Anyone watching the Formula 1?

[RuskinStreet]

Micheal massi should be removed from his position. I’ve no love for Lewis or max. Frankly I think max is dangerous on track.
But to have races and championships decided on outcomes of a race director’s decision is frankly wrong. It hasn’t just been this race but many of the races throughout the season have had controversy caused by massi and him changing things. Max was fined and reported for simply touching a parked competing car so if you are going to be that strict with the rules all lapped cars should have been allowed to pass.

Should Max have been allowed to get alongside Lewis at the restart? Feel gutted that he lost out on beating Shumacher's record.
Lewis is an "old man" in this game now but is still boxing above his weight amongst the younger drivers. Has he got one more good year (and good luck and a good car) to prove a point

 

[dognero]

Mercedes are going to put in a second appeal.

 

[RuskinStreet]

Mercedes are going to put in a second appeal.

Max is a good driver and gifted but no driver I can think of, in all time, comes near to Hamilton, some say that it's because he is in a Mercedes, really? Tell that to Bottas. I've followed Lewis' F1 career since day one, he is a machine. He has the mental and physical reflexes of someone half is age. Max is a bit like like Schumacher, gifted but "feet first", kick them in the nuts before they do it to you, take an opponent out of the game because you have calculated that the penalty points will still earn you the championship.

I really hope Lewis will do another couple of seasons at Mercedes and get that eighth title, the young guns have got him in their sights and will hunt the auld fella down.

Go Lewis

 

[SteevieB]

With the rest of the field, including the other Mercedes driver, being so flipping uncompetitive, it was always a risk to leave Lewis out on old tyres and hand the free pit stop card to Max in the event of a late safety car.

Gutted how it panned out.

 

[Snoopy11]

Should Max have been allowed to get alongside Lewis at the restart? Feel gutted that he lost out on beating Shumacher's record.
Lewis is an "old man" in this game now but is still boxing above his weight amongst the younger drivers. Has he got one more good year (and good luck and a good car) to prove a point

I would like to see other angles from max being along side at the restart. From what I saw it looked close to passing which would be an overtake under a safety car.
But there would always be an argument that Hamilton slowed to much.

 

[Claptrap]

Ultimately Michael Massi wanted to be as famous as the world champion on the day with his ripping up of the rule book decisions, however, Mercedes lost out on tactics by not putting on fresher tyres at either the VSC or Safety car while in the lead and Lewis should of covered off the inside line in to that corner to stop a lunge by Max, as he knew it was coming

Michael Massi is ruining F1 as badly as VAR is for Football

 

[Ronanc]

I can understand the pressure to bring the season to a finish with a race to the flag rather than under the safety car as would have ordinarily happened. But to change the rules in the knowledge that one guy was going to be at a massive advantage to the other wasn’t right. I did also think that Hamilton could have blocked more vigorously at the first overtake but I guess it was going to be a case of verstappen passing or both of them going out.

 

[MadMarchTaffy]

Agree - Masi moved the goalposts at the last second which gave Hamilton no chance - it was disgraceful Masi

 

[dognero]

I would like to see other angles from max being along side at the restart. From what I saw it looked close to passing which would be an overtake under a safety car.
But there would always be an argument that Hamilton slowed to much.

If a car has the same amount of wing over the line at the finish it would have been classed as winning and not classed as not overtaking.

 

[Richard Fox]

Anyone for a game of darts!

 

[Richard Fox]

Still so upset over this result!
What I want to know is why Nicholas Latifi and Mick Schumacher were pushing so hard when clearly they have not done very well in F1 and the last race of the season is not going to change there situation!!!

