Wow. For the first time, someone who was on the scene and is effectively part of the sport, calling it like it is. I pretty much agree with all Crofty has said, apart from his view that there was no collusion.
F1 2021 Season
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) is joined by CEO Duncan Drasdo and Financial Director Andy Green from the Manchester United Supporters Trust for a special episode on all things behind the scenes at Old Trafford including a brief history of MUST and their aims today, views on INEOS and Sir Jim Ratcliffe so far, and the Old Trafford regeneration.
Wow. For the first time, someone who was on the scene and is effectively part of the sport, calling it like it is. I pretty much agree with all Crofty has said, apart from his view that there was no collusion.
I wish Lewis simply had an engine blowout on Lap 1 and we have all gone home satisfied with the ending. We wouldn't have to witness things we shouldn't.
His engine being sabotaged by Masi himself you mean...
See the problem with that argument is to activate 48.13 they had to break the rules for 48.12 ...
Ok firstly, it's crazy how many times you keep saying they could have pitted earlier. So many posters have told you why that couldn't happen. You yourself included pictures that you thought proved they could when it shows there were stewards still out at turn 14 when the safety car passed - two corners is not enough time to unlap everyone and get the safety car back in.
Secondly, yeah they threw it out because they are covering their own arses. Multiple lawyers have now lined up and spoken about the regulations. 48.13 is a prescriptive regulation, it is describing the processes, not overriding a regulation that comes just before it. Basically it goes 48.12 - lapped cars will be told to unlap themselves and after the final lapped car has unlapped itself the safety car comes in the following lap THEN 48.13 when the clerk deems it safe he will send out the signal that the safety car is in this lap.
The reason we know that that is the reading is because of this line in 48.12 ' 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'.
So it's not that 48.13 overrides the previous regulation, it is stating that once the last car unlaps itself it is not an automatic signal that the safety car comes in, he still needs to discern if its safe or not before sending that message.
Wow this post is even worse than your first one. I have no idea what you are on about with Lewis not having fans because of his behaviour. Anyone with half a brain can see that what happened was clearly not right and the title was decided based on a series of mistakes by Masi . Does that mean that Lewis didn’t have any luck over the season ? Absolutely not but it is clear & obvious to anyone who saw the final race that it was an unprecedented error by Masi so obviously people can complain
It’s been 5 days since the incident and I haven’t seen any examples of races where the director decided to unlap only a certain number of cars and decided to bring it in a lap earlier. This after deciding exactly the opposite a minute later. In the end Lewis Hamilton lost a world championship because of that so it’s obvious that his fans would complain about that . No idea what your issue with that is
I do feel this last race fiasco is amplified because it was the last race. There's been plenty of controversies both ways this season, evenly distributed between the two.
I can completely imagine that Lewis and Merc fans are livid, but feck it. Put on that Frozen song.
I can completely imagine that Lewis and Merc fans are livid, but feck it. Put on that Frozen song.
I think that’s a fair argument. If anything for Max as well it has taken the gloss off a bit for what was a pretty incredible season. Few people are talking about him and all the conversation is about Mercedes
Outgoing FIA president Jean Todt believes the governing body has perhaps been "too permissive" of teams criticizing officials, comparing the issue to a football coach blasting the referee.
The controversial outcome of last weekend's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in which Max Verstappen pipped Lewis Hamilton to the world title on the very last lap of the race was the final episode of a series of incident-filled events that took place this season.
While Verstappen and Hamilton were the main actors on the stage this year, their respective team bosses took on prominent support roles that often pushed them to publicly vociferate their frustrations over the often-contentious decisions levied upon their drivers this year by the FIA stewards.
Todt, who will relinquish his FIA presidency this week, believes the time has perhaps come for the governing body to force team bosses and drivers to rein in their criticism of officials.
https://f1i.com/news/429098-todt-su...Fu8oW2HyiWjkWv7hPbDbLtYqybBQA4rhIcR0MXXaR91WU
The controversial outcome of last weekend's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in which Max Verstappen pipped Lewis Hamilton to the world title on the very last lap of the race was the final episode of a series of incident-filled events that took place this season.
While Verstappen and Hamilton were the main actors on the stage this year, their respective team bosses took on prominent support roles that often pushed them to publicly vociferate their frustrations over the often-contentious decisions levied upon their drivers this year by the FIA stewards.
