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

Rate the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix out of ten. If you want. I can’t be arsed.


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Soldato
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But thats still not the exact quote and is devoid of all context.. thats the point.
Here is what was said for 100% clarity on this.

Horner: "Why aren't we getting these lapped cars out of the way?
Masi: "My main thing is to get this incident clear."
Horner: "You only need one racing lap"

At least quote Masi in full if we're trying to clear up exactly what was said.


Horner: "Why aren't we getting these lapped cars out of the way?
Masi: "Just give me... Be...because Christian... Just give me a second. OK? My main big one is to get this... uh, incident clear."
Horner: "You only need one racing lap"
 

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Soldato
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Its just a thought, but I think mercedes are trying to get things sorted with the FIA and are holding out until they get some guarantees about more consistency, if they dont then I can see them pushing it into the court and bring further reputational damage to the FIA. Hopefully things will get sorted behind the scenes before it comes to that.
 
Caporegime
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Its just a thought, but I think mercedes are trying to get things sorted with the FIA and are holding out until they get some guarantees about more consistency, if they dont then I can see them pushing it into the court and bring further reputational damage to the FIA. Hopefully things will get sorted behind the scenes before it comes to that.

Yes, i think the radio silence on all their social media and from the team, is whilst they sort things our with their lawyers and possibly the FIA behind closed doors.

I mean their socials haven't even acknowledged the result or said anything about their constructors win yet.

Wonder if they are trying to make a deal with the FIA to prevent them appealing/taking it to court (maybe Masi sacked for race manipulation + rule change/clarification to vindicate them) .
 
Soldato
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A. It wasn't a close race. Lewis was clearly loads faster than Max .
B. The safety car in this instance would not have decided it. Lewis was in the lead by a long way and was clearly the deserved winner of the race. Without the safety car/Masi's interference Lewis would have most assuredly won the race by that point. It took Masi's imaginary rules to decide the race.
I think you've missed my point.

I'm talking about a need for a consistent rule that is applied regardless of how important the race is.

For the purpose of entertainment the RD would prefer it to end on a racing lap (and i understand why), but as most people would agree he did poor job of that this weekend. This is why we need a consistent rule to balance fairness with achieving entertainment and ensuring that all teams know what will happen when a situation like this occurs again.

As an example the rule could literally say that the laps will be frozen upon the safety car entering the circuit, or all drivers are given a free stop. We need something so that in future a RD doesn't make an absolute **** show of it.
 
Caporegime
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As an example the rule could literally say that the laps will be frozen upon the safety car entering the circuit, or all drivers are given a free stop. We need something so that in future a RD doesn't make an absolute **** show of it.

I don't see how any rule change could help: te problem is that the Race Director didn't follow the rules. There wasn't anything unclear about what the proper procedure was; Masi just didn't follow it.
 
Soldato
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I think most people would rather not see a race end on a parade lap with SC bringing them all in, doubly so for a close race.
If there was a fair and clear winner after 57 (alright 53) laps of a 58 lap race I'd rather that winner took it home than everybody start from scratch. As said above, this wasn't a close race. Horner himself was resigned to the loss, you could hear it in his messages and tone of voice. Not least when he said "we need a miracle" directly to Sky.
As an example the rule could literally say that the laps will be frozen upon the safety car entering the circuit, or all drivers are given a free stop. We need something so that in future a RD doesn't make an absolute **** show of it.
Agreed.

Its just a thought, but I think mercedes are trying to get things sorted with the FIA and are holding out until they get some guarantees about more consistency, if they dont then I can see them pushing it into the court and bring further reputational damage to the FIA. Hopefully things will get sorted behind the scenes before it comes to that.
This seems the most logical explanation.
 
Soldato
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I don't see how any rule change could help: te problem is that the Race Director didn't follow the rules. There wasn't anything unclear about what the proper procedure was; Masi just didn't follow it.
Fair point.

If there was a fair and clear winner after 57 (alright 53) laps of a 58 lap race I'd rather that winner took it home than everybody start from scratch.
I see your point, but it is not only the top of the leaderboard that matters.
 
