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

[ringo]

Oh well... I think Ben Sulayem is cleaning ship as we speak.

And if he does a good job, and we go back to the pre 2019 "let them race" mentality (what I prefer), Max will need to alter his racing style significantly.

He may br frustrated with adjusting. If the ferrari's are quick he will have to worry about sainz and leclerc going wheel to wheel with him. Should be interesting. No Masi to help.

[Laserguru]

Since this has become the great conspiracy thread: why are the rules such that Mercedes could benefit from their fast degrading performance by infinite power unit swaps as there is no increasing penalty? The intention of the rule is clear here and still they got away with it. Not a single sound to investigate or stop this. Competitors didn’t have this degrading performance and customers couldn’t afford the endless swaps. Not even a single attempt to fix this. Talking about unfair competition. Infinite power unit loophole for Mercedes and three for the rest of the field. Oh and within Mercedes Bottas was ruling the scrapyard but was not even allowed to benefit from it. But still he got equal opportunities and was never used as a testbench. And why was Hamilton not penalized in the final trainings for impeding other cars like so many others did (Norris etc)? He would have exceeded the max penalty points and received a grid penalty in the final race. Why did he not have to give his place back to Max? It’s because Hamilton had to win, no matter what, only Massi decided in the closing minutes he was sick of the Toto corruption show and ended it. And we know what happens to fia officials that do not worship Toto. This year Mercedes will be allowed to race illegal bargeboard aero for a couple of races because it is not that illegal, so difficult to change and the cost cap, well yes that makes redesign almost impossible. Other teams will be summoned to remove the illegal parts immediately. Mercedes wants to step out but Toto does not allow them to. This is all public knowledge, facts and common sense. This post will be traced by Ineos and accordingly covered by so many --- replies the truth beneath will get lost.

That’s enough for today. Inspired by the recent posts in this thread I had to vent my frustration I’m not allowed to visit testing in Barcelona, I miss it so much. All fans relaxed evaluating last season and looking forward together to the next season, walking the pitlane, paddock, acessing all stands and views, getting really close to the drivers and cars… May the best driver and team win 22/23.

[morefirejules08]

And if he does a good job, and we go back to the pre 2019 "let them race" mentality (what I prefer), Max will need to alter his racing style significantly.

He may br frustrated with adjusting. If the ferrari's are quick he will have to worry about sainz and leclerc going wheel to wheel with him. Should be interesting. No Masi to help.

Troll level comments here. Lewis was a crash kid in 2011 and to some extent in 2012. He used to run Nico off on so many occasions that, Nico decided to teach him a lesson in Spa. So, there are drivers who have evolved out of it and so would be Max. Is that so hard? It's unfortunate that there is no Masi and FIA/Pirelli can continue helping Mercedes the way they have done so far. Unfair competition I would say.

[Starscreamer]

Lewis was a crash kid in 2011 and to some extent in 2012. He used to run Nico off on so many occasions that, Nico decided to teach him a lesson in Spa. So, there are drivers who have evolved out of it and so would be Max. Is that so hard? It's unfortunate that there is no Masi and FIA/Pirelli can continue helping Mercedes the way they have done so far.

Thats what I also thought but everone looks only to the last race.

[PlatinumZealot]

Since this has become the great conspiracy thread: why are the rules such that Mercedes could benefit from their fast degrading performance by infinite power unit swaps as there is no increasing penalty? The intention of the rule is clear here and still they got away with it.

The rule was created because of Honda's engine swapping shenanigans!

[mrluke]

Since this has become the great conspiracy thread: wall of text

Because the replacement power unit was a red herring.

Adding an extra 5mph at 200mph takes a lot of horsepower, there's maybe 15bhp difference between an old unit and a new one, nowhere near enough to do this.

In reality Hamilton's car was setup for overtaking at Brazil from the off, Mercedes were expecting some penalties so set it up this way. It looks like they had a trick way of shedding a bit of drag which helped but then Hamilton also had one of his monster drives.

If a new PU was such a big benefit why did we only see it for Hamilton at Brazil and at no other time throughout the season? Bottas had a new PU every race but it didnt seem to help him much.

[Sieper]

Trick way to shed off drag.

Indeed.

FIA could not detect anything when car was standing still. So left the situation alone for the whole 2021 season. The reason we now have an integrated rear wing, no more side plates that can be engineered to fold outwards at speed (due to air pressure) releasing a main plane. Also, the seems to be less main plane hiding under the DRS flap this year too.

FIA were well aware of this issue for a long time. Let’s hope the new design framework can be policed better.

[PlatinumZealot]

So Mercedes had to cheat to stand a chance of fighting for the championship, but FIA just could not catch them. For that cheekiness, FIA would not allow them to win in the end and Masi was given orders to bias his rulings towards RedBull. Is that what you mean?

[mrluke]

So Mercedes had to cheat to stand a chance of fighting for the championship, but FIA just could not catch them. For that cheekiness, FIA would not allow them to win in the end and Masi was given orders to bias his rulings towards RedBull. Is that what you mean?

Its not cheating if they haven't done anything banned by the rules. The bodywork flexibility regs are enforced by the tests that Mercedes have passed. Lets not mention redbull replacing their rear wings after every session.

[Big Tea]

Historically things they were supposedly to slow Merc seem to have a bigger effect on others.

[Just_a_fan]

Trick way to shed off drag.

Indeed.

FIA could not detect anything when car was standing still. So left the situation alone for the whole 2021 season. The reason we now have an integrated rear wing, no more side plates that can be engineered to fold outwards at speed (due to air pressure) releasing a main plane.

Total rubbish, I'm sorry to say.

The reason we have the rear wings we do is in order to shape and control the shape and size of the car's wake, not to prevent drag-reducing flex.

If you're goingbto believe conspiracy hypotheses, at least pick ones that aren't so simply proven wrong.

[Sieper]

If you are going to call something a conspiracy theory then don’t select something that everyone could see with their own eyes.

[dans79]

If you are going to call something a conspiracy theory then don’t select something that everyone could see with their own eyes.

You mean like the fact that a driver was gifted a championship by an official violating the rules?

[Just_a_fan]

If you are going to call something a conspiracy theory then don’t select something that everyone could see with their own eyes.

So you really think the rear wing is the shape it is to prevent Mercedes from having a bendy wing?

[Jolle]

Just as a reminder, RedBull was caught a couple of years ago with a real cheating device for their bendy front wing. They had a spring inside that they adjusted before the deflection test.