FORMULA 1 HEINEKEN GRANDE PREMIO DE SAO PAULO - Sao Paulo...RACE.. ▄▀▄▀▄▀ SPOILERS ▄▀▄▀▄▀

Shocking news: fans would rather watch racing, than safety car parades. Who would have guessed?

 

Never understood the need for back markers to unlap themselves.
What is the point?

 

This is a quote on the "spirit" or "purpose" of unlapping, directly from Mercedes themselves (they removed this quote from their webpage, of course, right after 2021 Abu Dhabi ... because it was pretty much the word-for-word playbook for AD last year):

"This will have two important effects, firstly the cars directly behind the safety will line up in actual race order so when the race restarts they are in a position to overtake each other. Secondly, the majority of the field will be on the same racing lap, bunched together and with some of the cars on new tyres. Together with the DRS, this should create exciting racing in the midfield where cars on older tyres will be ahead of cars that have stopped for fresh rubber who are trying to battle their way up the order for points.”

 

Alonso is manipulative, almost Machiavellian, and I still suspect he was fully in on the fix in Singapore (Crashgate), but he is a very gifted driver. And shows little signs of mellowing or diminishing with age. For that, he has my respect. Purely for his talent. I'm not sure that alone is sufficient to risk putting him on a team - you risk losing trust and cohesion.

 

I didnt see the whole race Fast forwarded the whole thing. Dont the cars still have a N neutral button for the marshalls?

 

I meant an external N Neutral mechanism. I never noticed on new era cars.

 

This quote is simply a detail of the procedure, but NOT an explanation of the reasons why it is necessary.

 

Alonso has proven time and time again, that he isn't a team player. The man is toxic.
Several times he tried (and succeeded) to interfere with the running of his team.
He threw the McLaren and Renault teams under the bus, and cannot be trusted.
We will see how he gets on at Aston with Laurence Stroll and Mike Krack.

 

Beyond being a bad team principle, Binotto is downright awful at being technical director.

The development cycles he oversaw in 17', 18', 19', and now 22' have shown without a doubt he has terrible organization skills. He just abandons his cars after the summer, while Allison and Newey never rest.

 

He is it Alonso's fault went happened to McLaren and Renault? Nobody forced them to cheat and ruin their images.

 

Sure it is! The reason is to promote "exciting racing".

Cars behind on fresh tires, bunched-up to cars in front on old tires ... "battling" for position and points ... without those pesky back-markers in between. EXCITING RACING is the reason, according to Mercedes.

(well, that was their explanation before AD 2021)

 

He apparently voluntered to cooperate with the FIA against these 2 teams in exchange from immunity from sanction.
He knew about the Spygate at McLaren in 2007, but testified against the team.
He was suspected of being part of the plot in the Singapore Crashgate and made a statement against Renault management.

 

The purpose of the safety car is to protect marshalls and course workers engaged in clearing the track after an accident, by temporarilly slowing down the cars to a reasonable speed, until it is safe to resume racing.

Period.

 

ummmm ... we're not talking about the purpose of the SAFETY CAR

You asked about the purpose of UNLAPPING ... remember? It was only a few posts ago ...

The answer was already provided by Mercedes.

 

I hear you, but if the safety car is used to change the order of cars by allowing some to unlap themselves, then it's not simply a neutralisation of the race, but clearly a manipulation, that advantages some racers and handicaps others.

What I am looking for is an official explanation giving the reason why there is unlapping at all.
There must be a FIA text somewhere to support that protocol. The Mercedes prose is not official.

 

That's hardly being toxic. Pique was the one who outed Renault's race fix, and all involved were going down, so Alonso was smart to cooperate.

I have no issue with Alonso outing Dennis as having lied to the FIA either.

Alonso is spoiled, pigheaded, and lacks the ability to take responsibility in many instances. But refusing to lie for Dennis and Flavio are not among his flaws.

 

His radio traffic clearly said 'think about the championship'. It was all about points for 2nd in WDC. Nothing to do with "handout of a podium place".

 

We agree. I love it when this happens.

Cheers my f1 friend. Have a great week!

 

It seems like Max has his own view of right and wrong, i.e. you earn your position.
Even though he comes off as a prick, it does lease Charles and Checo with equivalent points fighting for second position in the driver's race.
MB is too close to Ferrari for comfort in the race for second in the constructor's battle (never should have happened).
Ahead of the race, it seemed like the MB drivers were ready to do what it takes to get a win, it felt to me like Lewis took a convenient opportunity to chop at max's car.

 

Ham’s exact actual quote to Bono: “That was NO racing incident, mate.”

 

I don't think it was a question of lying. Apparently when the enquiry started at McLaren, Alonso went to the FIA and offered informations in exchange for not being investigated. He was among those who knew about the 'acquisition" of Ferrari data, and (together with Pedro de la Rosa) participated in reunions at Woking where they were discussed, making him some sort of accomplice. Later he said he had feared his license may heve been revoked to explain himself.

Two years down the line, when the Crashgate scandal exploded, Alonso's name was mentioned as the main beneficiary of the plot.
Here again, there was a strong suspicion he was part of the machination, but he diverted all responsability by voluntering his participation in the enquiry, and escaped any sanction, unlike the others involved.

Let say there is a lingering smell of deceit everywhere Alonso goes, and he tends to leave chaos behind him in every team he worked for.

 

Stewards didn’t see it like that as Ver got the penalty. It’s just verbal handbags… Made no difference - Ver wasn’t going to win, and Ham wasn’t going to beat George. Minimal damage done to the final result.