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

[Malt_Vinegar]

Well I see I’m going against the grain in the voting. I wonder how many voted on who they want to win rather than who will.

I think it's very hard to vote against him with his experience and talent. He knows how to close out a championship, and the fact that if he does make it past turn 1, and it not in 1st place he will almost certainly make any pass on Max so clean there will be no way Max can just wipe him off the circuit without a penalty.

That's my take, but with Max driving how he does and the FIA being so odd about warnings/penalties, you never know for sure!!

 

[Entai]

Well I see I’m going against the grain in the voting. I wonder how many voted on who they want to win rather than who will.

Sadly I can’t see anything else happening except Verstappen trying something desperate. Which puts him in a more favourable position as he’ll win on countback.

That said I really hope Hamilton can win it just to annoy Verstappen and Horner some more.

Still think there should be a rule change, starting from this race, that at any point in a season, if any driver deliberately forces another off track/into a wall that ends one or other drivers race, the one deliberately forcing the other gets disqualified from the season and looses all points gained thus far that season.

Make it a deterant that the team will force Max to drive properly, as the team will not want to loose all those points, and the attached money for next year.

 

[steve45]

Well I see I’m going against the grain in the voting. I wonder how many voted on who they want to win rather than who will.

Well without seeing practice and qualifying pace its difficult to judge, but I voted for current driving performance, experience. Max has a cool steely facade, but I'm not buying it, but he's showing cracks, his driving standards are all over the place, it reeks of desperateness.

Still think there should be a rule change, starting from this race, that at any point in a season, if any driver deliberately forces another off track/into a wall that ends one or other drivers race, the one deliberately forcing the other gets disqualified from the season and looses all points gained thus far that season.

Make it a deterant that the team will force Max to drive properly, as the team will not want to loose all those points, and the attached money for next year.

Or just enforce the existing rules fairly and consistently. That goes for all drivers regardless of championship position or team lobbying. I just want to see fair fight.

 

[CaptainRAVE]

Well I see I’m going against the grain in the voting. I wonder how many voted on who they want to win rather than who will.

It’s where I’d put my money. Mercedes have a clear pace advantage and a fresher engine. It’s a Mercedes track and a Hamilton favourite. Anything can happen of course, but in order to crash into him Max will have to get close enough - in Saudi without a safety car it was never going to happen.

 

[ZG002]

Bag of nerves for this one.

No chance I can be waiting for CH4 highlights, gonna have to purchase it on Now TV

Just needs to be a clean race, big boy pants on drivers and team bosses.

If it's anything like the last couple of races it will be a sour end.

 

[chrcoluk]

Lewis probably favourite due to current pace, trye management and been the more composed driver.

Max has been losing it in recent races. Brake checking will have lost him respect amongst the drivers as well, as thats a big no no. You have to trust the driver in front when you driving at high speeds in their slipstream. So I wouldnt be surprised if falling behind drivers dont fight Lewis as hard as they do Max.

Hopefully Rosanna lead commentator on F1TV she is by far the best out there now in my opinion. Not sure how people stand Crofty his shouting seems to be getting worse.

 

[Feek]

Brake checking will have lost him respect amongst the drivers as well, as thats a big no no.

This is what I still don't understand, exactly why he stamped on the brakes the way he did. He'd have known that Lewis was up his chuff and what the outcome of braking so suddenly would be. The only possible reason was that he intended Lewis to tail end him and take them both off, thus giving him an advantage going into the final race.

This is not the behaviour of a rational person.

 

[CSMonkeh]

Bag of nerves for this one.

No chance I can be waiting for CH4 highlights, gonna have to purchase it on Now TV

Just needs to be a clean race, big boy pants on drivers and team bosses.

If it's anything like the last couple of races it will be a sour end.

Same!
As I’ve already said its going to be a first corner decider, and I’ll be super annoyed if that happens having paid for the live viewing

 

[Kenai]

I think all things being equal, Hamilton ought to be winning this but i'm not sure i'd be confident enough to put serious money on it - Max definitely gives off the impression he'll pretty much do anything to win this title now and that will count for something in this race, good or bad

 

[Bazzards]

As others have said, I think Mercedes have the pace advantage, so Lewis can offord to let Max get ahead at 1st corner and pick him off in the race.

