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

[chrismscotland]

Would everyone be just as upset if it were Ham and not Max that were in the same position on the last lap?

Its obvious the rules need looking at.

The whole season has seen a mismatch of rule implementation.

Hopefully it will get ironed out for next season.

On a UK forum? Probably not.
Its clear though that either the rules need looked at or it needs made clear than the RD can do what they want in future; at least then we and the teams know.

 

[Steampunk]

No but what i was saying is that FIA should get punished severely. Not that max gets stripped off the title

But Hamilton gets stripped of the title he would have won had the rules been followed and they finished under the safety car? Punishing the FIA isn't enough, the wrong has to be righted.

 

[Mesai]

The other decisions didn't decide the championship based on a one lap sprint\drag race with one driver on bad tyres and one driver on good tyres.

Kinda makes a joke of the whole thing.

I disagree, ever decision has weight on the championship. What if they were harsher on Lewis for crashing Max out in Silverstone? He'd be ahead in points. Every decision has an impact which is why it needs to be consistent.

This last lap thing just had a more direct impact.

 

[Steampunk]

Gotcha. Forgot about that bit.

Yep and this is exactly the reason I think Merc should take it all the way. The FIA have already dragged the season through the mud with their inconsistencies (one thing I agree with Karen Horner on) so if Merc hang this out and embarrass everyone - well it's all they deserve. Hopefully it'll be a wake-up call for them.

Any previous evidence of this actually happening?

Plenty of times a race has been red-flagged, and the results have been taken from the end of the previous lap if there's no restart or time to finish.

 

[Scam]

As a Hamilton fan, this side-by-side onboard with pit radio of the last lap is hard to watch.

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/...pFFCCBYMgDX7M6ONSL9J8jJEx8qORP3_ZWsUAYJbymEcQ

Hamilton needs to be more defensive aggressive in 2022.

Had to turn it off after he crossed the line. Like most I thought a sleep on this would help but nope. Even more angry. Did Hamilton say something about 'race manipulated' too?

And seriously, didn't even notice the weaving down the straight at the time because I was so angry. Yet again Max driving dangerously and unfairly I wonder if Lewis would have gotten closer had he not done that.. ah well

I still want to hear Lewis' message that was about a 30sec long bleep when he first realised about the safety car..

 

[Jono8]

I don't agree on the specific bias towards Max or RB as decisions have been consistently poor on both sides all season.

The FIA made a very poor/panicked last minute decision, which all but guaranteed Max then win. Merc also had the disadvantage of no 2nd driver so Lewis never had pit advantage.

Just to clarify, I'm not saying it was necessarily biased in INTENTION, but whether it was malice or stupidity, the rule Masi made up was inherently biased and prejudicial towards Lewis (and other competitors who couldn't unlap/got stuck behind cars that couldn't unlap).

 

[Scam]

Plenty of times a race has been red-flagged, and the results have been taken from the end of the previous lap if there's no restart or time to finish.

Ah sure yeah under a red flag I guess. I wasn't arguing, just interested.

 

[Armageus]

To lighten the mood a bit, did anyone see the cameraman's epic manoeuvre during Bottas' stop:

Driver of the day for sure

 

[cuke2u]

If you are done over by clear rules that were in place when you started then it's hard luck, it's something completely different to be done over by rules being made on the spot.

I don't get how this doesn't bother some people.

Because maybe some of us understand the role of the race director and that he orshe

i donot watch much motor racing but i saw thius yesterday.

Out of the two leaders, Hamilton was the better driver on the day. i don;t think anyone can argue with that. he was so far ahead and even after being forced to slow down behind Perez, when he got past, Max just couldnot catch him.

Going into the last few laps becore that safety car came out, there was no way he was going to be caught.

I donot understand the technicalities but even to someone like me it was obvious that this was orchestrated so that Max would win.

That is not fair, and it is not right.

The only thing Lewis did 'better' was when he pulled away from the grid at the start, but even that could have been down to the car's setup. He had the faster car and the circuit suited the handling of the Mercedes, he said so himself. So no he wasn't the better driver at all.
Those baying for race director's blood seem to forget why he is there, Masi is the RD and the RD can intervene in a race at any point at their and the stewards discretion. Was it sporting, no it wasn't and that is how this is coming across to everyone. However no-one could have guessed that Max would have been able to overtake Lewis, anything else could have happened. I feel that all Masi and the stewards were trying to do was to bring about the end of the race under racing conditions instead of under the safety car. A bold decisions and as it turned out, in hindsight, not the right one.
However some of the comments in the thread go right over the top and are, in reality, far worse than anything that took place yesterday. I am sure the poor man has had to go into hiding due to some of the behaviour of, so called, fans...