Todt, who will relinquish his FIA presidency this week, believes the time has perhaps come for the governing body to force team bosses and drivers to rein in their criticism of officials.
https://f1i.com/news/429098-todt-su...Fu8oW2HyiWjkWv7hPbDbLtYqybBQA4rhIcR0MXXaR91WU
The only way Mercedes, Lewis and Lewis fans get closure on this is him winning title number 8, next season or season after.
I've been watching F1 for over 30 years now, seen title heartbreaks for Mansell, hill, alonso etc. Nothing has hurt as much as this one though, it still hurts as a passionate fan and a fan of lewis. Truly wish that max had sealed the title a few races back or simply blitzed the last gp and won by a country mile. Winning the title like this and robbing lewis in the process is so very very wrong. Note nothing against Max and RB here.
As a bare minimum Michael Masi has to be sacked. He cant continue, ever slightly dodgy decision next season will be called out by fans, media and teams themselves and amplified.
I've been watching F1 for over 30 years now, seen title heartbreaks for Mansell, hill, alonso etc. Nothing has hurt as much as this one though, it still hurts as a passionate fan and a fan of lewis. Truly wish that max had sealed the title a few races back or simply blitzed the last gp and won by a country mile. Winning the title like this and robbing lewis in the process is so very very wrong. Note nothing against Max and RB here.
As a bare minimum Michael Masi has to be sacked. He cant continue, ever slightly dodgy decision next season will be called out by fans, media and teams themselves and amplified.
Its fair point you make, I have no problem with Max and him winning, I had the season 50/50.
The problem was the last lap in the last race, feck me if you went to a film studio with that script they will thrown it out, as unbelievable.
Mansall's was a killer , his Tyre going the way it did.
It's like masi staged it for the next season of netflix Drive to Survive or whatever it's called.
Joking obviously
Yes, I was a kid then and cried my eyes out as I was a huge Mansell fan.
The picture is from lap 56, and it shows the last of the stewards leaving the track. That's more than half a lap before the 4 cars started unlapping themselves. I'm saying they could've unlapped all the cars if they'd let them unlap themselves earlier than they did, and then they'd have time to unlap all the cars on lap 57, and restart the race for lap 58. After which the decision to race for the last lap would be a less controversial, even if the 'following lap' procedure would still be waived. Masi would still refer to the agreement among all the teams that it's preferrable to end the race under 'green' conditions, and that argument would hold more weight that way.
There'd still be noise about it, but I think it'd be less of a controversy.
Mercedes chose not to pit because they weren't aware of the made up rule about to be invoked that second place would get a free run at first place, while third place has to stay behind lapped cars.
If they'd known that was the rule, they'd almost certainly have pitted Lewis so that he could have a nice easy overtake on softs.
As for the first part, it's been pointed out by enough other posters that they had to wait for the track to be fully clear. But most importantly, defending ignoring the rulebook because you liked the result is a dangerous precedent, as there's no guarantee you'll like the outcome next time the race director takes it upon himself to fix a championship.
Yeah, you can't invent this shit. For all the debate in here, I think it's quite clear Hamilton was fecked in the last race. The goal of the rules in racing should be so that the dude who's fastest around the track wins (bar him crashing or similar). That last race, the fastest person lost.
Yeah but it didn't happen and Masi broke tons of procedures to gift Max the win? So your point is what? We don't even know when the stewards did exit the track, they could've only been off it by the start of lap 57.
You seem to be changing your mind from comment to comment regarding when they could unlap.
But anyway how do you know when the stewards were actually clear? Maybe there was still one last one jumping the barrier (and getting clear of it) a second before Masi finally allowed them to unlap.
Anyway it doesn't really matter does it?
If Masi flicked a sneaky cigarette in his exhaust, and I didn't have to see it live on TV, I am a happy man.
At the end of the day, I like both Lewis and Max and am happy with either as champ, really. But in my eyes, this was Lewis's race all day long until Masi happened.
There's surely a lot of stuff that goes on behind the scenes in F1 in terms of negotiations about penalties, rules and what not. But what I want to see live on TV is a fair spirit and competition, because I expect that from a sport.
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Do you honestly think that it's far fetched to think that a racing series that sells it's events to dictators and is known to influence races from the outside would influence a race to comfort one of it's clients?
