Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2021Formula 1

[Scaff]

2004-2012 was Loeb in a Citroen every year.
2013-2018 and 2020-2021 was Ogier in VW, then Ford, then Toyota.
That’s 17 out of the last 18.

Ah right, have to be honest the way you worded it threw me.

Personally I would still take it over the mess this years been.

 

[NLxAROSA]

The alternative to consider is that yesterday was a turning point for the sport and the powers-that-be are quite happy with the fireworks it created.

I think there's a lot of truth in this. The amount of publicity generated this season is insane. And not all of it was negative...

 

[Blitz24]

And the most used word in the search engines was......

Verstappen's vriendin. (Verstappen's girlfriend)

Bunch of horndogs.

Probably curious if she is REALLY related to the F1 Piquets.

 

[Liquid]

If the race director is ultimately able to use his executive authority and discretion to supercede written rules, there isn't much of a case to be heard. However that in itself, the race director being beyond reproach, has demonstrated itself to be a very serious concern in Formula One and that practice, as 99% of us all wish, should be investigated and changed.

 

[Tired Tyres]

Viewing figures for UK are in.



Kinda though they'd be a bit higher with all the hype they built up to casual fans but I guess so many years locked to Sky has driven some people away. Or they just didn't know it was on C4.

Agreed. i had no idea it was live on C4.

 

[Darla Starch]

 

[ND4SPD]

Don’t forget we almost had an artificial F1 champion in 2014. Abu Dhabi awarded double points that year, giving Rosberg a chance to catch up when he normally would have already been eliminated.

Yep. That too was ridiculous.

 

[pumaATTACK]

Still annoyed at that outcome yesterday.

Not sure how any Max or Redbull fan can enjoy that either. Let alone how Max or Horner can feel satisfied. Such a hollow, fabricated title. Would feel super cheap to me.

 

[Leggacy]

Somebody (Michael Masi) needs to loose their job over this mess. You don’t go changing the rules at the last minute to “make the show better”. Only letting a select few cars through to un-lap themselves was a totally dumb and did not follow the rules. It’s like they tore up the rule book on the last few laps. I think Christian Horner and Jos Verstapen should be investigated for influencing the stewards.

 

[O604]

Masi isn't the only problem. He's an easy scapegoat. As if removing 1 person solves everything.

Bottom line is Verstappen as champion gives hope to all the legacy parents and rich parents paying for F1 seats. The way it should be and they it always has been (in such high society activities).

 

[andrea]

 

[MagpieRacer]

Still annoyed at that outcome yesterday.

Not sure how any Max or Redbull fan can enjoy that either. Let alone how Max or Horner can feel satisfied. Such a hollow, fabricated title. Would feel super cheap to me.

Absolute rubbish. There’s nothing hollow and it wasn’t fabricated. A race direction screw doesn’t suddenly render someone unworthy when they went into the final race on equal points. Max had the most wins, most second places, most laps led, longest time in championship lead. He is as deserving a champion as anyone.

His title shouldn’t be discredited due to iffy decisions made outside of his control. He did what he needed to, when he needed to.

 

[pumaATTACK]

Absolute rubbish. There’s nothing hollow and it wasn’t fabricated. A race direction screw doesn’t suddenly render someone unworthy when they went into the final race on equal points. Max had the most wins, most second places, most laps led, longest time in championship lead. He is as deserving a champion as anyone.

His title shouldn’t be discredited due to iffy decisions made outside of his control. He did what he needed to, when he needed to.

So there’s nothing hollow about being gifted a win after the rules were broken to only benefit you? Got it.

The fact is Lewis was 1 lap from being WDC and it was instead handed to Max.

Why even race then?

 

[merseyxshore]

This reminds me of the time Man City had to play the last part of the season with 10 men to let everyone else catch up

 

[MagpieRacer]

So there’s nothing hollow about being gifted a win after the rules were broken to only benefit you? Got it.

The fact is Lewis was 1 lap from being WDC and it was instead handed to Max.

Why even race then?

It takes nothing away from the season he’s had. I bet if Lewis pitted and Max stayed out and the same thing happenedand Lewis became WDC you wouldn’t be complaining. It’s out of Verstappens control and he did what he had to do.

 

[Scaff]

If the race director is ultimately able to use his executive authority and discretion to supercede written rules, there isn't much of a case to be heard.

Coming next year, random race starts.

Why wait for five lights, the Race Director will make things spicy by starting the race after a number of lights they pick on a whim!

