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

[feni_remmen]

I think this is the point. The FIA need to recognize that they have a set of procedures amd protocols to follow and they cannot choose to change these because they don’t want the race to finish under a safety car. We need to recognize that we are just viewers and the FIA shouldn’t change their behavior in favour of popular results. The one thing the teams need to know is that the officials will follow the rules and today (and on too many other occasions) the FIA changed their behaviour for the benefit of drama or public opinion.

[El Scorchio]

I hope come the spring he’s back where he belongs, adjudicating the Australian under 7s radio controlled car racing championships or something similar, because he should never sniff an F1 race again.

You do know the FIA won't sack him, don't you? The media won't ask the question for fear of losing their accreditation to attend races - lovely jolly that is! - and it'll all be officially forgotten.

I just hope that a driver or team principal asks him next season what rules he applying during a safety car.

I’m really not sure how they can stick by him after the absolute farces he’s presided over. Surely most of the drivers and teams have no faith in his ability any longer after Brazil, SA and then today. That’s 3/4 of the last races he’s affected with his poor decision making and actions and today just blatantly throwing the rule book out the window and making his own ones up.

[Hoffman900]

I think the ruling should stand, congrats Max, but I hope whatever lawsuit Mercedes brings forces the FIA to change all of this.

[JordanMugen]

It wasn’t a gamble. Strategy is contingent on knowing the bounds of the ruleset in which you participate.

So Red Bull pitted because Red Bull knew the race would finish under safety car? (Or not.)

How did Mercedes know the race would finish under safety car, but Red Bull didn't.

The FIA need to recognize that they have a set of procedures amd protocols to follow and they cannot choose to change these because they don’t want the race to finish under a safety car.

If Red Bull also knew the race was going to finish under the safety car, why did they pit? That doesn't make sense.

I would counter that both Mercedes and Red Bull had the same reason to expect the race to finish under green flag with lapped cars to overtake, if at all possible.

[KeiKo403]

But if the FIA do anything to Masi then that only serves to backup Mercedes’ points about todays last lap.

[Hoffman900]

It wasn’t a gamble. Strategy is contingent on knowing the bounds of the ruleset in which you participate.

So Red Bull pitted because Red Bull knew the race would finish under safety car? (Or not.)

How did Mercedes know the race would finish under safety car, but Red Bull didn't.

Because it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that, according to the rules, you let by cars out of order and then it starts the lap after. 2 laps to go minus 2 laps to go equals zero.

[Hoffman900]

But if the FIA do anything to Masi then that only serves to backup Mercedes’ points about todays last lap.

“Mercedes got screwed but ruling on the field still stands. Sorry. Next time”.

This does happen elsewhere.

[zoroastar]

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?"

the problem with that analogy is that if all cars were allowed to go through, the race wouldve been ended without a restart. if none were allowed, hamilton wins. either case, besides the strange one that happened, hamilton wins. if the rules were followed by the book, as they shouldve been, hamilton wins. im not a hamilton fan.

[Tom145145]

I hope come the spring he’s back where he belongs, adjudicating the Australian under 7s radio controlled car racing championships or something similar, because he should never sniff an F1 race again.

You do know the FIA won't sack him, don't you? The media won't ask the question for fear of losing their accreditation to attend races - lovely jolly that is! - and it'll all be officially forgotten.

I just hope that a driver or team principal asks him next season what rules he applying during a safety car.

I’m really not sure how they can stick by him after the absolute farces he’s presided over. Surely most of the drivers and teams have no faith in his ability any longer after Brazil, SA and then today. That’s 3/4 of the last races he’s affected with his poor decision making and actions and today just blatantly throwing the rule book out the window and making his own ones up.

He will “resign” over the new year with the FIA hoping for other news and such to take the heat off.

[JordanMugen]

It wasn’t a gamble. Strategy is contingent on knowing the bounds of the ruleset in which you participate.

How did Mercedes know the race would finish under safety car, but Red Bull didn't.

Because it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that, according to the rules, you let by cars out of order and then it starts the lap after. 2 laps to go minus 2 laps to go equals zero.

So Red Bull aren't clever enough to work that out, and their pitting was a waste of time?

I'm sorry but that really doesn't make sense IMO. Mercedes had every opportunity to also pit and to expect a restart.

[Hoffman900]

Exactly. Hell, I was hoping they’d crash each other out Carlos won, but it was a trash finish and I feel like I want the time I spent watching the races back.

[Hoffman900]

How did Mercedes know the race would finish under safety car, but Red Bull didn't.

Because it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that, according to the rules, you let by cars out of order and then it starts the lap after. 2 laps to go minus 2 laps to go equals zero.

So Red Bull aren't clever enough to work that out, and their pitting was a waste of time?

They didn’t figure anything out. It was the only choice they could make.

Of they “figured anything out”, then they knew of the decision and that is a fix. I 100% don’t believe that happened, this was just incompetence by Masi, but it’s easy to draw that line using your language.

[El Scorchio]

You do know the FIA won't sack him, don't you? The media won't ask the question for fear of losing their accreditation to attend races - lovely jolly that is! - and it'll all be officially forgotten.

I just hope that a driver or team principal asks him next season what rules he applying during a safety car.

I’m really not sure how they can stick by him after the absolute farces he’s presided over. Surely most of the drivers and teams have no faith in his ability any longer after Brazil, SA and then today. That’s 3/4 of the last races he’s affected with his poor decision making and actions and today just blatantly throwing the rule book out the window and making his own ones up.

He will “resign” over the new year with the FIA hoping for other news and such to take the heat off.

I think you might be right. They’ll probably ask him to resign and cite stress or something, (or probably the convenience of social media abuse of which there is bound to be tonnes) and give him some cushy job elsewhere in motor racing where he can’t do any damage to anything. That or working the radio at a drive thru takeaway.

[Tom145145]

How did Mercedes know the race would finish under safety car, but Red Bull didn't.

Because it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that, according to the rules, you let by cars out of order and then it starts the lap after. 2 laps to go minus 2 laps to go equals zero.

So Red Bull aren't clever enough to work that out, and their pitting was a waste of time?

They lost nothing by pitting, they would have been fools not to. It’s simple Max was in Hamiltons SC pit window and no one was in Max’s…Free stop for Max/loose place for Hamilton. It’s was their only choice, if the rules had then been followed and Max won those are the breaks but they weren’t. This is the problem.

[leftyiz]

I would not put all the blame on Massi it may be more complicated than that but indeed he is the frontman of the "let them race (crash) / we want a show" policy

The other theory is that he is insecure about his decisions and easily influenced by the teams (Toto asking for a vsc was priceless ...) and in that case it's incompetency and he needs to go but that will never happen !