather tyres and because
it was only on the last couple of laps that the wet tyre was superior.
We stayed out and I was up to fourth but it was not easy in those
conditions in the last laps."

*What was it like in wet conditions with dry tyres?*
"It was not so bad until the final lap when the rain really began to
come down very heavily and it was just impossible. It was so difficult
to just keep the car on the track because it was very wet and the car
was basically undriveable in those conditions. I was sliding everywhere,
with absolutely no grip at all."

*Were you taking it easy on the final lap?*
"Absolutely not! It was completely the opposite; the final lap was one
of the hardest laps I have done in Formula 1 because there was no grip
at all and on dry tyres it was almost impossible to keep the car on
track. I was pushing really hard to keep fourth place and if you look at
the lap times I was actually faster than Jarno on the final lap and he
was the only other car on dry tyres at that stage."

*Was it the right decision to stay on dry tyres?*
"Absolutely no doubt about it. We were running seventh before the rain
came and we would have probably finished there if it had been totally
dry. Instead we finished sixth so that shows the strategy was the right
one."

*Did you realise the significance of Lewis Hamilton fighting with you on
the final lap?*
"To be honest I was racing for Toyota
<http://www.f1technical.net/f1db/teams/111> and my place which is the
correct thing to do. I didnt even know that Lewis was directly behind
me. The team told me that Sebastian Vettel was catching me and they kept
me updated on his position but I was concentrating so hard on keeping
the car on the track. I didnt even know that Lewis had overtaken me
until after the race. I was passed by three or four cars on the final
lap and it was not easy to keep track of what was going on."

jd

Does he mean he is not always honest? :) Obviously a carefully crafted response
not supported by the video. When there is water on the track you can see it kicked up by the car. There was a dry line he could have stayed on.

Paul Lamar