If you go through the team radio, most of the field seemed to expect cars to unlap themselves. It happens all the time. It's not a made up rule. If you go back a few more laps, Mercedes would know that there was a chance cars would be allowed to unlap. That's the WHOLE REASON why Red Bull pitted a second time! Mercedes chose not to pit, because then Max would stay out, he'd been in the lead, and he already pitted fairly recently under the virtual safety car. (another time Mercedes chose not to pit because they'd lose track position).
Also, I'm not defending ignoring the rulebook because I liked the result, but I can understand the logic Masi went by. I think people lend too little weight to the agreement between teams that it's preferrable to end under 'green' conditions. That's a big part of the reasoning Masi gave the stewards. The race director shouldn't give weight to whether cars have pitted or not, and I don't think he did. I think if Lewis had pitted, which would probably mean Max stayed out to win track position, I think Masi would've made the same decision, and Lewis on fresh softs vs. fairly fresh hard would've had a big chance to overtake and win the race. Then people would complain that Max was robbed, and I'd be here with same arguments as I am now.
In any case, Masi didn't decide to 'fix a championship'. Just look back at the season, and you'll see decisions that have benefitted both drivers throughout.
Posted a picture earlier of the last of the stewards leaving the track. I think the other questions are answered in this and other posts I've made. Masi broke one procedure, not 'tons', and he followed others, I don't dispute that, neither does the FIA documents from the protest.
A fun fact regarding the regulations, if you care to read it, I'll put it in spoiler because it's quite long is that
The 15.3 that reads:
The clerk of the course shall work in permanent consultation with the Race Director. The Race
Director shall have overriding authority in the following matters and the clerk of the course may
give orders in respect of them only with his express agreement:
[...]
e) The use of the safety car"
Seemed to have been put in that way explicitly to give the race director a safety clause.
When it entered the regulations back in 1994, it read:
The clerk of the course shall work in permanent consultation with the Race Director. The Race
Director shall have overriding authority in the following matters and the clerk of the course may
give orders in respect of them only with his express agreement:
[...]
e) The use of the safety car"
Seemed to have been put in that way explicitly to give the race director a safety clause.
When it entered the regulations back in 1994, it read:
Notice how both sub-points d & e both exclude the part about 'accordance with the Code or Sporting Regulations,'
Had the wrong lap number in mind. I was trying to make a point earlier that if unlapping started on lap 56, lap 57 would be the 'following lap', and I mixed up the numbers for one of those posts because of that. Before the most recent of the quest posts, I went back to check the pictures posted earlier.
The last of the stewards leaving the track were shown on TV. The white stuff on the track were still there the following lap.
In any case, I rather the season be decided on a controversial last lap, then that they crashed in Abu Dhaabi, or because of the tire blowing up in Azerbaijan, Bottas damaging everyone's car in Hungary or anything like that. Ideally, there would be one more lap of racing so the decision wasn't controversial, and Lewis had taken a pit stop, so both would have fresh tires.
I think this whole Masi decision is quite amplified because it was the last race, but there have been so topics of discussions throughout the season. Even going back to the first race, there was a non-call for like 30 laps on Lewis cutting corners, and he won by 0.7 seconds. There are also several occurrences where they would've crashed if Lewis didn't yield, early on in the season Max won more points because of that. There are so many decisions that wouldn't have made the last lap of the season so decisive.
Even if we disagree on when the cars could unlap themselves, hopefully we can agree that Masi didn't make the decision he did purposely to let Max win.
Ridiculous claim.
Masi let only the cars between Hamilton amd Verstappen unlap themselves. He also didn't wait the extra lap which should've been done under the normal rules, which would've ended the race under safety car conditions if followed correctly. Also no pressure from Sainz who was closing in on Max because the cars between him and Max were not allowed to unlap themselves.
Your talk about "toys left in the pram" seems silly considering the outcome was fixed by the race director. Maybe you think this is normal? Do you know that letting only a limited number of cars unlap themselves has never happened before in F1?
How can teams plan strategy when the race director is not following protocol? It is pot luck (or pit luck if you like a pun).
Beat me to it.
Ahhh true colours shown.
You care more about personalities than the integrity of the sport.
I understand now.
Sorry for a long string of posts ArjenIsM3.
But I have to agree with this. I don't think there is any evidence of racism or homophobia dictating the farcical decisions made by Masi. They are bizarre but the motive is not known.
