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

[El Scorchio]

What rule was changed?

You not read the thread?

the rule that stated, once the final lapped car passes the leader, the safety car will return to the pits at the end of the NEXT lap.

So if they applied the rule 2 laps earlier all was fine and the result was the same?

Yes. If the rules were applied correctly then that’s just bad luck for Hamilton but as it was the rules were not applied properly in order to manufacture a last lap shootout that shouldn’t have happened rather than following the rules and having an anticlimactic but ultimately correct finish under the safety car.

[Tom145145]

I am not a Verstappen nor a Hamilton fan. The L1 incident was an error for me, the advantage Hamilton gained there was crazy, only having a VSC out was an error for me. Toto trying to manipulate on the radio asking to not have have a sc is an error for me. Not letting the backmarkers overtake earlier during sc was an error for me. Only doing it partially later was an error for me. Doing it in the lap where the sc came in was an error for me.

So compounding all of that, they should have just let the backmarkers go 1 lap earlier, and then the result would have been the same, and this whole drama would not have existed.

They let the back markers go once the track is all clear. So they let them go as soon as they could.

Look at the laps, the debris was cleared pretty quickly, could have been done 1 lap earlier

Maybe they could have but they said they weren’t letting them unlap until they realised that would give Hamilton a chance to win. It was a s**tshow

[NathanOlder]

You not read the thread?

the rule that stated, once the final lapped car passes the leader, the safety car will return to the pits at the end of the NEXT lap.

So if they applied the rule 2 laps earlier all was fine and the result was the same?

Yes. If the rules were applied correctly then that’s just bad luck for Hamilton but as it was the rules were not applied properly in order to manufacture a last lap shootout that shouldn’t have happened rather than following the rules and having an anticlimactic but ultimately correct finish under the safety car.

I think the back markers can only unlap themselves when the track is clear, so they couldn't apply the rule 2 laps earlier. remember the back markers who unlap, then go very fast to try catch the pack. this can't happen when marshals and diggers are on track.

[leftyiz]

Like all motorsport racing fans got really disappointed today, it seems that the sports part was sacrificed for the show and I really dont see how this win cannot have a sour taste on Max's mouth..

At least we'll have a good netflix finale and its maybe now the correct way to follow F1 ... as vulgar reality show

Thanks Liberty

[NathanOlder]

Like all motorsport racing fans got really disappointed today, it seems that the sports part was sacrificed for the show and I really dont see how this win cannot have a sour taste on Max's mouth..

At least we'll have a good netflix finale and its maybe now the correct way to follow F1 ... as vulgar reality show

Thanks Liberty

Didn't Max say he's not in the next netflix series as he didn't like how the show made him look?

[jz11]

Why do the. max fans have to drag Silverstone and Hungary in to every thread for crying out loud.

very simple, without those 2 there wouldn't be this drama, we would have know who would become the WDC weeks ago

[NathanOlder]

Why do the. max fans have to drag Silverstone and Hungary in to every thread for crying out loud.

very simple, without those 2 there wouldn't be this drama, we would have know who would become the WDC weeks ago

So go discus it in the relevant threads.

[TwanV]

Apparently none of the Mercedes powered teams have congratulated MV at this time. All non-Mercedes powered teams have.

[Gothrek]

They let the back markers go once the track is all clear. So they let them go as soon as they could.

Look at the laps, the debris was cleared pretty quickly, could have been done 1 lap earlier

Maybe they could have but they said they weren’t letting them unlap until they realised that would give Hamilton a chance to win. It was a s**tshow

That is a heavy assumption you are making. You don’t know the reasoning of Massi. It has been a FIA/Steward s**tshow the entire season, in a normal season Max would have clinched the title 3 races back. Be glad it went to the wire.

[Hoffman900]

Like all motorsport racing fans got really disappointed today, it seems that the sports part was sacrificed for the show and I really dont see how this win cannot have a sour taste on Max's mouth..

At least we'll have a good netflix finale and its maybe now the correct way to follow F1 ... as vulgar reality show

Thanks Liberty

This.

Anyone who I know who got into this who likes sports, was left with a sour taste. My pro Max friends even feel sour about it.

