Tbh i think if Masi stays on, I'm done with F1... bc we're basically in WWE territory where it's all about 'the show' and 'the storylines'... ...they wanted things to be decided in the finals laps of the final race so they engineered it thus and justified it afterwards. Tweet— Twitter API (@user) date
Merc are going to carry this one all the way to CAS. Edit# I'm on some US Optician's forums and the reaction there is both hilarious and disheartening. The yanks are pretty much unanimous that the race was fixed because the FIA didn't want Lewis to win another title in a row. Basically all of them, Hamilton fans, Max fans, they all think the result was rigged. It's a staggeringly bad look for F1.
This is all getting very ugly, not a great look for F1. There's a lot of ifs, buts and maybes of what could or should have happened, but they didn't. Merc could have done things differently, red bull could have. Toto got his nice big chunk of that constructors money, he should just go count it and not hand it over to the lawyers. The most widely used phrase this season has been "let them race" and Masi did that. He s probably under instructions from the higher ups, we don't know. This will be talked about till next season and hopefully they'll do something about the inconsistencies, but I wouldn't hold my breath.
Well, when the outcome of a race seems so heavily influenced by the Stewards and Race Control, I can see how the tinfoilers might whip themselves up into a frenzy. The flip-flopping decisions near the end won't help either - I suppose though, they also think Latifi crashed on purpose... such is the belief of crazy ****ers. For the record, I thought the decision after Max's initial move on Lewis was correct. It struck me as a screamingly obvious calculated attempt at brute-forcing past because the danger of both cars crashing out would result in a win for Max, so Lewis would have to yield; and it was "punished" accordingly by not forcing Lewis to give the place back. Events afterward, well.. what a cluster-****. Also for the record: I really ****ing dislke Max or, more accurately, the way he goes racing. It's probably the naive purist in me that hates the win at any cost ideology, which is also why I didn't like Schumacher, or Senna; despite being in awe of their talent. Back to the race, I thought Perez was brilliant at holding up Lewis - team tactics are fine and, if that resulted in Max getting past and winning then that's also fine. To be fair, I don't really have a problem with Max taking it at the very end - not what I wanted, obviously, but so be it - it's the perception of the Stewards and Race Control having a finger on the scales and sullying the sport in the eyes of the wider public that really pisses me off. /incoherent rant
Pretty much 100% where I sit. Both times Merc couldn't pit as Verstappen was in the pit window. Merc played ot 100% correct. The crash was unfortunate and it makes no sense why it would ve deliberate (pending financial records and future racing deals ) I disagree that Hamilton should have given the place back however with all the nonsense that went down this season I agree with your assesment and that logic is what was used. A red flag would have allowed them to race and clear the mess from the crash and none of this fiasco would have occured. Ive listed earlier in the thread why Mercs protest is pointless but ultimately this was a clean race spoiled by a bad ref decision but that's motor racing. Next season at least gives an excuse for 1 more season.....or maybe 3 races
I thought the attempted pass on the first lap was a bad one. Came from way too far back, basically parked across the corner and gave Lewis no where to go. But also I don't know why Lewis didn't anticipate it and cut back on him, there's been a few times this season he could have pulled the anchor out and watch max go sailing past and hasn't done it. And there's a big difference between how Danny ric does it so well and cleanly and max doesn't. Riccardo sure breaks late and dives up the inside, but takes the corner cleanly on a good line and gives enough room for the victim to try and fight it round the outside. Max goes straight through the corner, gets to the outside curb and then turns. There's no chance of fighting it, it's just "give it up or we'll crash", very akin to what rosberg got penalised for in Austria.