 

[Barra333]

So there’s nothing hollow about being gifted a win after the rules were broken to only benefit you? Got it.

The fact is Lewis was 1 lap from being WDC and it was instead handed to Max.

Why even race then?

He might not have deserved the race win yesterday on pace, but nobody can deny that he was no more or less worthy than Hamilton on the season as a whole.
A hollow WDC would be if they were both excluded and Bottas was handed the trophy.

 

[pumaATTACK]

It takes nothing away from the season. I bet if Lewis pitted and Max stayed out and the same thing happenedand Lewis became WDC you wouldn’t be complaining. It’s out of Verstappens control and he did what he had to do.

You need to remove the “whole season” from this. The fact is Lewis was equal on points too and dominating the race.

Then all of a sudden the rules change without cause. I personally wouldn’t feel great about a victory like that. And many RB fans I know agree.

If you honestly think that the decision was not influenced by Max and Horner then I’m not sure what to tell you.

 

[Famine]

Coming next year, random race starts.

Why wait for five lights, the Race Director will make things spicy by starting the race after a number of lights they pick on a whim!

But only some of the cars can start at that time, because "any" doesn't mean "all" unless it does!

 

[pumaATTACK]

He might not have deserved the race win yesterday on pace, but nobody can deny that he was no more or less worthy than Hamilton on the season as a whole.
A hollow WDC would be if they were both excluded and Bottas was handed the trophy.

What? So if he didn’t deserve the win yesterday, which he needed to have to be WDC, how is that not cheap?

 

[Touring Mars]

It is a pity that the last few laps marred what has otherwise been a great season, and even the race yesterday was a masterclass in how to fight against a far superior car.

Max was pretty much defeated by the middle of the race, but Checo and a series of smart strategic decisions by Max and RB got him back into the race, and irrespective of the race director's decisions Max was just meters behind Lewis by the last few laps and ought to have been right on his gearbox but for the delayed decision to let the lapped cars pass the SC.

It's a shame that RB's genuinely excellent teamwork and decisions yesterday are being ignored here, albeit admittedly it's impossible to ignore Masi's influence on the race too. But the upshot is that Max was within striking distance of Lewis on merit even though the Mercedes has been the far better car for the last 4 races. RB needed a stroke of luck and arguably got two in quick succession - Latifi's accident followed by Masi's (in)decision. Merc, on the other hand, needed Masi to play it in their favour by keeping Max off Lewis's gearbox, since otherwise they had been out-played strategically and they knew that Lewis would lose if the race were to restart with the cars in their proper order.

 

[Barra333]

followed by Masi's (in)decision

I don't know whether it has been happening regularly (I generally rely on the 7min highlights), but the way that Toto and Christian were in Masi's ear about what they wanted regarding the safety cars felt very off to me too. I miss Charlie.

 

[pumaATTACK]

It is a pity that the last few laps marred what has otherwise been a great season, and even the race yesterday was a masterclass in how to fight against a far superior car.

Max was pretty much defeated by the middle of the race, but Checo and a series of smart strategic decisions by Max and RB got him back into the race, and irrespective of the race director's decisions Max was just meters behind Lewis by the last few laps and ought to have been right on his gearbox but for the delayed decision to let the lapped cars pass the SC.

It's a shame that RB's genuinely excellent teamwork and decisions yesterday are being ignored here, albeit admittedly it's impossible to ignore Masi's influence on the race too. But the upshot is that Max was within striking distance of Lewis on merit even though the Mercedes has been the far better car for the last 4 races. RB needed a stroke of luck and arguably got two in quick succession - Latifi's accident followed by Masi's (in)decision. Merc, on the other hand, needed Masi to play it in their favour by keeping Max off Lewis's gearbox, since otherwise they had been out-played strategically and they knew that Lewis would lose if the race were to restart with the cars in their proper order.

lol what? He was 12 second back with 6 laps to go. He wasn't gonna be close to catching Lewis on Pace alone as he wasn't lapping 2 seconds a lap faster. He had no shot without that SC.

 

[Famine]

they had been out-played strategically

I'm not sure that's the case.

Ultimately, anything Mercedes did other than what it did would have resulted in ceding track position to Verstappen. We've seen eight times this season what the result of that is, including once in this very same race. It didn't want that to happen, precisely because it would have resulted in a championship being decided by stewarding decisions (which Mercedes knows cannot be relied upon).

That meant they couldn't pit first under VSC, so Verstappen did and got a cheaper stop. Hamilton could have covered it off the next time round, but the VSC had ended and he would have lost four seconds (and track position) for the self-same stop.

