Max fanboys do NOT care about real fair open competition. All they care about is Max was given the WDC by Masi. Honor and integrity they know nothing about.
Lol.....honor and integrity???? Says the poster about Suzuka 1990 and how that race lost its fan base and that the fan base has dropped 10x at Abu Dhabi when compared to Suzuka 1990. You have yet to back up this claim.
I just can't understand how people make parallels between Suzuka 90 and Abu Dhabi 2021. At Suzuka, Senna (who had a 'the world is against me' mentality BTW) chose to believe that Balestre conspired against him to determine where Pole Position would be; a choice clearly and historically supported by the regulations as an option available to him. This feeling was nothing more than a conspiracy belief based on his interpretations of Balestre's present and previous actions. There was no hard proof just this feeling he had that the powers that be were against him. With these feelings, Senna went rogue and deliberately rammed Prost (an action he much later fully admitted to doing) to guarantee the world title (lower case on purpose because of the shame tied to it). Suzuka was all about a driver caused incident by his own actions and decisions. At Abu Dhabi, Max and Lewis both drove well and made the most of the opportunities presented to them. The controversy took place off track which is a stark contrast to how things transpired in Japan 31 years earlier.
I agree. In an interview, Senna, who claimed he was very religious, admitted feeling the "will of God" when he was driving. With that sort of endorsement, no wonder he felt justified to settle the matter of the Pole Position at Suzuka in a quite aggressive manner. What's more troubling is that he got away with it, and was back on the grid the next season after grovelling to Ballestre ! Abu Dhabi was purely a race management issue, with no blame attached to either Verstappen or Hamilton.
This topic has been discussed for just over 39 days with a whole range of interpretations and solutions. Its a good job we all didnt have 5 seconds to come up with the right answer.
Wow, still being debated. 5 seconds to decide? Easy. Don't do anything different EXCEPT don't allow cars to unlap (Masi's initial call, so he knew that was an option). Safety Car properly pulls in and 1 lap of green racing. 5 cars between LH and MV, with LH on 40 lap old hards, and MV on virtually brand new softs. All MV has to do is catch LH (not a given), but if he gets close enough to LH, you know MV would do anything to get past, even if it meant taking out LH "by accident". If that happens, MV wins (deal with fallout after the race including points on his superlicense or monetary fine, but MV has nothing to lose because if both LH and MV are out MV is champ). Exciting racing? Check. No need to deal with 48.13. Check Complying with 48.12 and 15.3. Check. Ending under a green flag, Check again. Not so hard. Regards, Jerry
Except ... your plan doesn't satisfy Mercedes' own stated goals of unlapping (search this thread for Andrew Shovlin). So Mercedes, for sure, would NOT agree with your strategy.
I will add that I am uniquely positioned to offer an opinion here as I have done hundreds of laps around the Abu Dhabi track in proper high downforce slick shod racing cars. Especially with the dusty nature of the track and the configuration, fresh soft tires would have been a night and day difference. For drivers of that caliber the advantage would have been astronomical.
I can agree Mercedes might not have liked that, but it shouldn't matter. There is nothing to appeal under this circumstance. Masi would be following the letter of the rules (48.12 since it gives RD unfettered discretion whether or not to allow cars to unlap, and 15.3 does not come into play) and the spirit/stated goal of the rules by all teams (finish under green flag conditions if at all possible). Regards, Jerry
I hear you, but the goals stated by Mercedes for unlapping: - get the majority of the field on the same lap - bunch-up the field, with back-markers out of the way, so drivers on fresh rubber could challenge drivers on old tires for exciting racing were 100% satisfied by Masi's decision, with no rules broken. Coupled with the pre-race agreement by all teams to end under green ... Masi's decision seems like a no-brainer! Are any other teams (besides Mercedes) pressing or threatening the FIA for personnel and/or rules changes?
I think the issue with using a team to decipher the rules is they are normally commenting on something to work in their own best interests (and this quote came from before the season). Masi's has already been done in by trying to appease the preferences of a team instead of acting with authoritative integrity. A season-long siht-show for him...
While I still have a Radical as a fun toy the more serious racing is in LMP3 and Endurance racing mainly in Europe. I'm looking to go back to LeMans this year and will concentrate on 24 hour races including Spa and likely Portimao later this year. A lot has to do with travel restrictions and how my work schedule affects things. Sadly I don't have any cool photos to share today. I'll have to dig something up.
