Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2021Formula 1 

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Who will win the Driver's Championship?


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Well, looks like the FIA will be hard at work doing nothing!

On a positive note, I'm really glad there won't be anymore communication between Team Principal/Race director anymore (hopefully no more of those broadcast either) cause that was annoying the hell out of me from the very first time I heard them. The engineer and driver communication is fine but listening to team principles whining about crap and even listening to the race director making deals with them is just....what's the word I'm looking for....off-putting considering the drivers are supposed to be the stars making the difference and not the team bosses working to influence the outcome of certain scenarios with the race director.
 
On Masi, I thought there were some interesting things in this piece from the BBC...

This week, BBC Sport can reveal, the organisation will announce the appointment of Peter Bayer, its secretary general for motorsport, to a newly established position of executive director of F1. In this, he will oversee Masi, Tombazis and technical director Jo Bauer, among other staff.

This is in some ways a reconstitution of the role of the late Charlie Whiting, the FIA's highly respected former director of F1, who died on the eve of the 2019 season - and who, in Saudi Arabia, Horner said the sport was missing.

Being race director was part of Whiting's responsibilities, and as a result people have incorrectly assumed that Masi is his replacement. He's not. Masi was merely appointed to fill one part of Whiting's remit. The rest of Whiting's job - keeping the running of F1 by the FIA on an even keel - had not been replaced until now.


Not to excuse his actions, but it might explain why he often sounds so 'cornered' when Wolff and Horner and bitching at him.
 
The circumstances surrounding the use of the Safety Car following the incident of driver Nicholas Latifi, and the related communications between the FIA Race Direction team and the Formula 1 teams, have notably generated significant misunderstanding and reactions from Formula 1 teams, drivers and fans,...
Well it'd be great if there was a proper explanation going over why the race director made a decision that very clearly conflicts with what's written in the FIAs own rulebook. Otherwise, this is pretty much the FIA gaslighting all involved, least of which includes individuals whose livelihoods literally live and die by said rulebook. No matter what, it's like a pretty big middle finger to the teams and fans, aka the people who allow the FIA to have an F1 Championship in the first place.
...an argument that is currently tarnishing the image of the Championship and the due celebration of the first Drivers' World Championship title won by Max Verstappen and the eighth consecutive Constructors' World Championship title won by Mercedes.
Lol.
 

According to Croft Mercedes is expected to back off from appealing. I watched the video but he didn't clarify whether that was just his belief or he had some sources. I hope Mercedes do push through and at least tries to get rid of Masi.
 
He was taking a normal line into the corner. Outside to inside to outside. That's why there was a gap to the inside. He recognised that Max was under normal conditions too far back for a move, and only avoided it once Max did lunge.
And, by the time he got to the inside, there was a car ahead of him. The telling point is you start to see him turn towards the apex at such a slow speed and jink off, with a car's width between himself and the apex. Just so happened to be a car there.
Ross Brawn says team principals will not have contact with the race director next season. However, Ross does sort of shift a little blame onto the team principals for putting Masi under pressure for the decision made.


This, including the statement that they will be holding some sort of review, makes me think that this is what's going to happen:
1. FIA will say "this is how we interpreted our own regulations. Sorry it wasn't clear. Let's make them a bit clearer so this doesn't happen again."
2. Masi stays on as Race Director, but as stated by someone else earlier, there is that extra person hired now sort of overseeing him.
3. Verstappen is the 2021 World Drivers Champion, and Mercedes is the World Constructors Champion.
 
And, by the time he got to the inside, there was a car ahead of him. The telling point is you start to see him turn towards the apex at such a slow speed and jink off, with a car's width between himself and the apex. Just so happened to be a car there.

This, including the statement that they will be holding some sort of review, makes me think that this is what's going to happen:
1. FIA will say "this is how we interpreted our own regulations. Sorry it wasn't clear. Let's make them a bit clearer so this doesn't happen again."
2. Masi stays on as Race Director, but as stated by someone else earlier, there is that extra person hired now sort of overseeing him.
3. Verstappen is the 2021 World Drivers Champion, and Mercedes is the World Constructors Champion.
Imagine if this is the outcome, Mercedes decides to pull out and George Russell is left without a seat. 😬. I know the likelihood of that is close to zero but still.
 
