2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Yas Marina, Dec 10 - 12

[f1jcw]

Why is everyone assuming that if Mercedes pitted and were behind the Red Bull, Masi wouldn't have played this out the exact same way? 1 lap of racing was going to happen regardless of the order after the pit stops.

Why would it when it shouldn’t have happened as it did today even

[Just_a_fan]

From mine point of view RB strategy departement were at much higher level than Merc's. Red Bull made fast and precision decisions during qualy and race.
Their strategy was spot on.

When you're behind and slower you can make gamble calls. When you're in the lead, you have to be more circumspect.

Having said that, Red Bull have tended to be better on the strategy side during the season as a whole. Today, they just rolled the dice and waited to see what happened. They had nothing to lose because Max had no challenge from behind. Had Bottas been in third place, Red Bull wouldn't have been able to make some of those calls. Bottas lounging around in the mid pack for half of the race really helped Max today.

[Shrieker]

On another note, today showed Red Bull were desperately clinging to the hope of retaining track position, as was evidenced by their superior pace on quali, and relatively poor pace on race day.

It was Lewis' race all day. He had the dream start, MV couldn't race wheel to wheel properly (as predicted) and gave Lewis a get out of jail free card by crowding him out of road, and then Lewis just blitzed into the distance lap by lap; even Perez holding him up to the tune of 6 seconds over 1-1.5 laps was a minor inconvenience to him.

You could make a case in favor of MV for deserving the title more on account of all the incidents over the course of the year, but Lewis %100 deserved to win this race, and could only be reigned in by a huge farce in the end is how I'd sum up this race - and the season.

[west52keep64]

No but it does highlight just how biased Masi was.

I disagree, I don't think Masi was biased today, I just think he was completely incompetent, and has been most of this season. Today it potentially impacted the WDC result, but my concern is it could eventually result in the life of a driver. I can only think back to the decision when he sent cars on to a circuit when a crane was still recovering a car. I am shocked that he didn't go at that point.

[Tom145145]

From mine point of view RB strategy departement were at much higher level than Merc's. Red Bull made fast and precision decisions during qualy and race.
Their strategy was spot on.

I wholeheartedly agree

[jurinius]

"Better strategy" lol, Redbull and Verstappen had no strategical worries just risky decisions of course so better stop talkin this nonsense. And yes the WDC was gifted by Masi. I really hope he understands somewhere else how his decision can affect this sport. You can't just woke up and then decide who should win regardless all the competitors.

Lewis still has skills under the belt, how the hell he managed his race pace ! A broken wing in Jeddah and now 29 older tires ... See you next year.

May not see Lewis next year, i found his comment to Jenson in the post race interview a little telling "We'll see about next year"

You're probably right !, But I think it is Toto work in order to motivate them all. How both can build a new working deal will be interesting to know.

The decision can be also influenced by father words, maybe he is thinking that his son should retire after that... Lets see what happens. [-o<

[Shrieker]

If Mercedes had pitted for tires Verstappen could stay out, Lewis would rejoin behind and they'll just let the safety car run to the flag.

Yep, that's exactly what they would've done, and it would've been as per the rules.

No way they would've gone out of their way to let Lewis have a shot at MV on the final lap. Like they've done for MV. And that's the exact reason why Merc didn't pit him. They're not stupid, and they in their right minds couldn't have anticipated Masi and the rest of the guys at race control butchering the rules to manufacture a result.

That is pure speculation. Present me the proof that Max has been chosen to win the title by FIA troughout the season. And why have they decided for that? The circumstances in this race are shady, that is true but dont scoop that low to say it was all staged for Max to become a champion. I bet someone will come out with a story that crane operater was bribed by RedBull to work faster than usual, just to ensue race to continue. And i bet illuminati are involved as well.

If you believe for a second that, that race would've been restarted the exact way it had been, when Lewis would've been on new soft/meds in 2nd place, and MV on very used hards, I have a bridge to sell you

[Big Tea]

"We'll see about next year."