The situation was the same under the full SC. Had Hamilton pitted not knowing how the race was going to end - under SC, a racing lap, or a red flag restart - he'd have ceded track position, so he couldn't. Verstappen could, did, and got a free stop.


As for how that played out, Masi made up a rule on the fly to allow Verstappen onto Hamilton's gearbox for one racing lap right after Horner told him that was exactly what they needed (one race after negotiating a red flag restart position with the same team, which was already extraordinary).

Knowing what we know now, I don't think we can assume that if Hamilton had stopped and ended up with two lapped cars between him and Verstappen, Masi would have done the same thing - especially if Horner was on the blower saying "We can't compromise safety for the sake of racing, Michael, come on." to keep the SC out, or keeping the lapped cars in place.

 

[Imari]

Imagine if you will if this happened earlier in the race. It's a minor point but those cars just dropping back would not have the same fuel loads as the cars upfront since they didn't complete the same amount of laps. Fuel is hardly an issue in F1, but I think it would put them in an even bigger deficit with higher fuel loads onboard. Again, a minor point, but you know someone would complain about it.

Seems fine to me. There's far more randomness and unfairness in there simply being a safety car in the first place. If you're just past the pit lane when a safety car comes out, you're at a disadvantage.

If you're a lap down when a safety car comes out, then being a tenth slower per lap because of the extra fuel seems trivial. Also, if teams don't like it then maybe they should go faster.

lol what? He was 12 second back with 6 laps to go. He wasn't gonna be close to catching Lewis on Pace alone as he wasn't lapping 2 seconds a lap faster. He had no shot without that SC.

But the safety car happened. That's racing. The dubious bit is how Masi handled the safety car, but Red Bull did just fine by doing all the work to put Max in a position to take advantage of it. Race strategy is part of the game, just like reliability and engineering. There's a lot that goes on that is beyond pure driver skill.

 

[O604]

"The pace of the Mercedes is just too strong today," Horner said. "Max is driving his heart out out there but we're going to need a miracle in these last 10 laps to turn it around."

- Horner

 

[pumaATTACK]

But the safety car happened. That's racing. The dubious bit is how Masi handled the safety car, but Red Bull did just fine by doing all the work to put Max in a position to take advantage of it. Race strategy is part of the game, just like reliability and engineering. There's a lot that goes on that is beyond pure driver skill.

Oh no issues with that, totally agree it's part of racing. I was just disputing that Max was meters behind within the last few laps...

 

[pumaATTACK]

I'm not sure that's the case.

Ultimately, anything Mercedes did other than what it did would have resulted in ceding track position to Verstappen. We've seen eight times this season what the result of that is, including once in this very same race. It didn't want that to happen, precisely because it would have resulted in a championship being decided by stewarding decisions.

That meant they couldn't pit first under VSC, so Verstappen did and got a cheaper stop. Hamilton could have covered it off the next time round, but the VSC had ended and he would have lost four seconds (and track position) for the self-same stop.

The situation was the same under the full SC. Had Hamilton pitted not knowing how the race was going to end - under SC, a racing lap, or a red flag restart - he'd have ceded track position, so he couldn't. Verstappen could, did, and got a free stop.


As for how that played out, Masi made up a rule on the fly to allow Verstappen onto Hamilton's gearbox for one racing lap right after Horner told him that was exactly what they needed (one race after negotiating a red flag restart position with the same team, which was already extraordinary).

Knowing what we know now, I don't think we can assume that if Hamilton had stopped and ended up with two lapped cars between him and Verstappen, Masi would have done the same thing - especially if Horner was on the blower saying "We can't compromise safety for the sake of racing, Michael, come on." to keep the SC out, or keeping the lapped cars in place.

The radio messages, last race and yesterday, between Masi and Horner are very questionable. It reeks of direct influence on an outcome versus the safety and integrity of the sport.

 

[Barra333]

The radio messages, last race and yesterday, between Masi and Horner are very questionable. It reeks of direct influence on an outcome versus the safety and integrity of the sport.

I guess you're a Hamilton/Mercedes fan since you chose to ignore that Toto was trying to influence SC calls too?

 

[Blitz24]

The radio messages, last race and yesterday, between Masi and Horner are very questionable. It reeks of direct influence on an outcome versus the safety and integrity of the sport.

Which also applies to Wolff as he stated there shouldn't have been a VSC for Giovanazzi's car. If any team principal is found to do this (mainly to manipulate the race for their own driver) they should be penalized.