Poll: Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2021, Yas Island - Race 22

[Diddums]

I was already only giving the sport the benefit of the doubt with the last two races and it's already confirmed my suspicions that the sport has fallen off a cliff and any actual performance can be wiped out by one questionable decision, or in this case, an entire championship.

I don't support either of these drivers so couldn't care either way but the FIA's handling of this situation is beyond dismal.

*Edited by mod

 

[muon]

That was a quick change from I’m not paying £240 to the above. Just need MissChief to get you a good deal on the package and welcome back

Like I said I ain't watching the mess with no integrity. I fully expect hardly anything to change.

I might be pleasantly surprised.

 

[koolpc]

Look, Max deserved to win this year.

Its not Max's fault if the stewards shift around how they interpret the rules.

 

[Locky]

Look, Max deserved to win this year.

Its not Max's fault if the stewards shift around how they interpret the rules.

Look, Lewis deserved to win this year.

Its not Lewis fault if the stewards shift around how they interpret the rules.

 

[Kenai]

Is this match fixing or is the same as a referee giving a penalty to one side that is soft as hell and not to another.

It's more like dishing out a 95th minute penalty to one team after deciding that heading the ball counts as handball now

 

[muon]

Look, Max deserved to win this year.

Its not Max's fault if the stewards shift around how they interpret the rules.

They would have been 9 races each. It's difficult to say one driver definitely deserved it over the other. They were after all on equal points.

It's more like dishing out a 95th minute penalty to one team after deciding that heading the ball counts as handball now

And all goals prior to this dont count.

 

[m4rmite]

Should have gone with Paddy Power, wouldn't have mattered, they were paying out on Hamilton winning the race and the Championship. When a betting company is paying out based on your influence, you know you screwed up...

The FIA website is down, Masi done a runner already

Off to barbados to be their king now there's a space

 

[Parky]

What a complete disaster, whatever the out come of any legal action that now happens (if it does) it's completely ruined the finale of one of the best seasons we've had in years, crazy drama though that's for sure.

Not going to lie I prefer Hamilton, questionable driving at times aside though I feel the momentum has been with Max for the most part. RB and Max haven't even done anything wrong really this weekend, they out played Mercedes in the team game and gambled whenever they could to give themselves every chance. Lewis was immense as well and could do no more. Bottas nowhere to be seen when it matters again, that could have mixed things up were he keeping pace.

It just taints the result now, it's clear Lewis and Max are on another level to everybody else at the moment, it's so frustrating that we couldn't get the finish without controversy, regardless of who deserved it more. It's been building for a while now and there was almost an air of inevitability about it, really all stemming from the ineptitude and lack of backbone from the FIA and their decision making.

 

[fez]

Should have gone with Paddy Power, wouldn't have mattered, they were paying out on Hamilton winning the race and the Championship. When a betting company is paying out based on your influence, you know you screwed up...

I wonder what odds you would have got on Max just before that safety car. Massive I would imagine.

 

[Flibster]

Look, Max deserved to win this year.

Its not Max's fault if the stewards shift around how they interpret the rules.

It's not the stewards interpreting the rules, it's the race director. The same chap every weekend. So he's changing how he interprets them each weekend.

And he just decided to interpret them completely differently to any point that he's done it since he took over in 2019...

 

[DRZ]

Any SC event is already desperately unfair as it is. There have been a great many massive leads cut by the safety car over the years which has always been an unfair thing. Allowing lapped drivers to unlap themselves neatly avoids the situation where there's effectively blue flag chaos on the restart, especially towards the end of the race.

What transpired in this race was dramatically more unfair but only because it happened on the exact lap it happened. Had it happened on say lap 48 instead, the usual SC procedure would have happened. Lewis still likely wouldn't have been pitted because Max was certain to do the opposite and he would have had to pass at least Perez as well as Max in the remaining laps and I think that would have been a struggle. Had the SC been brought out a lap or two later then it would have finished under the SC and that would have been that. I don't think it was possible for there to be an uncontroversial outcome from the moment Latifi hit the wall.

The FIA and particularly the WMSC need to look at exactly what the race director should and should not be doing in making result-affecting decisions. I didn't like what I saw at Jeddah and I didn't like what happened tonight. All sport that has rules needs to have those rules enforced properly. You most certainly can't change the way the rules are applied just because you want to spice up the very end of the event, especially with literally decades of precedent of the application of a particular rule. I doubt Charlie Whiting would have allowed the rules to be interpreted and applied the way they were today.

