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

[e30ernest]

What merc looks like winning CC. Not only is the video priceless but the comments are hilarious.

Congrats Max.

Toto looked remarkably calm there. I was expecting more stuff to be broken and more expletives to be flung.

And I don't know if the people that think Mercedes could have/should have pitted on that last SC were watching the positions of the cars on track relative to each other, or have been fans long enough to know this just wasn't an option.

[holeindalip]

Mercedes’ lawsuit is about two things:

1) making sure this doesn’t happen again. This works for RedBull because they could be in the same spot someday
2) monetary damages due to finishing second vs. first. This is the big one and there are likely millions on the line.

I think Mercedes wins a lawsuit, FIA has to pay monetary damages, likely it’s behind closed doors, and the results stan, and Masi resigns “to focus on his private life” (classic I’m being forced to resign reason) or he is reassigned.

The drivers don’t get paid out for the wdc, the wcc was won by Mercedes’ anyways

[Hoffman900]

Mercedes’ lawsuit is about two things:

1) making sure this doesn’t happen again. This works for RedBull because they could be in the same spot someday
2) monetary damages due to finishing second vs. first. This is the big one and there are likely millions on the line.

I think Mercedes wins a lawsuit, FIA has to pay monetary damages, likely it’s behind closed doors, and the results stan, and Masi resigns “to focus on his private life” (classic I’m being forced to resign reason) or he is reassigned.

The drivers don’t get paid out for the wdc, the wcc was won by Mercedes’ anyways

It extends to sponsors and their contracts as well. If there are any performance bonuses, etc.

[langedweil]

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Please keep on going, you'll be making more and more friends.
You most certainly have a proper feeling for designing GUI's, I'm curious to learn your future plans !

[Shrieker]

This. This so much...

You feel angry and can't sleep so instead spoiling the internet with nonsense ?

The irony of your username being the common name for a drug associated with sporting scandals.

LMAO

[101FlyingDutchman]

Masi already hinted that apparently there had been discussions with teams that they came to a conclusion that they really didn’t want to finish races behind safety cars if it could helped.
However this was clumsily done and damages the sport.
There have been too many decisions this season that don’t add up. These things only ever come once the competition tightens up. Only then do the gremlins come out of the wood work.

The to and fro between Masi vs Christian&Jonathan and Masi vs Toto&Shovlin is idiotic. That level of lobbying in a race must be stopped.

You can tell Masi is in between a rock and a hard place. I do feel for him. There is no way that with Liberty coming in, he’ll have been made aware of the show and spectacle priorities. I honestly think he didn’t try and help anyone deliberately but just tried to get the race finished under race conditions, regardless of outcome. Well intentioned but badly thought through

[the poster below]

Very balanced account, all things considered. I'd like to add a few things if you would be so graceful as to allow me:

For me, it's a shame that the safety car influenced the outcome,

I think the gist of the problem is, it was not the SC influencing the outcome, but rather, the handling of the SC period itself, which was done in clear violation of the rules.

because red bull simply took advantage of the situation presented to them by the race control decisions.

This would be true, if Horner wasn't lobbying for (and getting) the lapped cars to get out of the way. I wish it was just them taking advantage of the situation; almost no one would have had a problem with that.

I hope that Masi learns how to tell the teams to pipe down for next year, because they are distracting him from the real job of managing race operations as opposed to being the middle man in their team politicking.

I'm quite certain he won't be let anywhere near a formula 1 track next year. Mercedes aren't so naive and undignified.

Yes you're right, poor phrasing by me - meant that the safety car period played a part it wouldn't have normally played. And yes, Horner / red bull lobbied I'm sure, but I don't think I heard any messages played out live?

The one thing I still don't quite get is why Mercedes covered Verstappen straight away. The mediums would've run longer and I would have thought the gap they had (c. 8 seconds?) might've given them time to see whether the undercut was working for Verstappen. Hamilton might have been able to take younger hards into the last lap fight and it may have given him a fighting chance (clutching at straws a bit). Unless they were just very wary of a safety car coming out...

[Shrieker]

Look, I was in the same shoes when Massa lost the title in 2008. You'll all soon get over it.

Really ? What rule was broken to help Lewis win that year ? If anything, Massa was awarded a top step that year he had no business stepping on, by the corrupt mosley breaking the rules. And that was taken away from Lewis, to gift to Massa... I have nothing against the man, but it would almost have been just as bad as 2021, had he won with no small thanks to that ruling.

