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Formula One

@BarryZola

From https://www.skysports.com/f1/news/1...llision-talk-as-fia-warns-over-racing-conduct

Article 9.15.1 'The Competitor shall be responsible for all acts or omissions on the part of any person taking part in, or providing a service in connection with, a Competition or a Championship on their behalf, including in particular their employees, direct or indirect, their Drivers, mechanics, consultants, service providers, or passengers, as well as any person to whom the Competitor has allowed access 6/6 to the Reserved Areas.'
Article 12.2.1 - Breach of Rules and in particular Article 12.2.1.l 'Any infringement of the principles of fairness in Competition, behaviour in an unsportsmanlike manner or attempt to influence the result of a Competition in a way that is contrary to sporting ethics.'
Article 12.4.5 'For all the FIA Championships, cups, challenges, trophies or series, the stewards may also decide to impose the following penalties: Suspension for one or more Competitions, withdrawal of points for the Championship, cup, challenge, trophy, series.
Article 12.4.5.a 'Points should not be deducted separately from Drivers and Competitors, save in exceptional circumstances.'

From my understand (please correct), its up to the stewards on the day to make the decision and prior punishments aren't exactly precedent since from my understanding its not the same stewards each race (please correct if changed) and they make the decisions on the day about that race. To try and introduce some sanity to penalties they did add an actual racing driver to the stewards at each race to try and give the drivers point of view.

I'm not following F1 as much as a use to mainly due FIA/Ch4, but they are my personal views.
 
Well well well …. I did not expect this

Lewis has his work cut out.
 
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Indeed. Absolutely Verstappen’s to lose now when you consider Red Bull appear to have better race pace and that the pole sitter has won the last 6 races in Abu Dhabi.

Still, hoping for a good race!
 
Its going to be very interesting race.

Max is going to have to do a two stop, Lewis might be able to do a one stop. Only Lewis, Bottas and Yuki start on the Medium tyres for the race.

When you take in to account the tow the Max got from Perez (Why did Bottas not do this for Lewis?), you could argue the gap for both drivers to their team mates is about the same, and a massive 0.6 seconds. Bottas does have a much older engine compared to Lewis, but that is still a massive gap.

Where has the RedBull pace come from, because it was not there at any other point this weekend. Have they just turned their engines up at the very last minute? Maybe the team just figured out what was wrong over Friday night, and got the car setup perfect. Lewis and Mercedes must be feeling very shocked by what they saw and how big the gap was.

In theory, Max should be able to get a better start and take the lead. For Lewis, its going to be interesting, as all the other cars around him are on the softs and going to have an advantage. Its not like Lando can just take it easy in to T1 as he needs to be beating those Ferraris. Perez is starting right behind Lewis as well, with Bottas down in 6th. If Max does have to pit twice, it means that for him to win, he will have to overtake Lewis if he only pits once. Gap you need for a pit stop is around 22 seconds.

Fantastic qual for Lando to get in to third place, but Yuki getting up to 8th and in to Q3 on the mediums, and beating Gasly was my performance of the day. I hope he can have a solid race, he is on the better tyre and could go long in that first stint, which should help him compared to those around him. Really hope he can gain a few places and finish the season with a top five, would do him a lot of good for next year.

I really hope Max can do it, and do it the right way. I hope he does it with a clean pass on Lewis in the last four or five laps. I really hope a Safety Car, Engine, or Tyre failure does not impact the race. If Perez can get in to third, there may be something he can do to help Max, block the under cut from Lewis, or allow Max to pit early, and get past quickly enough while holding Lewis up.

The track has changed significantly since we last raced here, with it being a lot easier to overtake, so I think the stat book is a bit misleading for this race. The F2 race was lots of fun, with some really good driving and overtaking. Overtaking is going to be possible here now, so who knows what is going to happen. I would love to be in the strategy rooms of both teams working out what to do, when to pit. The fact that both drivers are on different strategies makes this even more exciting as someone has to go outside their comfort zone.

I think it is still fairly balanced, and you cant assume its in the bag for Lewis or Max. Max has pole, but Lewis has the better tyres. Who has the better car, it looks like Red Bull, but we will find out at 3pm tomorrow, hopefully.
 
The build up on Sky has been intense- even I’m feeling the pressure

Good luck to both of you, personally I want Lewis to win for British sport, but either way it’s been an amazing season. Race clean…

also, watch out for Lando next season I have a feeling!

finally, good by Kimi, it’s been epic.
 
