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Rather than looking at the pace of the McLarens compared with Alonso and Vettel (who were in a different race) I was watching the live timing and keeping an eye on Webber's pace relative to the McLarens when he had a bit of free air between overtakes as he made his way through the field. It was obvious to me that once Webber was able to match the times of Button that Button should pit for the harder tyre - I recall that had he done so within a lap or two of that happening, the gap would have been sufficient for Button to come out in front, and Webber was behind Barrichello at the time. After that I would have looked at the relative pace of Hamilton's/Webber's times. I probably would have brought Hamilton in a two or three laps maximum after Button and by my reckoning he too would have kept his place in front of both Button and Webber.
There must be reasons why McLaren didn't do this - maybe fear of another safety car, I don't know - but it seemed fairly obvious to me both at the time and now.
And this is not just the benefit of hindsight - Hamilton ending up behind Webber was fairly obvious if the gap between them was allowed to shrink too far - i.e. to less than the time it took for a pit stop.
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