Il
I agree with pauldyson on this one.
You guys realize that the FIA has approved the anti-racism campaign Lewis pushed for a few years back, which now airs at the start of F1tv broadcast, and which is marked by all the drivers on the grid before every single race, and as the ruling body also reserves the right to reject any helmet design they chose to, like they did with Kvyat's helmet design in the past.
They wouldn't bend the rules because they don't like the guy who's the most recognizable currently competing in the sport.
If you look beyond the TV pictures, and pay a visit to the corporate websites of F1, our to a majority of their sponsors, F1 have launched a bunch of initiatives to promote diversity. They even sent out a survey just a month ago regarding that very issue.
It's difficult to have a serious discussion when so much of your post is misrepresentation or blatantly false. Nobody on the radio expected only the cars between Lewis and Max to be unlapped and nobody else - all of the radio chatter I've heard has been about how wrong it was.
Suggesting that 15.3 allows the race director to ignore any of the other rules regarding the safety car is just bizarre, as if that were the case then the entire rulebook around the SC could be replaced with "race director's discretion". This is the same race director who's on record as stating that the rules require all cars to unlap themselves and the safety car to come in at the end of the lap following the announcement.
We can't agree on your final statement either - Masi knew exactly what would happen, he made up the rules knowing that Max and only Max would benefit, and knowing that it was a guaranteed overtake. Given that he's on record and so had to change his mind to do this, it was either laughable incompetence or maliciousness, either way he should be long out of a job.
I'd much rather see the championship decided within the rules than outside them - punctures, accidents, all these things happen in motor racing. But after all the talk about it being decided on the track only to actually be decided in Masi's office, meh.
All I said is I don't think it's far fetched to think that something like that might play on the minds of those currently trying to extract maximum value out of their product.
The F1 paddock itself is a diverse place with people from all over the earth. As are the sponsors, fans etc. It's become a worldwide affair. But those actually making the decisions aren't.
Oh so you’re mental. You would rather it end in the controversy it did than other racing incidents or subjective calls. This objectively awful and outside of the regulations call is a preferable option for you. Yes ideally we would have had a fair race at the end that goes without saying, but to say this was preferable to other things that happen all the time is quite a crazy position to take. To each of your examples - Azerbaijan: tires fail occasionally, Lewis even finished a race with a blown up tire last season. Hungary: some people think Bottas did that in person which is crazy, but again crashes happen on the first corner quite regularly. The first race: other drivers were doing it and drivers always push the limits until they are told not to (see Alonso and Vettel), after Red Bull complained the field were told they couldn’t do it anymore. All of these are part and parcel of F1, some of them are bad refereeing decisions like we get in football. But the final lap on Sunday was just a mockery of the entire regulations and the sport itself. I don’t see how that is preferable - the most telling thing is how Riccardo and Lando (who have stronger ties to Max and Red Bull) thought it was ‘fecked up’. The only people who could see this as preferable would be Max
And no he didn’t purposefully give it to max in any sense of bias. However he did purposefully let max win for the sake of there being one last lap of racing. Everyone and their dog who has watched even one race of F1 knew that his decision results in Max winning 99/100 times. He even said to Toto ‘I let them go car racing’. No he didn’t, he let one car on fresh softs overtake a car on 40 lap old hards for the sake of the race not ending under a safety car as it should have.
You can talk about Merc not bringing Lewis in to put. Under the VSC it was the correct decision because by the end he was double digits out in front. They had managed the race perfectly. Under the actual safety car again, they made the right decision because the race should have ended under the safety car. If they had pitted and the regulations had been followed Lewis would have finished the race 2nd behind the safety car. Both teams had great strategies. Mercedes’ strategy would have won them the race if the regs were followed and Red Bull took risks in case the unthinkable happened.
And regarding the stewards leaving, we have that one shot of them making their way off the track, we didn’t see when the final steward left. Unless you can show when exactly the final steward was gone then your argument is entirely hypothetical. We have in the 57th lap Masi talking to Horner and saying ‘I’m just making sure the track is clear’. To which he got the reply ‘we just need one lap of racing’. And what did they get? Gifted the title for the sake of the spectacle.
I said most of the field expected cars to be unlapped. Meaning all the cars. Whether or not all or some of the cars were unlapped didn't make a difference when Mercedes decided to not pit Hamilton.
