2021 Formula One Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

LeSunTzu said:

Actually no, this is the end of the story, according to FIA:
1. You guys (drivers, teams, fans) just misunderstood the rules. In other words: nothing wrong there.
2. We launch an internal investigation to which every team will be associated to see if we can improve. In other words: what happened is done and dusted, shut it up and see if you have better ideas for the future.
3. Conclusion: stop arguing about Max's title and Masi's competence.

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I agree that this is the most likely scenario.

winston malcolm said:

I thought Masi applying the rules to have a last lap showdown was the big picture, everything else is irrelevant despite the number of times it's repeated. Simply put ,Lewis has command of the race from start to finish until the rules were applied in a way so as to influence the outcome. I don't care who it's done to, it was wrong. If the race would have finished behind the safety car, so be it, it has in the past and no fudge was applied then.

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You Sir, have a very wierd approach to motorsport and you forget a very important aspect to the matter. Nobody bent the rules and faked the outcome of the race. I have still no idea from where some people are pulling this. The rules are written black and white and easy to understand. And as allready mentioned a couple of times - all teams including Mercedes agreed to finnish races under green whenever possible in favor of the racing fans so that F1 races get more exciting for the spectators. That's what we are there for. I don't spend a couple of hundred dollars for a ticket to see the cars finish behind the safety car when there isn't any need for the safety car.

And indeed, the big picture is what counts in motorracing. It's the same in the Indy 500 and any other race. You can lead 199 laps, but if you f*ck up the last turn you've still lost. That's a very basic principle in motorsport and it still makes me wonder how this is up for debate, as if Hamilton was entitled to win the race due to leading 57,5 of 58 laps. I got to dissapoint you, but that's not how it works. Mercedes made quite a few strategic mistakes throughout the race, including the timing of their first pitstop, wich shortened Lewis stint length for no valid reason and put him behind Perez, making the second critical stint on hard tires longer and putting more stress on them due to being stuck behind Perez in dirty air. That's easy to understand aswell and doesn't require an engineering degree. When the VSC came Mercedes gambled again hoping that there wouldn't be another SC, yet still being just lucky. Lewis even asked if this wasn't dangerous. It's pretty clear that Lewis had much more pace throughout the race, so they could have risked the stop. And then the one thing happened, that Mercedes hoped that it wouldn't happen.

To some it up: that Mercedes is trying to put their responsibility for their loss on someone else shoulders shows two things: first of all it's very bad sportsmanship and second it's very unprofessional and damaging the image of a brand like Mercedes Benz. Just imagine if Latiffi or anyone else would have crashed five laps earlier. What would be the excuse of Mercedes in that case?

LeSunTzu said:

You can insinuate whatever you want, but Hamilton was extremely sports after the GP.

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That is for sure. As him and all drivers showed, between themselves there is respect as with all normal sportsmen. And I am sure I read somewhere that Hamilton said to Toto (same as he and Alonso said in 2007), that he doesn't want to win this off track. Which is light at the end of tunnel for me, as it seams that toto and merc didn't manage to completely turn one of my favorite pre-2014 drivers.

Mod-edit: we don't need a religious lecture here please

Sasha Jednak said:

That is for sure. As him and all drivers showed, between themselves there is respect as with all normal sportsmen.

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Except for the previous week, when one of those 'sportsmen' walked away from the podium celebrations in a sulk.

Fat-Alfie said:

Except for the previous week, when one of those 'sportsmen' walked away from the podium celebrations in a sulk.

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his name is Max. don't keep crying
Next year another epic season I hope so
it doesn't get any better than this season.......... maybe these are the best drivers ever

Hamilton is over it, next year is just weeks away.

1000+ posts here; that's incredible
Imagine what the backlash would've been if MV was in front before the last lap and LH won the same way

Colt459 said:

Those two statements contradict themselves. Either you emphasize ending on green or follow the letter of the rules.
All teams decided to favor ending on green, which meant it became subjective to the RD, as is given in 15.3

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Yeah like either you follow the normal procedure or you honor the agreement and resort 15.3, the only other option to honor that agreement would've been a red flag whouch wouldnt have been quite as controversial. But why would they come to this agreement if in the end it would be just ignored?

Straight from the wolf's mouth:

"There were, however, five lapped cars between Hamilton and Verstappen – those of Lando Norris, Fernando Alonso, Esteban Ocon, Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel – so the ending may not have been dramatic."


So in FIA's eyes "drama" is when you clean up the backmarkers between 2 equal cars, one with 20 lap old hards which dropped out of their temperature window, the other with fresh softs, and you let them race for a final lap. Who said anything about fair play.

So I guess it's time to save face and blame it on "trying to please the public", since there's billions at stake and a new season coming.

I ask something of those who are seeing this race as the "last" and not taking into account that according to the rules it is just another race. For example, trade this last race with Silverstone. This SC issue won't be so much fuzz if it were so close to the start of the Calendar, but rather the Incident at Silverstone and now that means that it is the last race would have such an impact. The thing is, it shouldn't really change what happened, and it doesn't matter, Hamilton took out Max at Silvertone anyway, but if it's in the last race it would feel more dramatic, but objectively it's the same.

jonelsorel said:

So in FIA's eyes "drama" is when you clean up the backmarkers between 2 equal cars, one with 20 lap old hards which dropped out of their temperature window, the other with fresh softs, and you let them race for a final lap. Who said anything about fair play.

