Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2021Formula 1

[Dotini]

I wouldn't say vulnerable. That implies it was a conscious but misguided decision. Mercedes' strategy was forced upon them; it was one of those rare occasions where being in first place was actually disadvantageous. Due to the timing of the virtual and actual safety cars, they simply weren't in a position where they could have pitted Hamilton and have him retain track position. Red Bull had that good fortune on the day.

Yes, the lion lunched on the sitting duck.

 

[Dreadmed]

TFW your American counterpart (In terms of race management and kind of championship format decisions) congratulates you... Yet you didn't congratulate his champion... Honestly, this is the equivalent of a Latin American politician congratulating another one from another country with the same ideology

To be fair that was posted 30 minutes before the race start, it was a premeditated congratulations for whoever ended up winning (and for F1 as a whole for setting up the spectacle, I guess...)

 

[ColinNZ]

Imagine how long this thread would be if Hamilton had won the championship behind the safety car, or via a one lap sprint with traffic in the way. The rulebook simply had no way to satisfactorily deal with this situation. The team in front rightly want to hold onto position; the team behind rightly want one last opportunity to let their strategy play out.

At the end of the day it's just F1. We all watch and are either pleased with the result or are upset by it. After which we carry on with the rest of the day, Because there will always be another race and another season to ... prove to other people that the driver we support is better than another driver that we don't (?!?!?)

In the meantime, we've got a bunch of lawyers getting involved to keep us all invested for a little bit longer.

 

[pumaATTACK]

Went back and watched Hamiltons feed with the radio messages. In a span of 40 seconds Lewis was first told he had 5 back markers between him and Max with 1 lap to go to then being told they are letting them unlap themselves and Max was right behind on fresh softs.

Yikes.

40 seconds and Masi gave the championship away to Max.

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

At the end of the day it's just F1. We all watch and are either pleased with the result or are upset by it. After which we carry on with the rest of the day, Because there will always be another race and another season to ... prove to other people that the driver we support is better than another driver that we don't (?!?!?)

In the meantime, we've got a bunch of lawyers getting involved to keep us all invested for a little bit longer.

Just wait until F1 2022 season, where all the results are decided by lawyers. Episode 1 is scheduled to be broadcast on March 20, 2022.

 

[Liquid]

Well as I mentioned in a previous post, the 1983 BTCC was decided six months after the championship is over. If Mercedes-Benz takes this as far as they possibly can, we could be well into the 2022 season before getting a final decision on this year's championship.

 

[Dave A]

Went back and watched Hamiltons feed with the radio messages. In a span of 40 seconds Lewis was first told he had 5 back markers between him and Max with 1 lap to go to then being told they are letting them unlap themselves and Max was right behind on fresh softs.

Yikes.

40 seconds and Masi gave the championship away to Max.

And that just highlights the glorious mess Masi made with his decision. It's not just unsporting, its potentially corrupt. Did Masi want Max to win or for just Hamilton not to win? Over the season there's a compelling argument.

Regardless of that, if Mercedes take this all the way to CAS I would find it hard to see how they would lose. The problem then is that time will have moved on and most people would have moved on too. Hamilton would get another title to little fanfare and applause, it'd just be a statistic.

It's an absolute mess that didn't need to happen if .asi's interpretation of the rules hadn't changed on the fly and contravened the rules themselves.

 

[Earth]

Imagine how long this thread would be if Hamilton had won the championship behind the safety car, or via a one lap sprint with traffic in the way. The rulebook simply had no way to satisfactorily deal with this situation. The team in front rightly want to hold onto position; the team behind rightly want one last opportunity to let their strategy play out.

At the end of the day it's just F1. We all watch and are either pleased with the result or are upset by it. After which we carry on with the rest of the day, Because there will always be another race and another season to ... prove to other people that the driver we support is better than another driver that we don't (?!?!?)

In the meantime, we've got a bunch of lawyers getting involved to keep us all invested for a little bit longer.

Rules are rules. Race should have finished under the safety car or with traffic in the way. The race finishing based on the procedure clearly laid out in the rulebook may not have helped Netflix Ratings or satisfactory, but it would have been fair and right.

 

[avgracer41]

Man, what a season but a bad way to finish it with so much controversy outside of the track. Both deserved the title but the one which doesn't deserve to be here is Michael Masi.

 

[Dotini]

It was only vulnerable because race control forgot that rules were a thing.

In my opinion. Mercedes erred by not pitting at the first full course yellow. That left him crippled, too vulnerable at the end. Lewis questioned that strategy, but was told it was because he would lose track position. In other words, his team lacked confidence their driver could recover his position, even though he was clearly the fastest man on the track.

 

[McLaren]

Had Lewis made that boneheaded move, Max would've had minimum 1pt for finishing 10th to 18pts more for finishing 2nd, and would've been WC

So why didn't Max just back out instead....

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

I mean, "any" doesn't mean "all", sure, we can work with that even though it's a bit of a new way of looking at it... but what does "last" mean?

Yeah, but then they go into 48.13 overrides 48.12

Stewards' conclusion:

That Article 15.3 allows the Race Director to control the use of the safety car, which in our
determination includes its deployment and withdrawal.

I'm not sure that's clear by Article 15.3

That although Article 48.12 may not have been applied fully, in relation to the safety car returning
to the pits at the end of the following lap, Article 48.13 overrides that and once the message
“Safety Car in this lap” has been displayed, it is mandatory to withdraw the safety car at the end
of that lap.

Also unclear that Article 48.13 overrides 48.12. I would say it doesn't. For example, Article 48.10 specifically mentions there's an exception if 48.12 occurs. I don't see such a thing under 48.12. And they admitted 48.12 wasn't followed.