Nicholas Latifi has explained what caused the crash that ultimately led to the title-deciding dramatic final laps of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
The Williams driver had been battling with the Haas of Mick Schumacher before losing control of his car at Turn 14 and hitting the barrier with five laps remaining in the race. This led to the Safety Car being deployed.
It was then brought back into the pits with one lap left, resulting in a showdown between championship contenders Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton. Verstappen got ahead and won the race, and with it he became the 2021 F1 World Champion.
Latifi has since detailed what was behind the initial accident.
"I went off the track when we were side-by-side [with the Haas]," Latifi said. "I mean, he kind of forced me off, but I guess it's fair racing. Nothing too untoward there.
"But when I went off, the tyres were really, really dirty, and obviously that was a really tricky area for us to follow."

Not the "intended" way to end the season​

Latifi is disappointed to have ended the season with a crash. Williams teammate George Russell had earlier been forced to retire from the race with a mechanical issue, so it was a double DNF for the Grove-based squad.
"It was absolutely not how I intended to end the season," Latifi explained. "So apologies to the team for that.
"Not that I had any hope to... I don't know how the race was unfolding before, but it obviously created an opportunity at the end [for the title contenders], so that was obviously not my intention as well.
"But I'm obviously sorry for my guys and for the team."
Despite this, Latifi admits there have been some positives to take away from this year, having scored his first points in F1.
"Plenty of positives, but this definitely leaves a sour taste in the mouth," he said of his season-ending crash.
"It's not what I was hoping for at all, so [I'm] just very disappointed."

 

[Richard Fox]

The legend Martin Brundle with his views:

 

[cjholding]

Brundle makes some valid points. Max and Lewis both deserved to win the title, but Lewis was clearly the faster driver yesterday and the handling of that late safety car was awful. If Masi wanted a sprint finish for the cameras he should have called a red flag and let both drivers compete on a level playing field.

Lewis had everything to lose while running in pole, if he had pitted Max wouldn't and if the race then ended under caution he lost. But Max could risk it all, and so he did.

 

[Richard Fox]

Brundle makes some valid points. Max and Lewis both deserved to win the title, but Lewis was clearly the faster driver yesterday and the handling of that late safety car was awful. If Masi wanted a sprint finish for the cameras he should have called a red flag and let both drivers compete on a level playing field.

Lewis had everything to lose while running in pole, if he had pitted Max wouldn't and if the race then ended under caution he lost. But Max could risk it all, and so he did.

Just read this comment on a youtube video, sums it up perfectly!

Logic - Finish the race under the safety

Exciting - Red flag the race and have a standing restart for the last 5 laps or so. All get a tyre change so it’s literally all or nothing.

Moronic - What they actually did

 

[Richard Fox]

 

[MadMarchTaffy]

Crofty - very sensible views

 

[Chris J]

Know nothing of F1..........should be Elgrands racing anyway, now that would be entertaining

 

[MadMarchTaffy]

One thing that Crofty does not mention is the pressure that Horner put on Masi time and time again - listening to the commentary, you have to think that this played a part in the decisions he made

 

[RuskinStreet]

One thing that Crofty does not mention is the pressure that Horner put on Masi time and time again - listening to the commentary, you have to think that this played a part in the decisions he made

In fairness Toto wasn't far behind in the harassment of the Race Director, interesting though that the decision was changed AFTER Horner complained. Coincidence, collusion or some clever editing, by Sky, of a delayed transmission?
One thing that struck me was how much Liberty Media have turned F1 into a soap opera, at the podium scenes I felt like I was watching some WWF grudge match and we all know that American Wrestling results are not FIXED
If I'm being cynical (I usually am), I think there was an element of stage management going on, I think it played out the way it did deliberately to generate interest in the 2022 season, If he doesn't scrape a record breaking eighth title next year I'll eat my front cats.....

 

[RuskinStreet]

I can understand the pressure to bring the season to a finish with a race to the flag rather than under the safety car as would have ordinarily happened. But to change the rules in the knowledge that one guy was going to be at a massive advantage to the other wasn’t right. I did also think that Hamilton could have blocked more vigorously at the first overtake but I guess it was going to be a case of verstappen passing or both of them going out.

But too much blocking leads to penalties and Max being the more aggressive driver probably would have nerfed Lewis and got away with it. Liberty Media wanted (made?) this result as I have stated elsewhere