2022 Dutch Grand Prix - Zandvoort, Sep 02 - 04

[Ascari67]

Oh come on, stop it. Why on earth would RB risk a championship disqualification for racefixing, for a race win that they by no means need? It's just the most ridiculous stuff ever.
A lucky coincidence for RB, following absurd (but not malicious) decisions from AT.

It's a bit smelly though.

RB owned team with RB owned drivers creates the safety car under very strange circumstances (loose wheel AND loose seat belts AND loose diff) that gives RB driver win at RB drivers home race.

It's obviously going to stink of something to some people.


Also, Merc simultaneously giving their slower driver the faster tyres to attack for the win and leaving their faster driver defenseless was dumb.

I know there is smell, that's why I ask people to think about it for a bit; why on earth would a team that leads by this much risk it all for a single race win? That's simply absurd.

Because they know they can get away with it obviously.

[chrisc90]

Race result is done, so it doesn't matter (and it made no difference to the result). Fastest car/driver combo won today.

But, if Crofty is right and you aren't meant to overtake before the start/finish line then I think Verstappen might have got lucky today. It's hard to tell as the front-on shot is a distance away, I only saw the replay live and there's two lines across the track but, if it's the same line they used at the start of the race, then Verstappen looked (in real time) like he was perhaps already ahead. He's good enough to judge it so he may well have timed it to perfection though.

Does anyone have screenshots?

Timing data would have shown it instantly.

[SchuMassa]

The better thing to do was to pit both for softs.

But anyhow we will now see what having a dominant car with a real #2 gives.

I think the mercedes days at least lewis teammates had freedom to race him.

Max will win the remaining races... Leclerc will no more for the year.

Question: Lewis changed from hard to soft... but why? Why didnt they put him on softs?

How many races have Perez won this year? How many front row starts does he have?
I know it's hard a pill to swallow that they are leading the pack this year and Max is doing a flawless job, but making unfounded claims won't make the situation any better for Mercedes.

[PlatinumZealot]

The RedBull is also dominant. Reminds of Mercedes days. He walked George.

You obviously don't rememeber Mercedes days, there were no battles for the win.

Mercedes was never winning under equal circumstances.

This would be similar to when RedBull and Ferrar sneaked a strategy based win. But this time Mercedes are underdogs in both pace and strategy.

[DChemTech]

It's a bit smelly though.

RB owned team with RB owned drivers creates the safety car under very strange circumstances (loose wheel AND loose seat belts AND loose diff) that gives RB driver win at RB drivers home race.

It's obviously going to stink of something to some people.


Also, Merc simultaneously giving their slower driver the faster tyres to attack for the win and leaving their faster driver defenseless was dumb.

I know there is smell, that's why I ask people to think about it for a bit; why on earth would a team that leads by this much risk it all for a single race win? That's simply absurd.

Because they know they can get away with it obviously.

No, that is not at all an 'obvious' reason. Even if they have 1% of getting caught, it's not worth it.

Occams razor here. If a theory seems absurd, it typically is.

[PlatinumZealot]

It's a bit smelly though.

RB owned team with RB owned drivers creates the safety car under very strange circumstances (loose wheel AND loose seat belts AND loose diff) that gives RB driver win at RB drivers home race.

It's obviously going to stink of something to some people.


Also, Merc simultaneously giving their slower driver the faster tyres to attack for the win and leaving their faster driver defenseless was dumb.

I know there is smell, that's why I ask people to think about it for a bit; why on earth would a team that leads by this much risk it all for a single race win? That's simply absurd.

Because they know they can get away with it obviously.

This isn't just any race win...

[Poleman]

Is the rule for not overtaking before the finish like kind of in the same ballpark with the ruling about restart bullying (ie going next to leading car/harrasing) which was clarified last season? If you cant overtake before the start/finish line then why be next to the leading car? It preety much guarantees you the inside on the first corner.If i was Hamilton i would have lifted before the finish line ever so slightly while Max was just alongside.

[max_speed]

Plight of lewis/mercedes makes this year so fun to watch. Waited for years , they lobbied fia got rules in their favor, faked competition and this year also after lot of lobbying and TD still behind. I hoped for lecrec and verstappen fight but ferrari is still ferrari of alonso era, a kid can make better strategies than their team

[langedweil]

I think the mercedes days at least lewis teammates had freedom to race him.

[Spoutnik]

Nice strategy from AT and RB to help Max then FIA helped him as well when Bottas stopped the car in the starting grid at pit straight. Why FIA waited for Safety car to release? They released Safety car when Max at the start of Pit entry. Too much of politics in F1 sports as well. Any car stopped at starting grid straight should be immediate safety car.

I wonder really... the timing was perfect
And the car was in a very dangerous position one lap with just yellow wasn't enough

[Ascari67]

I know there is smell, that's why I ask people to think about it for a bit; why on earth would a team that leads by this much risk it all for a single race win? That's simply absurd.

Because they know they can get away with it obviously.

No, that is not at all an 'obvious' reason. Even if they have 1% of getting caught, it's not worth it.

Occams razor here. If a theory seems absurd, it typically is.

It's less than 1% chance, it's zero.

[SchuMassa]

Is the rule for not overtaking before the finish like kind of in the same ballpark with the ruling about restart bullying (ie going next to leading car/harrasing) which was clarified last season? If you cant overtake before the start/finish line then why be next to the leading car? It preety much guarantees you the inside on the first corner.If i was Hamilton i would have lifted before the finish line ever so slightly while Max was just alongside.

Max would've gotten away with that.
And even if not, he would've made the pass one or two laps later. Hamilton stood no chance after the SC was deployed.

[Juzh]

Race result is done, so it doesn't matter (and it made no difference to the result). Fastest car/driver combo won today.

But, if Crofty is right and you aren't meant to overtake before the start/finish line then I think Verstappen might have got lucky today. It's hard to tell as the front-on shot is a distance away, I only saw the replay live and there's two lines across the track but, if it's the same line they used at the start of the race, then Verstappen looked (in real time) like he was perhaps already ahead. He's good enough to judge it so he may well have timed it to perfection though.

Does anyone have screenshots?

Verstappen lifted as he was overtaking hamilton to not overtake him before the start finish line. It was only 0.016s between them and without the lift it would be penalty. Good awareness by Max to bail out at that time.
https://streamable.com/pur1b3

[JordanMugen]

Great job by Verstappen, RBR and Honda! 10 wins to the Dutchman + 1 win to the Mexican, for 11 RBR wins this season, very impressive.

Perez didn't quite get on the podium this time, but can try again next time.

Great call by Russell too -- the other Mercedes garage was asleep at the strategy wheel for some reason. They could have easily double-stacked under SC.

Leclerc seems resigned to the WDC gap growing but says he will take it race-by-race.

[PlatinumZealot]

Merc thrown that away for lewis

Don't think so. With both on the mediums on the restart, it would've postponed it for a lap. Maybe two. Max was always gonna win with an sc/vsc pit window of time in hand, if it was to come out - one way or another.

I agree. I think they should had either counted their losses though, and pit both for softs, or kept both out on mediums and take their chances. Leaving LH out on mediums while taking the buffer of GR out, was a big mistake.

Looking back on it... That buffer might not have been enough anyway! Max would have taken them one by one.

The pace disadvantage is so big I'm not sure Merc had a winning option. Max was hiding a lot of pace.

The issue I have is with AT seemingly attempting to swing the race into RedBull's favour.