I think we'll just stay in disagreement to be honest. I fully believe Masi would make the same decision if Lewis pitted and Max stayed out.
In any case there's no such a thing as a guaranteed overtake between Lewis and Max. It could've easily ended in a crash if Lewis didn't take evasive action, and I'm pretty sure no one wanted a crash given how much publicity that got in advance.
I think Masi give a lot of weight to ending the race under 'green' condition, considering it's a title deciding race, and possibly he forced the issue a bit.
It's not ideal, I'll agree to that. Ideally, there was one more racing lap, the unlapped cars were cleared, and both would have fresh tires. That would've been a lot better, but the bit of whether they had fresh tires is a decision the teams themselves decided, just like Mercedes going faster on the straights is because Mercedes designed the car that way, and Red Bull is faster in corners because they designed their car that way.
Why do you insist on calling me crazy or mental at the start of every post? I'll gladly repond to disagreeing arguments, and I'll try to make my counter-arguments in a civilized manner, but I don't understand why you have the need to discuss ad hominem. Like everything else you write is fine. Either I disagree with your post, or I learn something new. I've already been mistaken about something earlier in this thread, I'm better off for being proved wrong. But calling me mental... for me it undermines the rest of your post. I'm not offended or anything, I'm just saying, your post would be so much better without the name-calling.
My point wasn't that I wanted the controversy, but that I wanted the race to end in a race, even if that last lap was a race because of a controversial call. Reading it back, I worded that weirdly, I apologize for that. A fair race as the last lap would be much preferrable, on that we agree fully. What I mean about Azerbaijan is that too tires were destroyed in what I'd call an unnatural way. Both on the straights (Stroll & Verstappen), for me that's not 'tires fail occasionally'. Pirelli were under a lot of scrutiny after that race. It was probably provoked by the reheating after the red flag, but for me that's not any better than the controversial call. That would be a 25(!) point-swing if Lewis didn't make a mistake on the re-start. That 18 points more than the Abu Dhabi thing. The other examples I kind of agree with you. My point is that there have been a lot of situations this year that could've had a big impact, some of them were down to racing incidents, some of them were down to bad refereeing. As late as Qatar, Max let Lewis overtake him twice over the same incident as far as I could tell, and still got a 5-second penalty which was harsh. I could probably find a lot more examples. (Been a hell of a season, am I right?)
I think Masi would make the same call if Lewis pitted, and Max stayed out. Honestly, I do. I think the Horner call affected him, but I think the massive expectation of the race would play a factor in not wanting to end under safety car. I agree it was likely Max would be able to overtake, but Masi cannot let whether one car has pitted and the other haven't be a factor in his decision-making. Red Bull took a huge risk pitting in the first place, expecting the cars to be unlapped, and Lewis did not pit. He probably wanted to keep track position, but he would have soft vs hards. That decision to stay out is as much a part of racing as everything you mention in the first part of your post. At the time of the crash, Mercedes wouldn't know for certain the race would end under a safety car. They took a risk, like Red Bull did, and none of that should factor into the race director's decision-making. Considering the number of laps left, I'll agree that Mercedes' choice was the safer option in their situation. Red Bull could afford to take the risk they did, given the circumstances.
You see in the photo the last steward jumping over the fence. I can go back and snap another when he's over the fence if you'd like, because he's almost entirely over the fence when they change shots.
"""We have in the 57th lap Masi talking to Horner and saying ‘I’m just making sure the track is clear’""" -- This was played on air 20 seconds after the lead cars had passed the line, and the mesages to the FIA aren't played live, so it likely happened on 56. I assume right after the call that 'lapped cars will not overlap' message was issued, but yes it probably played in the back of the mind of Masi, which is why I think they should restrict team principals from speaking to the race director. I don't agree with how Toto spoke to Masi either. I'd say one person per team maximum, and they should have restrictions on what they can say. For Red Bull i.e. Wheatley is a lot more controlled in his messaging than Horner. I don't really like how some radio messages between drivers and engineers sometimes seemed to be made specifically to affect race stewards in case an incident is reviewed either.