 

[05XR8]

Haven't watched a race all season(more like the last few seasons). The car that crossed the line first, won.

 

[GroupB]

o

The whole championship basically came down to a safety car incident and the restart procedures, which were decided on the spot.

I looked at the 48.12 stewards' conclusion and it doesn't look that strong. I'm just wondering the likelihood of anything happening [anything that may affect the race result].

Have there ever been any motorsports championships decided on appeal?

At the end of the tumultuous & deadly 1986 WRC season, Lancia’s Markku Alen was world champion for 11 days until the FIA ruled in favor of Peugeot’s appeal against an earlier disqualification, giving the championship to Juha Kankkunen. The Peugeot team principal? Jean Todt.

 

[Grayfox]

So why didn't Max just back out instead....

So Max had to go "No, Please after you your Majesty"
Lewis could've backed out but he was desperate
He lost several times before and he didnt want to lose again, even more so at silvertone.

 

[Greycap]

So why didn't Max just back out instead....

Very likely because he had no reason to believe that Hamilton, who a) had a car width of room on the inside and b) wasn't going to make the corner at that line anyway, would run right into him instead of lifting to turn in properly and actually using the room he was given. It's also called racing, an activity that basically revolves around trying to make passing as hard as possible, not giving way every time Sir Lewis wants a free run.

 

[SestoScudo]

Lewis got extremely lucky at Silverstone and indeed, had he not made that rookie error with the brake magic at Baku, he may have been in a better position. I agree the race restart wasn't the best way to end the championship but Lewis has had a fair amount of luck this season as well. Had he not been in the Merc he may not have won the last two championships - same goes for Schumi at Ferrari to be fair. Let's be honest due to the disparity between the cars F1 isn't a meritocracy in terms of driver talent - if it were Russell and Leclerc would have been fighting for race wins (and potentially championships) for ages now.


I think 2022 will be harder for Max due to the Russell factor, he's a young, aggressive racer as well and Max will have to be careful abut his penalty points. If Ferrari sort their act out Sainz and Leclerc could be in the mix as well. I feel that Ferrari's lack of pace in recent years has really paved the way for Red Bull to come back in a big way.

After redbull cried about Ferrari being op.

The most toxic team won 🤮

 

[TypeRDC5]

Surely if the the FIA had let the lapped cars unlap themselves at the earliest opportunity instead of advising against it then panicking realising its against the code and releasing only 5 cars none of this discussion would be necessary.

Either way i enjoyed the drama, f1 has been boring as hell since 2016, about time we had some passion and entertainment from what is meant to be pinnacle of motorsport.

I will be telling my kids about this season like my dad told me about hunt vs lauda and the early prost/senna classic season.

 

[McLaren]

It's also called racing, an activity that basically revolves around trying to make passing as hard as possible, not giving way every time Sir Lewis wants a free run.

So Max had to go "No, Please after you your Majesty"

Lol, the irony in these arguments for the man whose go-to move is doing what Lewis is crucified for over Silverstone.

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

I believe Vettel takes the coveted 2021 overtaking award, which I don't remember hearing about at all.

Crypto.com Overtake Award | Formula 1®

The brand-new Crypto.com Overtake Award has been created to reward the individual driver who makes the most overtakes throughout the season.

www.formula1.com

 

[gtrotary]

I don’t know how any Max fan feels good about the end of that race. Utter nonsense. I was already feeling over F1 and this type of crap sealed it for me.

 

[Saidur_Ali]

I believe Vettel takes the coveted 2021 overtaking award, which I don't remember hearing about at all.

Crypto.com Overtake Award | Formula 1®

The brand-new Crypto.com Overtake Award has been created to reward the individual driver who makes the most overtakes throughout the season.

www.formula1.com

Hopefully they can afford to give him one million jelly beans, I want some now.

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

Alonso saying the decision should've been done laps ago.


Lando not sure how to feel on the FIA's ending.


Daniel commenting cars can't pass, but some did, but he wasn't allowed to.

More from Daniel (9:33):


Though Stroll's reaction at the end of the race is the best(10:18)


edit: Time stamp doesn't work.

 

[Com Fox]

After redbull cried about Ferrari being op.

The most toxic team won 🤮

Well the most toxic teams driver won. Mercedes still won the constructors.

 

[GTP_Dutchy]

Maybe what the sport needs is to get rid of the "Formula 1". In 2009 if I remember correctly Ferrari and some other teams were threatening to leave the FIA and have a breakaway series. Journalist Joe Saward wrote some really interesting articles at the time of how that could actually go ahead. The key players for legitimacy are Ferrari and keeping Monaco. If one can start a series with those two 'brands' then the rest would follow.

Even if McLaren or Ferrari weren't directly affected by this clear case of race fixing. What sort of guarantee do they have that it won't happen to them the following year? Perhaps even the threat of leaving as it did that time could foster change. Massi, at the very least has to go.

Ferrari know all about the fia's odd balls since the engine incident which was never disclossed but then again that could also have been to ferraris advantage.

 

[Panoz]

TFW your American counterpart (In terms of race management and kind of championship format decisions) congratulates you... Yet you didn't congratulate his champion... Honestly, this is the equivalent of a Latin American politician congratulating another one from another country with the same ideology

Going by the timestamp on the tweet, that was sent before the GP started.

 

[andrea]

 

[Fat Tyre]

One good thing to come about this is that I've just cancelled my subscription to Kayo Sports which is the streaming service that has F1 rights in Australia. So I'll be 25 dollars richer per month, woohoo!

 

[pumaATTACK]

did we ever hear why Checo was retired? Seemed super odd and abrupt, no explanation given on the radio and Checo himself saying really?!

 

[Dennisch]