First of well done Max

overall you probably did deserve it however

That last lap decision is absolutely shocking… I really cannot believe Massey made that call. Lewis was the better driver on the day. End of.
 
It was also a bit dodgy how Hamilton was allowed to drive over a corner at the start of the race and keep his place. Lewis wasn't helped by his team gambling on leaving him on crap tyres. Always the risk of a restart at some point. That safety car thing ruins this racing though completely as in essence you can gain a massive advantage due to amazing driving over most of a race and then get that advantage wiped out because someone else has a crash. Ruins the sport really, especially when it's usually who has the best car wins anyway. Might tune in for the last race next season if there's anything still up for grabs...
 
A truly awful way for the season to end. Farcical.

Not sure we've heard the end of this. Masi changing the rulebook midway through lap 57 and then Max's dangerous weaving on the final lap.
 
Danza91 said:
A truly awful way for the season to end. Farcical.

Not sure we've heard the end of this. Masi changing the rulebook midway through lap 57 and then Max's dangerous weaving on the final lap.
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I’ve no problem with the way Max drove today. If anything he was cleaner than Lewis today. Lewis should have given the place back no doubt. That said it’s for the tile makers to decide, not the driver.

this was totally ruined though by poor decisions with the stewards. I can however see that they wanted to give the sport the opportunity to finish the battle as a race and not a procession.
That last lap though, wow
 
Most exciting finish since Hamilton's 2008 win. I don't watch much these days but it does seem like the stewards do what they like and in an inconsistent way. It's almost as if they tried to make up for a mistake on the Lap 1 decision, but then ended up overcompensating.
 
So…..this is where I am annoyed

Mercedes’ are now appealing the result on the basis that a number of rules were broken.
Whilst factually correct, it is no longer about the racing.

whilst Lewis should have one, the fun part for me is always seeing how the drivers react to the situations they are in. Max won because he and his team react better. It should not be appealed now
 
Just finished watching the race, and I’ll admit that I’m feeling extremely bitter. But well done Michael Masi for re-writing the rule book and handing the title to Verstappen.

Epic drive from Lewis, he could have done no more. Sitting duck on that final lap.
 
Questionable decisions from the officials the whole way through. It's almost as if that last lap was set up just for Netflix viewers.

Happy for Max, but gutted for Lewis at the same time. I feel as if one of them would have been robbed regardless of the outcome.

The Mercedes appeal will be interesting to follow.
 
I wish football teams could keep on appealing Premier League results due to dodgy officialdom. West Brom would still be in court now after some of the decisions against us last time around. It was poor officiating, but they're coming across as very sore losers if they carry on with these appeals much longer.
 
BarryZola said:
I wish football teams could keep on appealing Premier League results due to dodgy officialdom. West Brom would still be in court now after some of the decisions against us last time around. It was poor officiating, but they're coming across as very sore losers if they carry on with these appeals much longer.
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Yeh but it’s West Brom ain’t it ;-)
 
While out and about I heard someone say Hamilton had won, so when watching the race I was not surprised with how it was going.

But that last lap, even knowing the result my heart was beating, and I was even more excited when Max did not drop it and won. I was waiting for something to come up and say Max was getting a penalty.

As for Masi, it all comes down to, the point he made about All the teams agreeing to want to finish the race with a final green lap. He used the rules available to him to ensure that happened. The initial review of what he did turns out was within his powers and not breaking any rules, and the Mercedes appeal will give us a final outcome on if he did or did not. What they do if the appeal is successful I don't know. But if Mercedes did agree that the race should where possible finish under a green flag, they should accept the result (Which I assume they did by Masi saying All the teams).

Just to be clear, Masi did not break or go against any rules, he followed the rules correctly.

The lobbying of race director has to come to an end though, as entertaining as it is, it can not make his life any easier. Toto telling Masi not to deploy the safety car is not right, leave it to the drivers and stewards to do that.