 

[fez]

Mercedes have appealed the appeal.

 

[Locky]

The FIA website is down, Masi done a runner already

Off to barbados to be their king now there's a space

Hes gone to spend all the back-hander money hes earned..

 

[chrismscotland]

I really hope Merc pull out of F1 now.. I know it will screw Russell and the peoples jobs but to race like that isn't racing at all..

They make a literal **** load out of exposure and advertising from the F1 team; estimated at over $5 billion in 2019; they aren't going anywhere

 

[PikeyPriest]

I do wonder if F1 will start to die in the UK in 2024 if it is taken to a subscription service only separate to Sky. I hadn’t realised the push worldwide they have made to bring on their own subscription service.

I just dream that mclaren will be able to challenge next year. Failing that a three way fight would be amazing if Ferrari could up their game.

 

[omnomnom]

I do wonder if F1 will start to die in the UK in 2024 if it is taken to a subscription service only separate to Sky. I hadn’t realised the push worldwide they have made to bring on their own subscription service.

I just dream that mclaren will be able to challenge next year. Failing that a three way fight would be amazing if Ferrari could up their game.

Oh yea i wouldnt have watched the last few if it wasnt for sky. Not a chance.

 

[chrismscotland]

Any SC event is already desperately unfair as it is. There have been a great many massive leads cut by the safety car over the years which has always been an unfair thing.

General use of the safety car and the way it works isn't unfair; its just as much part of the sport as anything else is; its the luck of the draw; not defending how it was used at the end of this race but in general terms you take your luck with a safety car (or VSC)

 

[pioneer2000]

No delusion in accepting the sporting body's ultimate decision?
Can I offer up a similar case of sour grapes? Trump losing to Biden.

Who hasn’t accepted it? My point was that the Red Bull side won’t admit that he shouldn’t have won. Hamilton had the championship in the bag from the 1st lap, it’s only the rules being changed on the last lap that’s he’s lost it.

 

[chrcoluk]

I just looked at 15.3 and it does say overriding authority, however it also mentions a clerk and my interpretation is that the director has authority over the clerk rather than authority over the entire set of rules, it clearly states in the same paragraph that the clerk cannot give orders on the following matters without the director's agreement, so to me thats what the authority means.
So in regards to the FIA decision, it doesnt look stupid, as the rules are written badly in a vague way that it can be interpreted in that way, but it is my opinion that was not the original intention when the rules were written.
So given its not clear cut and its open to interpretation then yes I think CAS could easily take a different view.

Here is the quote.

15.3 The clerk of the course shall work in permanent consultation with the Race Director. The Race Director shall have overriding authority in the following matters and the clerk of the course may give orders in respect of them only with his express agreement:
a) The control of practice and the race, adherence to the timetable and, if he deems it necessary, the making of any proposal to the stewards to modify the timetable in accordance with the Code or Sporting Regulations.
b) The stopping of any car in accordance with the Code or Sporting Regulations.
c) The stopping of practice or suspension of the race in accordance with the Sporting Regulations if he deems it unsafe to continue and ensuring that the correct restart procedure is carried out.
d) The starting procedure.
e) The use of the safety car.

 

[adam cool dude]

Is this match fixing or is the same as a referee giving a penalty to one side that is soft as hell and not to another. If you want equivalence, would it be match fixing if two teams fighting for the title on the final day of the season got a bad decision that benefitted one and cost the other the game.

I don't think it was "fixing" per se, I just think that F1 want drama and entertainment and in those few minutes Masi made the decision to let Lewis and Max battle on the last lap because he thought it would be the best for entertainment. He didn't think it through properly and thought he would be the hero of the day by giving us the ultimate final lap racing that we didn't think would happen. It was end an exciting season on a safety car or end it with the two drivers going at each other for one last lap.

It was perhaps an emotional decision instead of a technical one.

You cannot make up the rules as you go along. You say no overtaking then let only some of the cars go. That means the cars that were not allowed to unlap themselves were not allowed to race.

A soft penalty is not comparable to what happened today.

What happened today would be the equivalent of sending half a team off the pitch just so the other side could win.