F1 2021 Season

Hamilton was free to pit….
In that case Verstappen probably would have stayed out and got track position, and then god knows what the decision at the end would've been. Probably would not have been that gracious towards Lewis.
 
Just put him on ignore, he's been on a wind up all year in this thread, he's rabidly anti Hamilton and is easily the most childish person in the thread.

You'll feel much better just ignoring him, you won't get any sensible discussion.
His privacy settings means you can't block him.
 
Wow. What a finale.
Haven’t read through all the posts here but wasn't Max screwed out the early decision when Hamilton went off track & got ahead of Max - and so the decision to race at the last lap just evened out Max’s luck for the day?
Evened out? Come on haha
 
Tbh I didnt have a problem because i think many people wanted a racing lap. It was the moving the other cars out of the way that was a bit dodgy. Then again there was only one lap left, because they took forever to make the decision. If it was 2-3 laps then it would've made for a grand, and fairer, finish.

But that wasn't a fair racing lap though. One car had the clear and unfair advantage and was always going to win.

A manufactured one lap shootout was a terrible enough farce, but I still was happy to see it. But the question is more, if we are going to make this happen, how can it be fair if one side is given such a drastic advantage?

The pits rules are a joke. As has been discussed before, they should be abolished. Nobody should be allowed tyre changes under SC/flags and if they are for damage reasons, they lose the places. It can never be fair otherwise.
 
OFFICIAL: Mercedes protesting Abu Dhabi GP result
Indeed Mercedes have launched two protests.
One is against Max Verstappen for 'breach of Article 48.8 of the 2021 FIA Formula One Sporting Regulations.'
One is against the classification, for 'alleged breach of Article 48.12 of the 2021 FIA Formula One Sporting Regulations.'

What are Mercedes are protesting
Verstappen
Article 48.8: "With the exception of the cases listed under a) to h) below, no driver may overtake another car on the track, including the safety car, until he passes the Line (see Article 5.3) for the first time after the safety car has returned to the pits."
Classification
"If the clerk of the course considers it safe to do so, and the message "LAPPED CARS MAY NOW OVERTAKE" has been sent to all teams Competitors via the official messaging system, any cars that have been lapped by the leader will be required to pass the cars on the lead lap and the safety car.
"This will only apply to cars that were lapped at the time they crossed the Line at the end of the lap during which they crossed the first Safety Car line for the second time after the safety car was deployed. Having overtaken the cars on the lead lap and the safety car these cars should then proceed around the track at an appropriate speed, without overtaking, and make every effort to take up position at the back of the line of cars behind the safety car.
"Whilst they are overtaking, and in order to ensure this may be carried out safely, the cars on the lead lap must always stay on the racing line unless deviating from it is unavoidable. Unless the clerk of the course considers the presence of the safety car is still necessary, once the last lapped car has passed the leader the safety car will return to the pits at the end of the following lap."
 
Wow. What a finale.
Haven’t read through all the posts here but wasn't Max screwed out the early decision when Hamilton went off track & got ahead of Max - and so the decision to race at the last lap just evened out Max’s luck for the day?
Like a missed throw in in the first minute being equaled out through an injury time penalty, yes.
 
Wow. What a finale.
Haven’t read through all the posts here but wasn't Max screwed out the early decision when Hamilton went off track & got ahead of Max - and so the decision to race at the last lap just evened out Max’s luck for the day?
Not really, Lewis was much faster early on so I personally don’t think it would have made any difference and Horner said similar during the race.
 
But he didn't based on their decision to not let them pass presumably?

No Mercedes didn’t pit him because he would have lost track position. It was before that decision was made by race control.
 
Masi in his Red Bull team gear would have red flagged it if Hamilton pitted, I bet Mercedes legit thought that as well so didn't want to give up track position.

Max did go ahead of Lewis under the SC too, inches obviously but he shouldn't really be alongside someone like that so again another rule they need to clarify next season.
 
In that case Verstappen probably would have stayed out and got track position, and then god knows what the decision at the end would've been. Probably would not have been that gracious towards Lewis.
Yes agree. Hence why Mercedes didnt pit him
 
What a mess, none of this would have happened had they made the correct decision on lap 1 but I feel like Masi wanted to make it even at the end by giving Red Bull a chance to win at the end.
 
Why no uproar about the first lap anymore?

Because Hamilton was consistently faster, by a massive margin, throughout the entire race both on older and slower tyres. Because Verstappen started on softs, he would almost certainly had to pit first, meaning Hamilton could bang more fastest laps in, thereby giving him the undercut when he made his own stop.
 
Void the season. It's great entertainment right now, but it's barely sport.

