Poll: Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2021, Yas Island - Race 22
- Thread starter Shimmy
- Start date
- Status
Soldato
- Joined
- 19 Jun 2012
- Posts
- 5,400
I disagree. Wouldn’t matter to me who the drivers were or where in the championship it happened - I would view Masi’s actions as gross incompetence at best, or race fixing at worst. I feel that it has no place in the sport, particularly as Masi has an army of experienced people around him to offer wise counsel.
Theres lots wrong with F1, we all know it but this was so unprecedented and deals a body blow to the integrity of the sport. It strikes at the heart of the time honoured tradition of sport having rules, and rules that are there for a reason.
Thing is, Masi gets paid a fortune to be good at his job.
Whoever you personally support, do you feel Masi has done a good job?
Food for thought: if you were in a job and faced with a situation that was stressful and maybe out of your capability to manage would you A) defer to experienced colleagues or advisors and take their counsel? B) adhere to expected actions/behaviours based on documented procedures and 20 years of precedent? or C) Make something up on the spot and hope for the best?
Whether Max or Lewis are WDC makes no difference to me. I respect them both as racers, but genuinely don’t much like either of them, and my life goes on unchanged.
But I’m interested to hear whether you genuinely think Masi has done a good job and also what you would do in a difficult situation at work as outlined above.
Man of Honour
- Joined
- 21 Nov 2004
- Posts
- 46,279
They’ve obviously taken inspiration from your posts.
I don't subscribe to any of the conspiracy theories about Masi deliberately handing the race and title to Max and instead believe it was just plain incompetence.
Whilst he'll never admit it, I'm willing to bet there was a moment when he realised exactly what he'd done and the effect it was going to have and thought "oh ****...".
Yep it was obvious to everyone it was an attempt to make the game more exciting and thus failed in its goal, it was just sad and pathetic from a man who has been promoted above his level of competence. He will only get worse from here on in if he remains in post as he desperately tries to rebuild his shattered reputation. People will just laugh at him tbh and just go oh well it's Masi again. If he hasn't already got one he'll end up with a ridiculing nickname in the paddock.
Yeah i don't think it was a conspiracy either. It really does seem to boil down to this whole "WE CANT FINISH THE RACE UNDER A SAFETY CAR!!!!11111" business... I mean, they've been racing for 50 odd laps so whoever is in front has been doing something right. Especially if they've gapped 2nd place! They've pretty much just turned the championship into a coin flip.
I'm no fan of Max or RB but i reckon that's an extremely small list of people that pull that move off... However, that would've been amazing purely for Horner and Marko's reaction!
Last edited:
Deleted member 651465
D
Deleted member 651465
Had Lewis won, he would have won on hard tyres that had done 44 laps.
Max became the 34th different F1 champion. One above his driver number of 33.
Max became the 34th different F1 champion. One above his driver number of 33.
Soldato
- Joined
- 19 Jun 2012
- Posts
- 5,400
Max will front it out in public. But in the quiet moments, on his own when away from the team and his father, deep down he will know the truth.
I really feel sorry for Max. This will be a cloud that hangs over him for his whole career and whatever his outward persona to the public I bet he wouldn’t have wanted to win his first WDC under such questionable circumstances.
I don’t much like the guy, nor some things about his driving but there’s no getting away from the fact he is worthy of a WDC. Just not sure it went to the right driver on the day.
Soldato
- Joined
- 15 Feb 2003
- Posts
- 10,140
- Location
- Europe
Total watching was probably 10x that figure.
I don't necessarily think he decided to hand the race to Max. I think that he didn't want the first competitive championship in years, that has come down to the final race, to finish under a safety car. If he is capable and competent then he will have known exactly what his decision meant. He will have known that giving Max a lap to pass Hamilton would 100% result in exactly that. Hes not stupid. Even the casual F1 fan will have known that as soon as that race started again, there was only one outcome.
Did he do it to make Max the winner. Probably not. Did he do it to have a "racing finish" no matter how contrived it was? 100%.
Soldato
- Joined
- 15 Feb 2003
- Posts
- 10,140
- Location
- Europe
Doubt it. IMO He'll feel he did better over the course of the season and deserved the title despite the FIA trying to **** him.