Last comes to last, I think my main point here is that Verstappen was deserved champion, Hamilton would be as well. I wish it happened under different conditions, but I don't think FIA or Masi doctored the outcome. I've loved this season, nothing has gotten me as excited as race day, and it started all the way back in Bahrain. I hope the next season is just as entertaining to watch (in terms of racing, not controversy), and I hope even more teams get into the mix. Imagine this season, but McLaren and Ferrari could also mix with Verstappen and Hamilton.
As you said it didn't (bolded), it's the fact they thought there was no way it would all be done in 4 laps, knowing full well the lapped cars could only overtake once the track is safe to do so. Plus, they had no option to pit, it's a win-win for the 2nd placed driver in that circumstance. Either he gains track position, or he gets fresh tyres and hopes the SC doesn't run until the end.
Although it was definitely a fantastic last lap, Lewis was cheated, and there's no arguing against that, and that's the end of it really. The decision was made for television, not for the sport and integrity of the race.
I think the two of us agree more than it seems. It was indeed a fantastic lap of racing. I was on my feet in excitement. I loved that there were so much on the line, I wish it was fairer racing. But I do not think Masi doctored the outcome. I just think pit strategies didn't play into it. I think he'd made the same call if Max was leading the race.
Both of them would be deserved champions, and I just hope next season is as exciting as this one. I've seen people talking about Hamilton retiring, but I really hope he's there for the start of next season, ready to fight. If he gets his 8th after this set-back it will be sweeter. If he doesn't, he'll still make the season better by competing. Hopefully, McLaren and Ferrari can get into the mix too.
Tbh I do think Horner's message to him played a big part in the race restarting, it felt like it was not going to be up until shortly after that message
Same, I have tickets to Silverstone 2022, so really hoping he's there. Winning his 8th would be sweet too, although in my mind he already has 8.
Yeah, possibly. But I think the sentiment to end the race with racing was there even before the race started, and I think the 'its called motor racing' message to Toto was frustration being vented. I really think they should restrict team bosses from speaking to the race director directly, and have restrictions on what can be said. I like Jonathan Wheatley's style a lot better. 'I'm not sure we agree, but I do understand', I think he said after the Lap 1 incident when Lewis conceded the advantage rather than the position.
Oohf. You're lucky. If I wasn't unsure whether travelling abroad would be allowed (given the ebbs and flows of Corona), I'd want to attend to Silverstone too.
100% going in the future. The atmosphere seems to be amazing there. Lewis with the union jack was a joy to see tbh.
I think Mercedes started focusing on the 2022 car earlier than Red Bull, and Red Bull is abandoning the high-rake concept for next year, per Newey, so I'm sure Lewis has every opportunity of winning his 8th. Just hope it's close all the way to the end, regardless of who wins.
40 lap old hards against brand new softs is a guaranteed overtake, its a huge difference. Everyone expected all cars unlap themselves, and then the safety car to stay out for the following lap, as the rules state.
Some of the cars being unlapped but not all absolutely made a difference, as if they hadn't then Max would have had to clear them rather than sit neck and neck with Lewis for the restart, and if they had then he'd have Sainz right behind him (not to mention the race would have finished under safety car as per the rules, as Masi has stated and done before).
If Mercedes had known what was going to happen, they would have pitted Hamilton. They couldn't have known because Masi made it up to give Max the win and the title.
Well, yes. Then we agree, don't we? It's not a guaranteed overtake, but it's a likely one.
Everyone expected all cars to unlap themselves, but I also think they expected it to happen sooner, going by the team radios. Possibly because they saw the car being craned away.
I mean Alonso literally started laughing when he heard 'no unlapping'.
I just think Masi would've made the same call if Max were leading, and I don't think pit strategies played into Masi's decision-making, and it shouldn't.
Mercedes stayed out, so they had old tires. Red Bull pitted (twice) under safety cars, and had newer tires.
Its strange you know when it was safe to unlap the cars, do you have extra feeds or something? Perhaps you were there looking at the corner? Just because the car is craned off does not mean its safe. There will be debris to sweep away, the fire suppression system went off which needed to be cleaned and the barrier likely needed to be inspected. Until all this is done and the marshalls have reported in, its not safe. Just because "the car is gone" does not mean the track is immediately safe. The drivers also will have no idea the state of this either, they go by their race engineers, who go by the director.
I've addressed all of this in other posts.
This is such bullshit. Fresh softs vs old hard? Latifi probably could have overtaken Hamilton in that scenario, the pace delta was probably more than 5 seconds.