Did Hamilton reveal his imminent retirement?

I expected Hamilton to announce his retirement if he won this championship, but it seems he has motivation to stay on.

[Restomaniac]

No but it does highlight just how biased Masi was.

I disagree, I don't think Masi was biased today, I just think he was completely incompetent, and has been most of this season. Today it potentially impacted the WDC result, but my concern is it could eventually result in the life of a driver. I can only think back to the decision when he sent cars on to a circuit when a crane was still recovering a car. I am shocked that he didn't go at that point.

Masi made rules up on the spot and cleared the track to allow a guy on 1 lap Softs to go up against a guy on 46 laps hards when it was obvious to everyone that it left Hamilton defenceless. No not biased at all. He obviously just fancied dabbling in race fixing for giggles.

[TimW]

Someone just pointed something out to me that was actually quite an interesting point.

Verstappen was given a clear run at Hamiltion as a result of Masi's decision to allow the lapped cars between car 33 and 44 to overtake the SC. Carlos Sainz was not given the same opportunity, I believe he still had lapped cars between himself and Verstappen.

I think that really just shows how badly Masi screwed this up. Ultimately, the result should stand, as I don't think any WDC should be decided in a court room. However, I do think Masi should be replaced. He has made too many errors this year, it's simply not good enough.

Lapped cars are allowed to unlap, not necessarily to catch up. So Carlos does not have a case.
The car behind Verstappen (who was that) does, because he was stuck behind Verstappen and lost the opportunity to attack the car in front of him

Carlos was the car behind Verstappen in terms of the result, he was literally standing in 3rd place on the podium, so I can only assume you have made a mistake here?

Ah, yes. I mistakingly though he was lapped

[gshevlin]

I am going to remind everybody; taking the FIA to court over this result is almost certainly not an option for Mercedes. All teams sign agreements that they will abide by the ruling body's judgment and rule procedures, and I believe that the only avenue available to Mercedes, if their appeals are rejected by the local stewards, is to appeal to an FIA Court. They cannot start filing lawsuits.

[El Scorchio]

No but it does highlight just how biased Masi was.

I disagree, I don't think Masi was biased today, I just think he was completely incompetent, and has been most of this season. Today it potentially impacted the WDC result, but my concern is it could eventually result in the life of a driver. I can only think back to the decision when he sent cars on to a circuit when a crane was still recovering a car. I am shocked that he didn't go at that point.

Potentially?!

I think you mean undoubtedly. He served it up on a platter by diverging from the rules he is meant to follow.

I sincerely hope he is never at an F1 race again unless it’s with a broom to have to sweep out the Mercedes garage.

[__________]

Why is everyone assuming that if Mercedes pitted and were behind the Red Bull, Masi wouldn't have played this out the exact same way? 1 lap of racing was going to happen regardless of the order after the pit stops.

Why would it when it shouldn’t have happened as it did today even

That is not good enough of an excuse. I knew right away they were never going to let this championship be decided behind the safety car. Mercedes should have been prepared.

PS - I have no dog in this fight. (I'm a Williams fan) But even I am at a loss at understanding why Mercedes thought the race would be frozen because of a safety car.

[Phil]

I expected Hamilton to announce his retirement if he won this championship, but it seems he has motivation to stay on.

Motivated? After the championship was handed over like this despite being the boss and dictating the race? Not sure i would to be honest.

[west52keep64]

Lapped cars are allowed to unlap, not necessarily to catch up. So Carlos does not have a case.
The car behind Verstappen (who was that) does, because he was stuck behind Verstappen and lost the opportunity to attack the car in front of him

Carlos was the car behind Verstappen in terms of the result, he was literally standing in 3rd place on the podium, so I can only assume you have made a mistake here?

Ah, yes. I mistakingly though he was lapped

That's one heck of a mistake considering he was standing on the podium. I'm not normally one to call this kind of stuff out... but WTF dude