Probably can't say anything that hasn't already been said but my 2p anyway... Lap 1 incident. From Max's car camera it looks like a fantastic move. Then on a 2nd viewing with a much wider and higher view it was clear that had Lewis not gone off the track then it would have been an incident. I don't like that style of racing and neither do I like Horner's viewpoint that Max stayed fully on the circuit ergo Lewis should have had to hand the place back. Barging your way through the field and expecting people to yeild or crash is how you play Forza Motorsport not real life F1. I really liked Max when he came into F1 but this year my opinion of him has nosedived. The safety car decision was a shocker. Masi needs a new job. I still can't quite get my head around it. Yes the call to pit Max was a fantastic gamble and he did well to get the move done also (albeit on new softs) so hats off to the team and driver for that. But how does the race director get to - seemingly on a whim - decide not to let no or all lapped cars passed the safety car, but just those sitting between the two title contenders to give us a "race" to the line? It's madness. For what it's worth I'm kind of glad the race result hasn't been changed. Yes I believe it shouldn't have happened in the first place, but it did, so I think fighting it out in offices and rule books and courts it's just pointlessly dragging it out now. What does need to change is the FIA, the race director and the (lack of) rule book. P.S. first time watching a Sky F1 race and I really do prefer the Channel 4 guys, especially the commentary.
At the time I thought it was outrageous. Having slept on it, my strength of feeling is much less. I think, because this wasn't any trickery from either team or driver, the fans will move on from this relatively quickly. There's always a new season to watch (and let's get praying that there isn't going to be one dominant team again...)
I wasn't really bothered which driver took the championship, there's things I like and things I don't about each of them but there's no denying that both have been on a completely different level to the rest of the field this year and at times it's almost felt like a mixed grid (LMP1/2). The way it finished does stink a little but I do wonder if Totos comment to Masi during the VSC about not putting a full safety car out and bunching up the grid influenced Masi at the end, almost like a middle finger to Toto.
It was a clear SC as soon as Latifi hit the barrier. It would have been anticlimatic to end under SC but maybe that's the 'fair' end. Ultimately Masi should have let all the cars unlap, there was still time for them to wiz past and restart the race (F1 cars are kinda fast don't you know). Side point, the unlapped cars bit is always odd, seems safer to make the lapped cars pull to the side for 10s seconds and rejoin in their race location than wiz round the track at top speed to catch the back again. Would be much quicker restart to racing.
I have to agree, I've never been a fan of allowing lapped cars to unlap themselves, your suggestion just makes to much sense
Unlapped cars have to go around for the timing gear to be on the same lap. If they didn't want to end under safety car and have some racing they should have red flagged.
Something that seems to have been overlooked is the disadvantage handed to Riciardo, Stroll, and Schumacher. They weren't afforded the opportunity to fight the 5 allowed through for seventh place. Also, if the cars were left in front of Max, there is a chance Sainz could have attacked for second. The whole thing was just a poor show, red flag and restart would have been the best option.
I wasn't expecting such harmony in this thread. FWIW I agree with pretty-much everyone so far, going in I was 60% Lewis, 40% Max, as David said above I'm not a fan of Max's style of overtaking and pushing everything to Senna-esque levels of "let me past or have an accident". That said, if he'd won without the madness of the race jiggery-pokery he would've deserved it, and Hamilton would've deserved it after dominating this race. What actually happened was that Masi has sealed off a run of awful inconsistency with a decision that not only taints him, but the FIA, F1 and Max's victory at the same time. Hopefully this will mean a big regulatory shake-up and some changes to the stewarding - I think we need a permanent team of stewards at every race, no 2-way communication between the pit wall and the race director (instead a single point of contact on the stewarding team), and clear rules about what the director can and can't do. In the end it just shows how lucky we were to have Charlie Whiting - he didn't always get it 100% right, but at least he was consistent. RIP.
Yeah, I'm really not a fan of the constant lobbying of the Race Director - I know we're only just getting the radio feeds that have been the norm inside F1 for years but, from all accounts, Charlie Whiting was very much of the Pierluigi Collina camp - "my word is scripture, stfu". Masi just appears weak.
I think the actual result is less important than the total fubar nature of officiating the entire year, that has played too big a part in championship. Although I think I have an idea of how they make decisions at the minute We all knew who Charlie was, but generally had no idea what really did. Only in his absence do we realise just how much F1 relied on him. God rest his soul.