 

[Steampunk]

The thing with Max, is he knows that if he takes Hamilton out with a questionable move, as long as he has some kind of excuse, then he might get a penalty, but he'll still win the championship. Even if the stewards disqualify him from the race, Max will still win the WDC. As long as he doesn't do a Senna and actually announce in advance that he's planning on punting Hamilton off the track to win the championship, it seems very unlikely that the FIA will get involved and take the nuclear option of excluding him from the championship in the face of whatever slightly plausible sounding excuse Max has for driving into Hamilton this time.

So if you're Max, who thinks ramming people off track and brake testing them at high speed is a valid racing technique, you're under huge pressure from a toxic team to win your first championship and beat Hamilton, you know your car isn't quite fast enough and you're not quite as good a driver as Hamilton, what are you going to do? It seems likely a nasty bully with a cheating streak is going to continue to be nasty bully who cheats.

 

[Greboth]

I think it's very hard to vote against him with his experience and talent. He knows how to close out a championship, and the fact that if he does make it past turn 1, and it not in 1st place he will almost certainly make any pass on Max so clean there will be no way Max can just wipe him off the circuit without a penalty.

That's my take, but with Max driving how he does and the FIA being so odd about warnings/penalties, you never know for sure!!

That’s really why I voted Verstappen, I don’t see it going past T6 without a collision.

Pretty much any other driver where it would be a fair race I’m with you, my money would be on Hamilton too.

But who knows maybe, just maybe, someone will have had a quiet word Verstappen and told him not to do anything stupid.

 

[Entai]

Or just enforce the existing rules fairly and consistently. That goes for all drivers regardless of championship position or team lobbying. I just want to see fair fight.

Personally i have not seen any differences in the way the rules are enforced this year, to any other of the last 40 plus years I have watched and or worked within F1.

Some good enforcements, some bad, same as every other year.

 

[Mr Jack]

Personally i have not seen any differences in the way the rules are enforced this year, to any other of the last 40 plus years I have watched and or worked within F1.

Some good enforcements, some bad, same as every other year.

Indeed. If anything I'd say they've been better than many years, it's just the increased attention being paid that had brought them into sharp relief. It also happens in every sport, how many controversial handball, offside, or penalty decisions have we seen in football over the years, for example?

 

[SoliD]

With the way rbr qualified in Saudi compared to what everybody thought who knows max could be on pole. Either way, a fair battle/fight will be a great conclusion to the season. Wonder if rbr will look to put a softer tyre on for the start after the 3rd restart success. Short term gain with some long term pain, depends on the pace difference between the two on Friday and as quali progresses.

 

[Yaayuh!]

 

[MooMoo444]

But who knows maybe, just maybe, someone will have had a quiet word Verstappen and told him not to do anything stupid.

I dunno, I can't see him changing his ways. Max knows if they both get taken out, he wins. So side by side going into a tight corner, he doesn't have much incentive to back out.

 

[ZG002]

With pretty much everyone expecting Max to do something stupid and take them both out..

Can he really? He would have to have the most iron tight excuse ever surely?

 

[Feek]

Can he really? He would have to have the most iron tight excuse ever surely?

That's the thing, no matter what he does, he's always utterly convinced he's in the right. His team and his father keep telling him he's done nothing wrong so he believes them.

 

[Malt_Vinegar]

That’s really why I voted Verstappen, I don’t see it going past T6 without a collision.

Pretty much any other driver where it would be a fair race I’m with you, my money would be on Hamilton too.

But who knows maybe, just maybe, someone will have had a quiet word Verstappen and told him not to do anything stupid.

Its interesting, as the more I think about it, the more I think you are right and Verstappen might just get away with "it", whatever "it" may be. I saw an article (linked below) saying that the FIA will not be considering outcomes in any penalties levied, and as such, there are very few scenarios where a Max "mistake" can end up with him not winning, given the penalties on offer.

Article - https://www.gpblog.com/en/news/1007...t-weighted-in-abu-dhabi-incident-penalty.html

This tips the situation massively in his favour, as I was thinking he would have to play nice to avoid getting a huge penalty for running Hamilton off the road to win the championship. Its going to have to be something absolutely Ticktum levels to incur any penalty that causes him to lose the title in a double DNF situation. Also, who says RB don't just put Perez on a nutty engine map, and get him on the front row to do the "dirty" work for them