Lewis would have won on merit and Max doesn't deserve to have more than half the sporting world thinking he was gifted a championship by the organizers in the name of entertainment.

Everyone keeps calling this the "Americanization" of the F1. As an American, that's bs. If we're going to manufacturer drama, we would at least be subtle about it. NASCAR would have went red flag or made it so Max and Lewis started on the same tires and would have hoped for a last corner / last lap crash.

I've said before, but F1 thinking it's the pinnacle racing series, it can't run a race for its life and now it has a credibility problem with just about everyone but a small portion who are diehard Max fans.

[El Scorchio]

So if they applied the rule 2 laps earlier all was fine and the result was the same?

Yes. If the rules were applied correctly then that’s just bad luck for Hamilton but as it was the rules were not applied properly in order to manufacture a last lap shootout that shouldn’t have happened rather than following the rules and having an anticlimactic but ultimately correct finish under the safety car.

I think the back markers can only unlap themselves when the track is clear, so they couldn't apply the rule 2 laps earlier. remember the back markers who unlap, then go very fast to try catch the pack. this can't happen when marshals and diggers are on track.

Yes, you are right of course- I was more saying that if it was safe to do so a few laps earlier and they did all SC procedures properly and there still happened to be a lap or two left of actual racing then that’s just tough luck for Hamilton- or if the race happened to be 59 laps, that’s tough as well and no-one would be complaining.

It’s just that Masi clearly realised there wasn’t time to follow procedure so just made a load of things up on the fly to make it happen.

[leftyiz]

Like all motorsport racing fans got really disappointed today, it seems that the sports part was sacrificed for the show and I really dont see how this win cannot have a sour taste on Max's mouth..

At least we'll have a good netflix finale and its maybe now the correct way to follow F1 ... as vulgar reality show

Thanks Liberty

Didn't Max say he's not in the next netflix series as he didn't like how the show made him look?

And ? my beef is with the guys at the wheel of F1 trying to bring a narrative and fabricate "history"

[Mchamilton]

If you simply "delete" this race, Max is the WDC. Hamilton did an amazing job this season, but Max was marginally better. I do think Masi should go though, he's been an absolute disaster for F1.

Who else thinks the same? #MasiToGo ?

Delete the Spa 'race' too and he isnt

Delete Silverstone and he is. Looking at the whole year, we got the correct world champ.

I do agree to be fair, even as a lewis fan its impossible to ignore how outstandin max has been all year. But he didnt deserve the victory today at all.

[Tom145145]

Look at the laps, the debris was cleared pretty quickly, could have been done 1 lap earlier

Maybe they could have but they said they weren’t letting them unlap until they realised that would give Hamilton a chance to win. It was a s**tshow

That is a heavy assumption you are making. You don’t know the reasoning of Massi. It has been a FIA/Steward s**tshow the entire season, in a normal season Max would have clinched the title 3 races back. Be glad it went to the wire.

I believe it is a good assumption as RB exploded when they said they couldn’t unlap. I don’t know how you think this is like anything else that has ever happened in F1.

[JordanMugen]

Before that, Hamilton had driven the perfect race. Had the rules been followed as they normally are for safety cars, the race would have finished as it was for 99% of the time. That's what is annoying and why some might say it was a gifted result.

Max had these bonuses in a safety situation:
1: 11 second gap neutralized
2: fresh soft tyres
3: cars infront removed to aid him
4: cars lapped behind kept there meaning Sainz had no chance to pass max on the restart.

That is incredible, given that points 3,4 were caused by a human, then I would say thats a gift.

Can you say why it wasn't a gift?

It is only one race in a long season.

Recall that Hamilton was a lap down in Imola and had some fortune there to score second place, for example. Both contenders have had fortune and misfortune at various points! A safety car finish with offset tyre strategies is not unusual, just the way it has handled by race control was a bit messy.

My pro Max friends even feel sour about it.

Really? As a Red Bull fan I was quite cross at the idea of lapped cars not being allowed to overtake and therefore Red Bull & Verstappen not being able to execute their strategy of fresh soft tyres. It's fortunate that race control reversed their original, strange & unexpected, announcement that lapped would not be able to overtake.

On the radio, Verstappen was not pleased about lapped cars not being permitted to overtake too, if you recall his message: "Why am I not surprised?"