Its so frustrating to end the season like this. Lewis did nothing wrong in this race, and Max did nothing wrong in this race. The lap one incident was the hard fighting we want. I think Lewis does over correct when Max is trying to pass these days, I think their is some gamesmanship going on. I would love some sort of hawkeye technology to show the racing lines, and then projected racing lines, so can easily see if both drivers would make the turn or not. A useful AWS info graphic :p If it was Ricardo making those moves, they would be calling it fantastic last of the late breakers instead of a lunge. Sky seemed to be a lot more balanced this week than in Qatar. Had the race finished under the safety car, I would of been gutted Max had not won, but would not of been able to fault Lewis for his performance today and the last few races. Lewis and Mercedes have been in another class at the end of this season.

The frustrating thing for Lewis must be his poor start to the season, he got very lucky with his mistake at Imola where he managed to recover most of his points due to the red flag, and then in Baku, pressing the magic brake button cost him the win and 25 points. I also look back and think about the luck both drivers have had, and you could argue with the Tyre failure at Baku and Bottas going bowling at Hungary, Max has had more bad luck than Lewis, although losing the title due to bad luck probably balances it out.

Lewis was great in defeat, I am not sure many people would handle it so well, Toto on the other hand, he does not like losing, and its a little sad that he is dragging it through the courts. I really worry that it does end up in court, and they win, we then see Red Bull launch their own appeal about the Mercedes rear wing and it just ends up dragging on. I have to admit, I did not expect it to be Mercedes going down this route.

The sad thing for me, is that it did not change @AstroDan mind who does not normally watch F1, about how great and how much fun it is. If the last 20 minutes did not show how exciting and fun it is, nothing will.

Perez did a fantastic job this weekend, in the end, it was the safety car which made the difference, but some of the driving by Perez remind me of what Hamilton did to Rosberg a few years ago when he backed him up. Excellent team driving, and what I would expect. The Red Bull team just feel like they have a much better bond as a team than Mercedes. Next year is going to be so interesting to see how Russell and Lewis get on, is it Vettel and Leclerc all over again?

Driver of the day for me was Yuki, with his fourth place finish. Gutted he could not get on the podium, but he has had a fantastic final race of the season, and I really hope this will give him a much needed confidence boost in to next year.

Talking of next year, only 98 days (plenty of time to sort out the rules, make them crystal clear and ensure no loop holes and get them signed off by all the teams) until the next race, and 203 days until I am at Silverstone watching the cars trackside.
 
Not meaning to speak for Dan, but I interpreted that post as being a criticism of the way the result was effectively determined by the race director and not the skills of the drivers. Safety cars and the associated strategy are a big part of the sport but to anyone watching for the first time it's easy to see how it would just look like the race win was "stolen".

Whilst I'm disappointed with the result (I've never liked red bull, Horner especially) I can see what Masi was trying to do - a racing finish should always be the aim. Maybe if Perez hadn't held up Lewis quite so effectively he'd have been far enough ahead to make a 2nd stop during one of the incidents, which could have put him in a better position when the race resumed. Also, who could have guessed that it'd be Latifi of all people who ultimately decided the title winner..?
 
What an incredible finish that is clearly fabricated for the "show". Ross Brawn would have been willing Masi to make the call, if that finished under the safety car it would have killed casual viewership. There's a bigger game at play for Liberty Media and they got their big tv title moment, Max winning the WDC will bring in younger fans and please some anti-Hamilton fans who were drifting away. I spent a bit of time trying to work out what Charlie Whiting would have done and came to thr conclusion he would have done the same thing. The less said about Horner and Wolff the better :D

In no way taking anything away from Max, he's over driven that RB for the last few years, if his team mates are anything to go by. He deserves his championship as controversial as it was. Good champions always deserve/earn a bit of luck and RB got theirs in spades today. Winning a title with a car not perceived to be best in the last few weeks will do his public perception well. Great drive from Checo too!

Lewis's humility was refreshing and really showed a more mature response to what just unfolded than I had anticipated. I hope he comes back all guns blazing and delivers another title fight with a few others next year. Looking forward to the Russell/Hamilton dynamic, will George chill for a year and let Hamilton ride off into the sunset for an 8th WDC or pull a Rosberg?(he seemed pleased with yesterday's result)

Lewis got a taste of Massa missing out on the championship.

I don't think I've ever anticipated a new season as much as this one. I can't wait to see the new cars and their phat wheels, hopefully we get a shake up too. Ferarri back near the top, HAAS to battle Williams 3rd best team or just more of the same. Who knows? but it's going to be great to find out :D

P.s I wonder if Masi will still be around next season?
 
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