[SchuMassa]

Look, I was in the same shoes when Massa lost the title in 2008. You'll all soon get over it.

Really ? What rule was broken to help Lewis win that year ? If anything, Massa was awarded a top step that year he had no business stepping on, by the corrupt mosley breaking the rules. And that was taken away from Lewis, to gift to Massa... I have nothing against the man, but it would almost have been just as bad as 2021, had he won with no small thanks to that ruling.

Geez. "Corrupt Mosley", "Taken away from Lewis"... Get yourself together, mate!

[SchuMassa]

On a more constructive note - I really think the race should've been red flagged (Latifi's car was smoking quite badly at one point). That would have been pretty much consistent with recent precedent, and more fair towards everyone, too

[nimoraca]

Hamilton sends a cryptic message "We'll see about next year.". He is maybe thinking of retiring. Source:
https://www.express.co.uk/sport/f1-auto ... ll-F1-news

[Shrieker]

The one thing I still don't quite get is why Mercedes covered Verstappen straight away. The mediums would've run longer and I would have thought the gap they had (c. 8 seconds?) might've given them time to see whether the undercut was working for Verstappen. Hamilton might have been able to take younger hards into the last lap fight and it may have given him a fighting chance (clutching at straws a bit). Unless they were just very wary of a safety car coming out...

I watched this portion of the race very carefully, and very intently.

Basically, Max and Red Bull jumped at the opportunity to pit under the VSC(why wouldn't they). Half a pit for free, after all. Merc just wanted to see what they did, in case they did the opposite, and an on track fight was inevitable.

The next time Lewis came round, VSC ending message was displayed, just as he was making his way round the last corner, according to the gps tracker. So what I infer from that is, the end of the VSC would've coincided exactly with Lewis making his way into the pit lane, had they decided to make a stop. Ringo is right. In my mind, that is another proof they were looking at what Mercedes was doing with Lewis, and taking decisions according to that.

Geez. "Corrupt Mosley", "Taken away from Lewis"... Get yourself together, mate!

His father was a nazi supporter (head of the British nazi party in fact, by no means an ordinary one), and max mosley was busted in a nazi themed orgy lol. Yes he was very corrupt. Beyond a shadow of a doubt. I didn't think much of it at the time, but it makes sense if he didn't want a black driver winning the title due to his 'personal bias' And he had a well known feud going on with Dennis at the time as well. Soooo... That's a pretty long list.

Anyway, as I said before, if you would want to draw comparisons, you would have to point to a rule violation showing Lewis was advantaged over Felipe...

[e30ernest]

On a more constructive note - I really think the race should've been red flagged (Latifi's car was smoking quite badly at one point). That would have been pretty much consistent with recent precedent, and more fair towards everyone, too

Yeah that would have been the best course. In the heat of the moment though, they chose to stay on the safety car and that really ruined the end of this race and championship.

[holeindalip]

Hamilton sends a cryptic message "We'll see about next year.". He is maybe thinking of retiring. Source:
https://www.express.co.uk/sport/f1-auto ... ll-F1-news

He’s signed on for 2 more years why would it be cryptic? He’s not going to leave the team with Russell and them scrambling to find another driver like Rosberg did

[the poster below]

The one thing I still don't quite get is why Mercedes covered Verstappen straight away. The mediums would've run longer and I would have thought the gap they had (c. 8 seconds?) might've given them time to see whether the undercut was working for Verstappen. Hamilton might have been able to take younger hards into the last lap fight and it may have given him a fighting chance (clutching at straws a bit). Unless they were just very wary of a safety car coming out...

I watched this portion of the race very carefully, and very intently.

Basically, Max and Red Bull jumped at the opportunity to pit under the VSC(why wouldn't they). Half a pit for free, after all. Merc just wanted to see what they did, in case they did the opposite, and an on track fight was inevitable.

The next time Lewis came round, VSC ending message was displayed, just as he was making his way round the last corner, according to the gps tracker. So what I infer from that is, the end of the VSC would've coincided exactly with Lewis making his way into the pit lane, had they decided to make a stop. Ringo is right. In my mind, that is another proof they were looking at what Mercedes was doing with Lewis, and taking decisions according to that.

Yes I saw the VSC appeared to end as Hamilton was going down the pit straight on the on screen circuit map, but that was mid race I think. I meant the first stops around lap 14 for Hamilton's only stop. I thought those were done under normal racing conditions, but maybe I forgot something.