Two things. First off, it was an astoundingly stupid strategy to put Hamilton out on those hard tires for 40 laps. Pure idiocy by whoever made that call, when there was a VSC that gave Ham a chance to pit and lose zero track position. Once they passed that chance up, they opened the door for the off chance that a late race safety car could put Max on fresh softs. Instead of taking the free pull at the slot machine at the VSC, they foolishly doubled down. That was something completely within Mercedes control. Frankly, I'd wager Toto made that call and not Bonnington. The latter does not make those kind of gambles in the home stretch, and the former was a basket case during the latter stages. Second off, this is rich coming from Hamilton apologists, who act like he was a god in the final 4 races, when the reality is he had an engine that gave him a huge HP advantage over everyone, including his teammate. Nobody was going to catch Hamilton with that power unit behind him, no way, no how. All Max could do was hope Mercedes made a bad strategy call and some luck, and he got it. After the multiple times Hamilton escaped broad daylight penalties, and Mercedes costing Max and RBR a good 50 points after Silverstone and Hungary, I don't want to hear Hamilton fans complain about what's fair.
I'd be willing to bet green money it was Toto's call to stay out after the first pit stop. There was probably a worry at Mercedes that the pit crew could screw up if made to perform under pressure, and given their history of screwing the pooch, Toto was of the attitude of "no matter what happens, we're not coming in again" even under a VSC, because the Mercedes pit crew could screw this up, and Hamilton is great a conserving tires, so "what are the chances?". Didn't dawn on them what a bad call they had made until the SC came out, and it was clear the incident could be cleaned before the final lap.
+1 Allow me to emphasize a point that's already been made: at the moment Latifi crashed, the expectation ... for all teams ... was that the race would end under green. Two reasons ... First, Latifi crashed with 5 laps to go, and the average F1 safety car period is 4 laps (a fact well known by Mercedes ... it's on their F1 webpage). Second, the pre-race agreement, by all teams, was that the race would end under green, if possible. So ... during the very brief "decision window" of whether or not to pit Hamilton, Mercedes expected the race to end under green, not yellow.
During team debriefs, race engineers and team principles go over stats. Everything from how often a particular track gets safety cars and when, to how often tires at a track puncture. There was a clear desire to under no circumstances, put Lewis's fate in his crews hands again after the first pit stop, even during the VSC, when they wouldn't have lost the lead had they pitted and had a normal time. What that tells me is that Toto and Bono likely went over the stats on the pit crew, and realized they were about due for a really bad stop, where Lewis could wind up stuck in the pits while a fumbling pit stop took place, and Max would over take them. They felt more comfortable asking Lewis to do the impossible on those tires, and it was foolish. Lewis will never criticize his team, or Toto. They've had his back when he rammed into Rosberg in Spain and cost them a perfect season, and when he went off the reservation and disregarded team orders in Abu Dhabi 2016. He'll go along with the "Masi is corrupt" bull.
The European Gran Prix 2007. Elton Hamdashian has received preferential treatment within F1 his ENTIRE career. The crane picked up one car and returned it to the track, Eltons.
Agreed, except for the last point...Lewis has frequently thrown his team under the bus. However, now they have a more convenient scapegoat and use that instead...
Haha still at it then. WelI then I don't know how you can sleep at night knowing that Sir Lewis Hamilton MBE HonFREng has won Seven World Drivers F1 Championship titles and holds the records for the most wins (103), pole positions (103), and podium finishes (182), making him the joint most successful driver of all time. And I wouldn't think he has trouble sleeping worrying about preferential treatment and a crane, whilst sleeping on top of his humongous pile of cash estimated at £224 million,
Preferential treatment LOL - Ask Ricci how much of that he got vs Max at RedBull. There is alot of things RedBull fans so easily forget LOL -Max made sure he wrecked both cars out of the race in Baku -Ricci was treated as part of the problem for that race after WARNING the team many times that would happen - so rather than move Max they risk both cars out of the points and BOOM - idiocy of leadership yield no points. God forbid they do something rational too afraid of Jos in the garage lol. Its Max and Jos' team. Period! -The team made sure Daniel was told he was also at fault along with Max when a blind bat could see that was not the case -RedBull and preferential treatment - A business case - the epitome of it. -Ricci knew he was not ever really fully welcome - The literal case of how not to manage 2 very good drivers Max - crashing/running people off track for how long now?? What skill........such a hero lol Late brake - block- run opposing driver off track to avoid crash - then complain he was given no space. Here is a reminder of this years title * LOL
F1 section would be a pretty quiet place without Lewis driving .. nobody seems to care much about even Carlos or Charles !
