My thoughts are that Masi got fixated on ending the race under green and made a bad decision of how to do it while getting barked in his ear by the team bosses. I genuinely do not believe that there was a conspiracy to have a photo finish I just think Masi screwed up plain and simple. Fact is if he decided at the time the safety car was thrown to try for a one lap green with no lap cars in the way he would have had time to do it properly and Hamilton would have been a sitting duck because Max changed tires. Under those circumstances luck and strategy would not have favored Hamilton and it would have been a bitter loss but in no way could anyone point to the FIA and say they did not follow an established practice. As it happened the option of moving the lapped cars within the time available evaporated pretty quickly which led to the 'half-decision' of moving only some of the cars out of the way AND bringing the pace car in early. As for Hamilton perhaps not defending enough that is absolute nonsense. Given the long straight sections and hard braking zones Hamilton was not on the same planet of grip and for a driver of the quality of Max the overtake was never in question. Fresh softs compared to 30 lap old hards are worth the better part of 5 seconds per lap. When you think that the whole field qualified within 3 seconds you get a feel for how big the advantage was. A slightly quicker Mercedes is no match for 5 seconds / lap. Again had this advantage existed from the rules being applied correctly then it would have been Max's gain and Lewis' loss. Tough luck for Lewis but not unfair. As it was Lewis has every right to feel aggrieved on this individual decision for all of the reasons already stated.
The FIA already said before the race that if one or the other is at fault for a crash they wouldn't hesitate at deducing points. If it's Max's fault, automatic championship for Lewis. If they don't crash, and Lewis stayed ahead by defending, championship for Lewis. Don't defend, get overtaken, championship for Max. See what I'm getting at?
The view numbers were insane. They absolutely stood to gain. There is literally no other reason to unlap the cars in that fashion. If Masi’s original call stood, we would still have a lap of green flag racing. The only difference would Hamilton would have a gap to Verstappen. So, why didn’t that happen?
You misunderstand my comment. FIA has no commercial interest in F1. Whether it gets 6 billion views or 600, it's of no interest to the FIA at all. And by specifically engineering a fake championship (if one is inclined to believe it), F1 only stands to lose. Cars unlapping themselves is nothing new. The message of cars not yet unlapping themselves, is nothing new. That was on lap 56, when there was still debris on track. Once the debris was gone, it's safe for cars to unlap, hence, the change.
I know what unlapping is. You and others simply are dancing around the point, because you want to legitimize the outcome. It’s literally gaslighting. It’s not Redbull fault. It is not Max’s fault. This is 100% on Masi/FIA/Liberty. Here is the order of events. Masi makes the call that cars will -not be allowed to unlap- themselves. Horner calls Masi, and asks why cars are not allowed to unlap. Unlapped cars obviously would give a more advantageous position to Verstappen. Masi then changes his tune and say only the cars between Hamilton and Verstappen are allowed to unlap, with the safety car being pulled in immediately, something that has never happened before. So. What exactly, is the point of letting only the cars between Verstappen and Hamilton? Anyone being honest with themselves would know the answer to that question. It was to get both cars racing wheel to wheel on the last lap. There is no other reason, it’s not up for argument.
I've no idea which race it was but it has happened a few times around 2007-12 time that CERTAIN cars where allowed to unlap and others where not. Masi - cars not allowed to unlap (Lap 56), still debris on track, so not safe to unlap Lap 57, debris cleared up, due to time constraints, only certain cars allowed to unlap Max wasn't given a position. Lewis was still able to defend, he just didn't do it. Unusual, confusing? Yes. Illegal? No. The result is legit, Max is the legit world champion.
The only way Hamilton could have defended his position was to ram Verstappen's car, like Schumacher or Senna would have done. To his credit, he decided not to do that.
Not just us, even the Red Bull crew and Jos Verstappen where all surprised. Jos even said that the moment Max passed Lewis there he thought to himself ''you idiot, now Lewis will pass you on either of the 2 straights''. We all thought just that. I think Max knew that Lewis would be thinking just that as well. Reality is, it was a genuinely brilliant move. If Max didn't pass there, Lewis would have a usual good exit at that corner and only really needed to defend his position at the end of the first straight, the most likely overtaking part...
A safety car diminishes the gap to a leader. Leaving cars between the title contenders on the last lap is called manipulating the championship. Masi only had time to clear the cars between the front wdc contenders. No guarantee the second place car would pass the lead cars rather with six new tires an oil change and a rocket. Once again NOT removing the cars between the wdc contenders on the last lap IS the manipulation. Nooo. Nooo
It’s a binary and simplistic view of the world. Probably more comfortable for simple minds I guess ..
This would make for far more interesting conversation and I would be open to listening to both opponents and proponents of unlapping. I actually think it shouldn’t exist. The lead car gets disadvantaged enough as it is. Let those doing the chasing pass back markers on merit instead of providing even more of an advantage. Conversely, upsets are sometimes fun.
Here’s another interesting topic. I say let the teams choose whatever compound AND whatever manufacturer they want providing they fall within the dimensional specs.