Its a few days later, iam still fuming at how the best season ended. I think the best outcome would be Masi is relieved of his post, the rules of F1 racing are more clearly defined. The white line is the same for every track, 4 wheels out means time deleted at every corner at every track. The fia cant be trusted to correctly apply their own rules, so let a court decide this years winner. Its been the worse ending to the best season and that is down to 1 man who decided to apply his own rules. The integrity of the sport is now at stake here.
 
Imagine if this is the outcome, Mercedes decides to pull out and George Russell is left without a seat. 😬. I know the likelihood of that is close to zero but still.
Yes, very unlikely. I mean, Mercedes is 3-way owned, and it seems most likely the most aggrieved party is Toto (1 third). Mercedes themselves may decide to stay. But if they want to pull out, I'm sure INEOS would love to take over.
 
And, by the time he got to the inside, there was a car ahead of him. The telling point is you start to see him turn towards the apex at such a slow speed and jink off, with a car's width between himself and the apex. Just so happened to be a car there.

This, including the statement that they will be holding some sort of review, makes me think that this is what's going to happen:
1. FIA will say "this is how we interpreted our own regulations. Sorry it wasn't clear. Let's make them a bit clearer so this doesn't happen again."
2. Masi stays on as Race Director, but as stated by someone else earlier, there is that extra person hired now sort of overseeing him.
3. Verstappen is the 2021 World Drivers Champion, and Mercedes is the World Constructors Champion.
4. They cut a deal where Hamilton is the 2022 champion. /s
 
This thread is already 3 pages longer than the 2012 Brazilian GP thread, the former longest single race thread on this forum.
 
The statement doesn't say much of anything.
It quite clearly says that fans, media, and indeed teams themselves have misunderstood the situation and it's that which is causing the problem that's tarnishing the sport.

Which is ****ing staggering arrogance.


Edit: It also says "The FIA’s primary responsibility at any event is to ensure the safety of everyone involved and the integrity of the sport", which rather interestingly looks like they're using "any" to mean "all" or thinks there's some events where it doesn't count that as a primary responsibility...
 
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It quite clearly says that fans, media, and indeed teams themselves have misunderstood the situation and it's that which is causing the problem that's tarnishing the sport.


Which is ****ing staggering arrogance.
Yes it basically says “All you people seem to be having a very hard time understanding we can do what we want, and that’s spoiling this nice party we’ve arranged for everyone.”
 
Golden Kappa

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I had a look at the decision again and realised the stewards reasoning seems to have just used majority of Red Bull's points and stated them :lol:. They even use the same language of a rule overriding another even though the rules don't say so. Interesting to see they are so easily influenced by what Red Bull says like let them race principles at turn 4 Brazil and instructing Masi on what they needed to be done under the safety car for their benefit and getting the deal they wanted again.

Will see later today if it's time to grab some popcorn or not. I really hope Mercedes go through with it for the good of the sport as it's been going on too long now where the rules are not being acted on properly. I get the feeling the people in charge have only a basic understanding of the rules so misunderstand the situation but still try and make it sound like they do know what they are doing with their official letterheaded paperwork making things up that fit what they are thinking. They usually only have themselves to judge if they are correct or not which helps them out much of the time as they go unchallenged. I would much prefer it if they had people with a top law background judging what has happened than people who predominantly raced. I think we would get much better consistency.
 
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Have you seen the aggression in FE?
To be honest not really. I'm just getting on board for the coming season.

But a good public image move. For Mercedes too.
Maybe Indycar series would be better. I think he would probably win 20 consecutive titles and win every race except the ones he retires/crashes out. 🤗
My personal preference is he switches to Sim racing. I think our team has an opening. :lol:
 

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