Martin Whitmarsh insisted “just one of those things", yet the evidence suggests they and operational mistakes have nonetheless proved massively costly to Hamilton’s title aspirations.
Abu Dhabi was the third time season that Hamilton could point to a reasonably certain race victory being prised from his grasp through no fault of his own. The other two were in Spain, when he was stripped of what had been a dominant pole for McLaren fuel irregularities and demoted to the back of the grid, and Singapore, when a gearbox failure struck.
China – Qualifies second but started seventh due to gearbox change penalty. Finishes third. Estimated points loss: three
Bahrain – Running third but following two slow pit stops ends up eighth. Estimated points loss: Eight to ten
Spain – Qualifies on pole but demoted to back of the grid for McLaren fuel infringement. Finishes eighth. Estimated points loss: 21
Monaco – Running third but suffers slow pit stop and loses positions to first Alonso, who stops a lap later, and the even later-stopping Vettel. Finishes fifth. Estimated points loss: Two to five
Europe – Slow pit stop when running third drops him to sixth and behind ultimate race winner Alonso. Spun out on final lap from third after collision with Pastor Maldonado while struggling with tyre wear. Estimated points loss: 15 (based on likely position ahead of Maldonado in closing stages without pit-stop delay)
Singapore – Running first when gearbox fails. Result: DNF. Estimated points loss: 25
Korea – Rear anti-roll bar failure early in race plays havoc with tyre wear. Drops down order from fourth. Result: 10th. Estimated points loss: 11
Abu Dhabi – Leading the race by three seconds when fuel pressure problem grounds car to a halt. Result: DNF. Estimated points loss: 25
Estimated total of lost points: 110 points.
INCREDIBLY, Hamilton has potentially lost 148 points this season due to mechanical and pitstop problems, while Button could have lost up to 37 points.
AUSTRALIAN GP: Hamilton is held up after his team are caught out by Ferrari’s ‘double-shuffle’ in the pits. He starts first but ends in third. (Potential Points Lost: 10)
MALAYSIAN GP: Hamilton has a problem with the rear left wheel and rear jack during a tyre change. Mechanics then struggle to remove sticky tape from the front brakes. He starts first but ends in third. (Potential Points Lost: 10)
CHINESE GP: Hamilton suffers a gearbox problem and is hit with a five-place grid penalty, moving him down from second to seventh on the grid. He finishes third. (Potential Points Lost: 10)
CHINESE GP: Button has a slow pit stop due to a problem with the rear left wheel. He starts fifth but ends second. (Potential Points Lost: 7)
BAHRAIN GP: Hamilton has a problem with the rear left wheel during a change and then has another slow stop, with the same area causing a problem. He starts in second and finishes Eighth. (Potential Points Lost: 14)
BAHRAIN GP: Button qualified in fourth but has an exhaust problem, then a puncture, then engine trouble before retiring. (Potential Points Lost: 12)
SPANISH GP: Hamilton is sent from the front to the back of the grid after McLaren failed to provide him with enough fuel for qualifying and to supply a sample for testing. He finishes eighth. (Potential Points Lost: 21)
GERMAN GP: Hamilton qualified in eighth but is forced to retire after picking up a puncture while running in eighth place. (Potential Points Lost: 4)
ITALIAN GP: Button qualified in second but is forced to retire on the 32nd lap with a fuel pressure problem. (Potential Points Lost: 18)
SINGAPORE GP: Hamilton was leading when his McLaren developed a gearbox problem on the 23rd lap causing him to retire. (Potential Points Lost: 25)
JAPANESE GP: Hamilton complains of a rollbar problem which means he only qualified in ninth place. He finishes in fifth place. (Potential Points Lost: 15)
KOREAN GP: Hamilton qualified in third place but another rollball issue means he finishes in 10th. (Potential Points Lost: 14)
ABU DHABI GP: Hamilton starts on pole but is forced to retire while in the lead with a fuel pump problem. (Potential Points Lost: 25)
Lewis Hamilton’s Points Dropped This Season
posted on 22/11/12
James Allen commented on this as well. If Hamilton had Ferrari's bullet proof reliability, he would have already tied up the championship.
People question why he's leaving Mclaren, it's simple, Mclaren have as much chance of winning the drivers championship as HRT due to incompetence. So driving for Mercedes would be less frustrating because he already knows they aren't there yet
posted on 22/11/12
I don't think Lewis would have won in Australia, China or Japan but he would have achieved second. Still lost enough points that he should be going into this weekend about to level up the playing field to two titles each.
posted on 23/11/12
Personally, I just think this has been a bad season for McLaren.
Last year, Button and Hamilton took 3 wins each, and there was always at least one of them able to keep up with Vettel at the front.
In 2009, Vettel might have put up more of a title challenge, but there were several occasions when his Red Bull car just plain old broke down.
Last year, Williams managed just 5 points throughout the whole season.
Mercedes really should have achieved more in the last 3 years, considering that they won both World Championships as Brawn GP,
In 2009, Ferrari produced one of the slowest cars on the grid, managing just a single win all season.
Every big team has a few bad seasons. Why should McLaren be singled out?
posted on 24/11/12
McLaren have under-achieved on an epic scale for quite a while now. While they were certainly deserved winners of the 2008 drivers title it is all they have won for a very long time, and they nearly threw that away.
Too often they turn up with a load of rubbish(2009 was not only a bad year for Ferrari, although in recent history it is virtually the only bad year they have had) or McLaren arrive with the best car on the grid and simply squander it no matter how much talent is in the cockpit, and they don't come much more talented than Hamilton.
McLaren really need to buck up and stop this, "win-as-a-team-lose-as-a-team", garbage.
Ultimately millions of pounds, if not billions is spent in producing one the finest products in the world. That investment is then given to a single individual to get the most from it.
When that individual fails he is criticised for his failure and the same should happen throughout the rest of the team when they fail.
All I can say is, if McLaren are doing that and STILL failing to win championships the failure is at a greater level than I imagined.
Remember all that garbage about, "we use titanium wheels nuts..."?
It wasn't the first time they had used titanium wheel-nuts, yet they had similar problems, the VERY NEXT RACE.
Not good enough.
This level of persistant failure, (2010 was a really good example, as were many Raikkonen years) needs very close examination by somebody realistic enough to speak the truth not the platitudes.
Another possibility is someone from a rival team pays somebody at McLaren a lot of money for services expertly provided.