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Seriously, anyone who says "But the tyres" really doesn't get Formula 1. As established earlier, the tyres were set in stone by the teams themselves, before any of these controversial decisions by Masi.

I understand the argument about not following the correct procedure, etc, I really do. But that, and the difference between the tyres has absolutely no bearing on that.

WiisardNic said:

Seriously, anyone who says "But the tyres" really doesn't get Formula 1. As established earlier, the tyres were set in stone by the teams themselves, before any of these controversial decisions by Masi.

I understand the argument about not following the correct procedure, etc, I really do. But that, and the difference between the tyres has absolutely no bearing on that.

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Lewis knew his advantage went down the drain when he was ordered to box at lap 14. He knew he should have box'ed at around lap 28 to 30. He wouldn't have been (rightfully) hold up by Perez fighting for position when Mercedes had raced their own race. With 15 laps less, he would have life enough left in them to hold off Verstappen at that last lap. So when you want to blame something or someone, blame it to Mercedes themselves. They went very defensive in tactics and payed a very high price.

Patrick van der Meulen said:

Lewis knew his advantage went down the drain when he was ordered to box at lap 14. He knew he should have box'ed at around lap 28 to 30. He wouldn't have been (rightfully) hold up by Perez fighting for position when Mercedes had raced their own race. With 15 laps less, he would have life enough left in them to hold off Verstappen at that last lap. So when you want to blame something or someone, blame it to Mercedes themselves. They went very defensive in tactics and payed a very high price.

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Yep, it was almost like 2010

LeSunTzu said:

Actually no, this is the end of the story, according to FIA:
1. You guys (drivers, teams, fans) just misunderstood the rules. In other words: nothing wrong there.
2. We launch an internal investigation to which every team will be associated to see if we can improve. In other words: what happened is done and dusted, shut it up and see if you have better ideas for the future.
3. Conclusion: stop arguing about Max's title and Masi's competence.

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I highlighted in bold my favorite bit from the FIA statement:

"The circumstances surrounding the use of the Safety Car following the incident of driver Nicholas Latifi, and the related communications between the FIA Race Direction team and the Formula 1 teams, have notably generated significant misunderstanding and reactions from Formula 1 teams, drivers and fans – an argument that is currently tarnishing the image of the Championship and the due celebration of the first Drivers’ World Championship title won by Max Verstappen and the eighth consecutive Constructors’ World Championship title won by Mercedes."

As you wrote, the FIA is basically saying: it's not us who got it wrong. It's you.

F1 drivers have voiced concerns, none of them would do it in Max's position
George just crowned WC " unacceptable ! "

LMGiorni said:

I ask something of those who are seeing this race as the "last" and not taking into account that according to the rules it is just another race. For example, trade this last race with Silverstone. This SC issue won't be so much fuzz if it were so close to the start of the Calendar, but rather the Incident at Silverstone and now that means that it is the last race would have such an impact. The thing is, it shouldn't really change what happened, and it doesn't matter, Hamilton took out Max at Silvertone anyway, but if it's in the last race it would feel more dramatic, but objectively it's the same.

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I was just thinking about this. If this whole thing happened mid-season, sure it would be controversial, but noone would lose too much sleep because of it, there certainly wouldn't be things like going to court around it. It might have been the "title decider" race, but the previous races also gave the same amount of points and the same amount of contribution to deciding the title.

LMGiorni said:

This is very specific to England, in many other places this has no interest and it means nothing.
And in another way, if Hamilton is really Catholic, I would expect not to accept this coming for the royalty that renounced to the Catholic church and embraced Protestantism.

Sorry but this is not a very important matter and has no value for F1.

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Let’s not bring religion into an already heated debate - please.

The Knighthood is recognition of his services to Motorsport - I’d like to think irrespective if you support Max, Lewis, Lando, Carlos etc that we would all agree that Lewis has made a positive contribution to Motorsport - so think of it in those terms and celebrate the fact that we are blessed to have such talented drivers to watch, many of whom make a positive impact both on & off the track.

Durge Driven said:

F1 drivers have voiced concerns, none of them would do it in Max's position
George just crowned WC " unacceptable ! "

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None of them would do what? They wouldn't overtake main opponent on last lap of deciding race? They wouldn't attack, with 0.1% chance of passing, opponent on lap 1? Or they would all decline to continue race because they don't feel it is fair that red flag saves them 1 lap and broken car?

LMGiorni said:

I ask something of those who are seeing this race as the "last" and not taking into account that according to the rules it is just another race. For example, trade this last race with Silverstone. This SC issue won't be so much fuzz if it were so close to the start of the Calendar, but rather the Incident at Silverstone and now that means that it is the last race would have such an impact. The thing is, it shouldn't really change what happened, and it doesn't matter, Hamilton took out Max at Silvertone anyway, but if it's in the last race it would feel more dramatic, but objectively it's the same.

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Agreed, but had Masi followed the rulebook nobody would complain against FIA/race direction.