:lol: I follow F1, football, Gaelic football, Hurling and Rugby. There's moaning about referees in every single one of them, as well as tennis, cricket, NFL and golf. If this isn't sport then nothing is.

Can somebody explain in layman’s terms what the furore is?

There was a crash with 5 or 6 laps to go. The race director brought out a safety car to slow everyone down while the crash is cleared. The crash was cleared with about one lap to go. The problem is that there was several lapped cars, including about 5 lapped cars physically between Max and Lewis that couldn't unlap themselves because of the safety car. There was confusion as to whether the lapped cars could unlap themselves (allowing Max to go right behind Lewis) or not (giving Lewis a 5 car barrier). In the end, they decided to let the 5 cars between Max and Lewis unlap themselves but not the others.

Lewis' team and fans think this is robbery because it helped Max and that all of the lapped cars or none of them should have been let through.

Red Bull and Max fans argue that if all of the cars were made to unlap themselves, it would have taken too long and the whole thing would have been decided by a safety car.

It's been long clear that they have no shame.

None of them do. Totto and Horner are competitors. Same as Ferguson or Pep. They'd do anything to win.
 
Hamilton couldn’t pit because if the regulations were actually followed that race would have finished under a safety car. So if he pitted and max didn’t then title gone. Mercedes didn’t know Masi was going to make shit up on the fly.
Yes I know that
 
Forget everything, how anyone can think that’s a just end is just nonsense. As fans of the sport, everyone should not be happy by that. Hamilton has won the race all apart from a string of unlucky moments and questionable decisions. Taking a step back, even if everything was done by the book, Max didn’t deserve this race. The title overall? Sure. But not this way.
 
I think Mercedes are correct in their protest, but if they win and Max is well I dont know what they would do DQ him add time on , who know, but if any other then Mercedes being told accept it happens, it will be a bigger farce than it already is.
 
It looked like they would be finishing under SC
Yes looked like.
RB were free to gamble. Mercedes were not. Hamilton was also very unlucky with the timing of the SC being after he passed the pit entry.
And then the timing of when the track was clear for overtaking.
I dont think there is really any issue with the decision to allow the overtaking. The first call not to allow it was made as they didn't think there would be enough time to clear the track. Then it turns out there was, the main problem for me is they only let 5 cars do it instead of all
 
Thanks for proving my point, "deserves it less", still means he would deserve it. Why should a decision not made by Max, change the opinion of whether or not he deserves it?

And jesus the state of this comment: "Norris has driven brilliantly this season, he's deserving of the title given how well he's done in an inferior car." That is not at all the point.

Some of you really need to come back tomorrow, saying Max doesn't deserve it is ridiculous. I'm saying this as a Hamilton fan through and through.

It's ironic you insult the "state of my comment" when yours is just platitudes without any logic.

You say its not the point, but your point seems to be nothing more than Max deserves it because he deserves it, even though he wasn't faster today and the rules had to be rewritten on the fly for him to do it.

I genuinely don't feel Max has deserved this title, he drove brilliantly when he could race off ahead in the faster car, but when Mercedes caught up he lost the plot and got incredibly dirty. You're welcome to disagree, but the idea that your opinion is the only correct one is beyond arrogant.
 
• He maybe crosses the line sometimes but Max is unbelievably talented and has been the quickest driver this season, whether that means he’s the deserved world champion or not I don’t know.

• Mercedes had the faster car for the majority of the races this season so deservedly take home the constructers trophy, although I feel Red Bull have been better on strategy this year.

• Today was an absolute farce, Masi should not be race director, he has absolutely no authority over the team principals and seems to change his interpretation of the rules each week. Rules are rules, you can’t adjust them during weekends for entertainment purposes.

• Can’t imagine the Verstappen’s would have been quite so graceful in defeat as the Hamilton’s. Baffles me why so many dislike Lewis, he’s one of the more likeable guys on grid.
 
What penalty did Lewis get for overtaking under the safety car which was said to be earlier on this season?
 
Not seen you spamming a dozen smileys in every post so far today pal, you okay?

Worried you might have grown up overnight.

Haha I post them when I laugh, it's just that you're very amusingly transparent, you describe yourself in every post you make about others.

It's a shame, you've posted some decent stuff on the football forum, which is why I haven't put you on ignore yet, but in this thread you're easily the worst poster - something about Hamilton turns you into a rabid child.

Anyway I was telling someone else to ignore you and your gloating so they could spend their time more productively. Given that, I'm going to take that advice and deny you the tears that you're here to taste.
 
Ok, so one race determines who is deserving for you, in which Max had no impact on. That's your decision.

And to repeat myself, I'm not talking about the race today, I'm talking about the whole championship, it's a totally different conversation.
Like conversing with a child.