Glock denies slowing to hand world title to Hamilton

Published on Monday 3 November 2008 22:10

RARELY, if ever, can a driver who finished a grand prix in sixth position have become the focus of such controversy. But then rarely, if ever, has a Formula 1 race ended in such nerve-shredding circumstances.

The world championship is won over the course of the season, and Lewis Hamilton took the title because he accrued more points than any of his rivals. All the same, over the final few bends of the final race, Sunday's Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos, the Briton owed his victory as much to Timo Glock as he did to his own efforts.

Lying sixth after being overtaken by Sebastian Vettel, Hamilton needed to move up a place to be sure of snatching the title from Felipe Massa, who was about to take the chequered flag. Hamilton could not get back on terms with Vettel, but suddenly, just as everyone including the ITV commentary team was giving up hope, both those drivers passed Glock, who had slowed dramatically.

It would not be the first time a driver had slowed down on purpose in order to help another. Ten years ago in Melbourne, for example, Scotland's David Coulthard allowed Mika Hakkinen to pass him to win. But those two were team-mates, whereas Glock and Hamilton are, and were, rivals.

All the same, and perhaps inevitably, there were some supporters of Brazil's Massa, and of Spain's Fernando Alonso – before Hamilton the youngest-ever world champion – to cry foul. Never mind that Glock and Hamilton had had a couple of run-ins over the season, they implied that there had to be some element of collusion, if not between the drivers then between the teams, McLaren (Hamilton) and Toyota (Glock).

To them, it all seemed too convenient. Glock had enjoyed a lead of some 15 seconds on both Vettel and Hamilton going into the last lap. He had not crashed or even veered off the track, so how could he have lost so much time?

The short answer was that Glock, in common with his team-mate Jarno Trulli, had taken the gamble of sticking with dry-weather tyres for the last few laps, while the contenders for the title had switched to slicks. For a time it appeared as if their gamble might pay off, as the rain did not return so heavily, but right at the end conditions worsened.

The fact that the Toyota drivers had similar last-lap times hinted at their shared trouble. Glock timed 1min 44.731sec, Trulli 1:44.800 – nearly six seconds slower than anyone else who finished.

However, such details are never enough to shake off the more tenacious sort of conspiracy theorist. It could be argued, for instance, that Trulli slowed down in order to make Glock look better. Besides, the split times for the last lap showed Glock going even more slowly over those crucial closing bends than Trulli, and indeed than anyone else. The official timings divide each lap into three sectors.

Massa, for example, took 21.8sec for the first sector, 46.0 for the far longer second, and 19.7 for the third. Second-placed Alonso, who was over a second quicker than the Brazilian, timed 22.0, 45.0 and 18.9.

Hamilton's figures were 21.6, 45.2 and 19.3. Glock's were 24.8, 54.7 and 25.0. In other words, although the British driver was faster over each of the three sectors, he still needed to pull back around six seconds in the last sector. Trulli, meanwhile, clocked 22.8 for that final stretch, significantly faster than Glock.

What is surely of far greater significance, however, is the fact no-one directly concerned in the race has complained.

Yesterday, having slept on the matter, Glock still could not believe how anyone might think he had slowed down to help Hamilton. Indeed, in a Q&A debriefing issued by Toyota, he insisted he had not even taken it a bit easier to ensure his own safety.

"Absolutely not!" Glock said. "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."

And although dry tyres were the cause of his problems in the last lap, Glock also insisted it has been the right decision to stick with them. "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. I was racing for Toyota and my place, which is the correct thing to do. I didn't even know Lewis was directly behind me.

"The team told me that 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 didn't even know 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."

Glock is aware that any affection felt for him by Hamilton's supporters will be counterbalanced by the annoyance of Massa's fans, but is certain he tried his best and thus has nothing for which he needs to apologise.

"They both did a really great job all year and in the end it was a dramatic finale. I think it's exactly what the fans want to see. Maybe the Brazilian fans are not on my side any more, but I tried my best and drove my race, and in the end I can't change it."

BACKGROUND

ALL Formula 1 teams use tyres supplied by Bridgestone and at every grand prix they have access to two specifications of dry-weather tyre — both specifications must be used during the race unless conditions are wet, as was the case in Brazil — plus wet-weather and extreme weather tyres.

Though the dry weather tyres have four grooves cut into them, they are still referred to as 'slicks'. And while the extreme-weather tyres are 'wets', the wet-weather tyres continue to be referred to as 'intermediates'. It is these intermediates which Massa, Hamilton, Raikkonen, Vettel and Alonso switched to as the rain fell on Sunday. Glock meanwhile stayed with slicks.

Intermediates funnel track-surface water away through cleverly cut, vari-patterned grooves. Slicks — which have grooves going around the tyres in a straight line — by contrast have a wider footprint of smooth rubber. In dry conditions, the increased rubber footprint of the slick generates more heat making the tyres sticky and creates higher levels of grip. The result is the car goes faster.

But in wet or damp conditions the surface water develops a film between the rubber and the track which reduces grip. This has the knock-on effect of cooling the tyres' temperature, which, in turn, reduces air pressure causing a further drop in grip level.

It is that vicious spiral of lack of grip, cooling tyre temperature then drop in air pressure which so badly handicapped Glock's Toyota — which remained on slick tyres — and ultimately handed Lewis Hamilton's intermediate-shod McLaren the world championship on Sunday.

'My target was to make up places'

Q: How did the rain at the end of the race affect your strategy?

A: In the final laps we saw that we had the opportunity to make up some places due to the rain. It started to rain lightly 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.

Q: What was it like in wet conditions with dry tyres?

A: 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 undriveable. I was sliding everywhere, with absolutely no grip at all.

Q: Were you taking it easy on the final lap?

A: 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 faster than Jarno on the final lap and he was the only other car on dry tyres at that stage.

Q: Was it the right decision to stay on dry tyres?

A: 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.

Q: Did you realise the significance of Lewis Hamilton fighting with you on the final lap?

A: To be honest I was racing for Toyota and my place which is the correct thing to do. I didn't 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 didn't 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.

• Stewart insists there was nothing untoward