Caporegime
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As an example the rule could literally say that the laps will be frozen upon the safety car entering the circuit, or all drivers are given a free stop. We need something so that in future a RD doesn't make an absolute **** show of it.

Im not sure that is necessary though. The rules are fine, as long as they are implemented and all the teams know what they are and can make strategy calls accordingly. You simply cant have a situation in any sport where the referee makes up his own rules (absurdly unfair ones at that), for no good reason whatsoever.
 
Caporegime
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Something i am still unclear on which someone may know -

Were the 5 cars between Max and Lewis who were ordered to unlap themselves, even allowed to race on the last lap? I thought the procedure was that they were not allowed to race whilst unlapping themselves under safety car conditions, but if that were the case surely they couldn't actually race before the end of the race?
 
Soldato
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Part of their problem is the historic precedent that they'll virtually always try to unlap the lapped cars - the teams now expect this behaviour.

The rules actually provide an option to avoid unlapping and arguably it would normally be far quicker, easier and typically fairer anyway to leave lapped cars exactly where they are. The issue is whether it would cause too many different cars trying to do different things close together from the restart.

It would also add an interesting tactical dimension to safety car pitting if the teams needed to consider whether they'd pit themselves behind more backmarker traffic or not, as they'd need to consider in normal race conditions.

In a scenario like this, having to lap 5 cars cut Lewis' advantage from a margin that could have afforded him an almost risk free pit stop, so from a 'fair racing' point of view it's hardly unfair that cars behind should expect to navigate those same back markers to be able to attack the leader - they've still been given some advantage in being brought right up to the back of that traffic anyway.
 
Caporegime
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Part of their problem is the historic precedent that they'll virtually always try to unlap the lapped cars - the teams now expect this behaviour.

The rules actually provide an option to avoid unlapping and arguably it would normally be far quicker, easier and typically fairer anyway to leave lapped cars exactly where they are. The issue is whether it would cause too many different cars trying to do different things close together from the restart.

It would also add an interesting tactical dimension to safety car pitting if the teams needed to consider whether they'd pit themselves behind more backmarker traffic or not, as they'd need to consider in normal race conditions.

In a scenario like this, having to lap 5 cars cut Lewis' advantage from a margin that could have afforded him an almost risk free pit stop, so from a 'fair racing' point of view it's hardly unfair that cars behind should expect to navigate those same back markers to be able to attack the leader - they've still been given some advantage in being brought right up to the back of that traffic anyway.

Either scenario would be fair, which is why those scenarios exist (and not Masi's ridiculous one that he pulled out his bottom).
 

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Soldato
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Yes, i think the radio silence on all their social media and from the team, is whilst they sort things our with their lawyers and possibly the FIA behind closed doors.

I mean their socials haven't even acknowledged the result or said anything about their constructors win yet.

Wonder if they are trying to make a deal with the FIA to prevent them appealing/taking it to court (maybe Masi sacked for race manipulation + rule change/clarification to vindicate them) .

You can imagine how much hassle they are getting from reporters / journalists to provide an update - radio silence is hopefully a positive sign and a decent outcome will result.
 
Soldato
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Hamilton almost overtook him twice on old tyres!!!
not wanting to start a war with you but I don't see Hamilton nearly overtaking him twice.
I see Hamilton almost take him on the straight but as soon as the corner comes up those 40 lap old tyres just stood no chance against MVs fresh tyres, Max was miles ahead of him, even if LH had edged ahead of him at the start of the corner MV would have overtaken him back on the same corner 1/10 later
 
Caporegime
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not wanting to start a war with you but I don't see Hamilton nearly overtaking him twice.
I see Hamilton almost take him on the straight but as soon as the corner comes up those 40 lap old tyres just stood no chance against MVs fresh tyres, Max was miles ahead of him, even if LH had edged ahead of him at the start of the corner MV would have overtaken him back on the same corner 1/10 later

Yeh, the traction difference between 40+ lap hards and new softs would be colossal.
 
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