 

[Jono8]

Agreed. I don't believe Masi did this to favour Max/RedBull, I believe he did it because he was desperate to avoid a finish under Safety Car - something that it's generally agreed is undesirable. The trouble is that a finish under safety car is what the rules, and all convention on application of those rules, says should happen. The fundamental, basic, idea of Sport is that it is a competition that occurs on a level playing field determined by the rules of that Sport: for Masi to ride roughshod over that in order to prioritise the entertainment of a final lap decider strikes at the very nature of F1 as a sport. There's also a big problem with decision to prioritise the battle between Max and Lewis over giving the other drivers in the race their fair shots at improving their positions.

If he'd called an unnecessary red flag in order to create a final few laps of racing I'd have a lot less problem with it. That would have been both fairer to all competitors and not involved writing ad hoc rules on the fly.

Totally agree. If you are going to manipulate for entertainment, at least do it within the rules (like usual say, a red flag).

Mercedes made a judgement call based on the regular time a safety car takes and the rules They knew that either the race would end under the safety car ( as it was incredibly unlikely to clear the track, let unlapped cars past and then have another lap for the safety car to retreat, as per the rules), or at worst Max would have e maybe a lap to unlap himself again to get to Lewis.

How can Merc make a crucial strategy call when some completely fabricated rule gets made up on the spot which throws the above out of the window?

 

[Mesai]

Just to clarify, I'm not saying it was necessarily biased in INTENTION, but whether it was malice or stupidity, the rule Masi made up was inherently biased and prejudicial towards Lewis (and other competitors who couldn't unlap/got stuck behind cars that couldn't unlap).

Absolutely, we can all agree it was to the benefit of Max, but as a result of sheer incompetence from the FIA. They had to work hard this season, and it's highlighted some major flaws.

 

[SDK^]

To lighten the mood a bit, did anyone see the cameraman's epic manoeuvre during Bottas' stop:

Driver of the day for sure

Yeah my son spotted this during the race, nice spin

 

[MissChief]

I hope Red Bull’s car next year is utterly **** and they’re fighting for points never mind podiums and wins. I hope Lewis, George and Mercedes absolutely demolish the rest of the field. They’ll be hurting and I suspect Lewis will be visiting the factory quite a few times to get the team even more focussed, something he rarely does apparently. He might even do some Sim work, again something he rarely does.

 

[Shocky-FM]

Strange how nobody is blaming Lewis for the awful defensive driving on the final lap... He left the door open again, he should have at least forced Max to go wide.

 

[Kenai]

However no-one could have guessed that Max would have been able to overtake Lewis

You don't seriously believe this do you?

 

[cuke2u]

I think the standout person from all of this is Lewis. He has handled what must be a awful situation with much dignity..

 

[KiNgPiN83]

Strange how nobody is blaming Lewis for the awful defensive driving on the final lap... He left the door open again, he should have at least forced Max to go wide.

I'm not sure he had the tyres for a really robust defence. Plus he was probably sticking to wider lines to stress the tyres less and get faster exits from corners? Who knows. Plus if he got leathered in a scrap its game over anyway.

 

[MissChief]

As a Hamilton fan, this side-by-side onboard with pit radio of the last lap is hard to watch.

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/...pFFCCBYMgDX7M6ONSL9J8jJEx8qORP3_ZWsUAYJbymEcQ

Hamilton needs to be more defensive aggressive in 2022.

He definitely needs to stop giving room on the outside. Max routinely runs people off the track and gets away with it so Lewis should start doing the same.

 

[Shocky-FM]

I think the standout person from all of this is Lewis. He has handled what must be a awful situation with much dignity..

In front of the camera he's handled it well as he could. Off camera? Who knows.... Maybe somebody at Mercedes will spill the beans one day.

Either way, Mercedes continuing the challenge the result reflects badly on him as him.

 

[chrismscotland]

I hope Red Bull’s car next year is utterly **** and they’re fighting for points never mind podiums and wins. I hope Lewis, George and Mercedes absolutely demolish the rest of the field. They’ll be hurting and I suspect Lewis will be visiting the factory quite a few times to get the team even more focussed, something he rarely does apparently. He might even do some Sim work, again something he rarely does.

Yeah that would be riveting to watch

 

[Kenai]

Amusing to see people genuinely arguing that Hamilton could or should have somehow been able to defend an entire lap on 40 lap old hard tyres vs a car on new soft tyres.