Don't think they'll be a cloud over it either. Once he's got 3 championships or however many he wins, people will just think "oh he's a 3 time champion"
I don't think he will even think about that a single time. The guy is a fantastic driver but he is so unbelievably arrogant that in his head, he deserved the championship so anything that happened was fair and only what he deserved. Hes genuinely had a massive chip on his shoulder this season and genuinely believes that hes been hard done by and has done nothing wrong this season.
His innate arrogance mixed with RB telling him that hes the second coming of Christ has made damn sure he won't give this a second thought.
Soldato
- Joined
- 19 Jun 2012
- Posts
- 5,400
Yeah perhaps you are right. I guess time will tell.
Yep. It's that simple. Abolish safety car. It can all be controlled with VSC/deltas/dash and track lights at differing speeds. Always VSC unless the track is blocked and impassable. Where it is passable but debris/fire/liquid/humans on track is too much of a concern, it becomes a red flag. When have we ever had a red flag where people physically could not get round to the pits slowly? Hardly ever. So just do VSC set very slow to keep the gaps they have earned.
No changing tyres ever under VSC or even with red flag. Tyre changing only occurs during the live race. If you run out of tyres it's tough luck. If a red flag occurs due to water/aquaplaning or actual safety concern DUE to tyre durability on safety grounds (i.e. tyres start failing) then all drivers must switch to the same wet tyre set by race control or the race gets aborted if people have ran out of tyres. Basically always keep the gaps earned unless red flags occur. Even then I guess it's possible to send them all out and adjust gaps to where they were. We have the tech to do that. It's not actually hard.
Rolling starts should also be abolished (unless they implement the above to maintain the gaps earned). If it is not safe to start from standing, then don't race. Keep it simple.
Abolish half points for non races.
Abolish comms from teams to FIA/race control during live races unless a genuine emergency safety concern.
I could go on. I did earlier in the thread about the things they could improve on with rules. A lot of the rules need to be re-written to be absolutely clear (simple changes in the use of language) as well.
It needs a complete shake up. They need to define what fair race battles are as well. It's not what we've had this season in any form of professional open wheeled motorsport worldwide.
Caporegime
- Joined
- 13 May 2003
- Posts
- 34,514
- Location
- Warwickshire
The strangest thing in all of this for me is that teams can call up the race director and lobby him during the actual race. Incredible.
Well I think this argument comprehensively concludes the matter.
Whatever people say it will be remembered for what Masi did and Max will always be tainted by it whether anyone admits it or not.
Schumacher is remembered for 7 championships but also the incident with Hill will never be forgotten. That and all his other misdemeanours on the way to those championships. People kind of play it down because of his accident and of track he turned out to be a nice chap.
Nobody remembers Clarke, Stuart, G Hill, Hunt, Lauda, Mansel, D Hill, Alonso, Button or Rosberg doing anything dodgy. Vettel was a bit dodgy at times but nowhere near what Max was doing in Jeddah. Hell even Piquet escaped with a decent reputation even though he has been shown to be a bit lacking later on. At least one of both Senna and Prosts championships are both tarnished and they will not be forgotten. These things do not get erased ever. Stupid Masi was just stupid and actually ruined something that was an epic spectacle and event. The last lap farce has just created ridicule from inside and outside the sport.
These things stay associated with the driver for ever.
Just to add, Hamilton has made the right call, who with any self respect would want to be associated with that farce.
Just to add again, I don't think anyone in the modern history of f1 has driven the way Max did in the second half of the season and basically got of so lightly. F1 has lost its way this season.
Schumacher is remembered for 7 championships but also the incident with Hill will never be forgotten. That and all his other misdemeanours on the way to those championships. People kind of play it down because of his accident and of track he turned out to be a nice chap.
Nobody remembers Clarke, Stuart, G Hill, Hunt, Lauda, Mansel, D Hill, Alonso, Button or Rosberg doing anything dodgy. Vettel was a bit dodgy at times but nowhere near what Max was doing in Jeddah. Hell even Piquet escaped with a decent reputation even though he has been shown to be a bit lacking later on. At least one of both Senna and Prosts championships are both tarnished and they will not be forgotten. These things do not get erased ever. Stupid Masi was just stupid and actually ruined something that was an epic spectacle and event. The last lap farce has just created ridicule from inside and outside the sport.
These things stay associated with the driver for ever.
Just to add, Hamilton has made the right call, who with any self respect would want to be associated with that farce.
Just to add again, I don't think anyone in the modern history of f1 has driven the way Max did in the second half of the season and basically got of so lightly. F1 has lost its way this season.
Last edited:
- Status