Abu Dhabi GP

20togo said:
Simple two questions to be asked of Masi is a straightforward yes or no question, Did you follow the rules by allowing all the lapped cars to pass the safety car? The only answer is no.

2nd question, As the rules specify did the safety car complete a full lap with all the cars in their correct position.? Answer is again no.

He clearly didn't follow the rules and protocol for the sake of wanting to give the crowd a spectacle of a finish.

If this had happened pretty much any other time in the race then he would have followed the correct rules and protocol.
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Pretty much, but like you say, they squeeze out of it, they probably have to.
 
Will Mercedes spending power mean court cases etc would be a real proposition, something F1 wouldn’t want? I don’t see a good outcome from this, barring as daft as it seems, a joint title.
 
Playing devils advocate the race director was under huge pressure from all sides, with both parties demanding instant answers. Given there was hardly any time left in the race he had to make a huge call. Damned if he does, damned if he doesn't.
 
the logical thing is for the race director to admit he didn't follow the rules so they have to overturn the result of the race. That won't happen of course.
 
They need to get a director who actually knows the sport and has worked at ground level or driven in it, Whiting was a championship winning chief mechanic for years, Masi has only ever been a junior in the race directors box and has the job because Whiting died suddenly. He's utterly hopeless.
 
I imagine the scene in the Merc garage is basically this right now.

61ae07cf983f360019c88770
 
Mercedes 2nd appeal rejected apparently
CAS anyone?
If it goes to CAS, they are more likely to look at the wording of the rules surely?
 
'Good news Christian?'

'I'd like to thank Mr Masi for his excellent contribution to our title success this season, we couldn't have done it without you, now please can I have an armed escort past the Mercedes garage, no one has seeb Toto for a while and I'm only a little fella, I'm married to a Spice Girl though you know...'
 
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What a complete farce and a waste of everyone's time. The sport just makes it up as it goes along. Shocking decision, but whatever, the race means nothing now, Verstappen being champion is false, he knows it, Horner knows it, everyone knows it apart from those few who are trying to save their own arses. What a sad sad day for sport in general.
 
Masi basically handed Max the title when he allowed the lapped cars between him and Lewis pass the safety car, then pulling it in straight afterwards for a one lap race.
 
Lytham_fy8 said:
They need to get a director who actually knows the sport and has worked at ground level or driven in it, Whiting was a championship winning chief mechanic for years, Masi has only ever been a junior in the race directors box and has the job because Whiting died suddenly. He's utterly hopeless.
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Bit harsh that Lytham, he was thrust into the role after Whitings untimely passing. I'm sure the powers that be thought he was the man for the job. The remit has been to race this season and they didn't want the season to finish and be decided behind the safety car.
 
"dismissed the protest"

On what grounds. Surely they have to give reasons why? Look forward to their full statement.
 
Blackpool-rocks said:
Bit harsh that Lytham, he was thrust into the role after Whitings untimely passing. I'm sure the powers that be thought he was the man for the job. The remit has been to race this season and they didn't want the season to finish and be decided behind the safety car.
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Why not? The racing was done in the previous laps and Hamilton was coasting, you can't invent rules to make it more exciting, did Verstappen deserve the help? He was done at the start and couldn't keep pace even with new tyres.

And if they didn't want it behind the safety car why not release it after either a) all lapped cars had passed or b) none had? Well we know why, because Horner was whinging about the lapped cars and they didn't have time to get all through before ticking over to the last lap, it was another shitty ad-hoc decision with no basis in the rules.

In future if they want to 'keep it racing' and someone is 30 seconds ahead why not tell them they need to run on three wheels for the rest of the race? It's just nonsense.
 
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Blackpool-rocks said:
Bit harsh that Lytham, he was thrust into the role after Whitings untimely passing. I'm sure the powers that be thought he was the man for the job. The remit has been to race this season and they didn't want the season to finish and be decided behind the safety car.
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Of course they didn't but they didn't follow the rules. If by following the rules it meant the race finishing behind the safety car then so be it. Remember the key fact that Hamilton was well clear when the safety car was deployed.
It's a professional sport worth billions, they can't just break the rules for the sake of wanting an exciting spectacle of a finish.
 
Blackpool-rocks said:
Bit harsh that Lytham, he was thrust into the role after Whitings untimely passing. I'm sure the powers that be thought he was the man for the job. The remit has been to race this season and they didn't want the season to finish and be decided behind the safety car.
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So it was decided 6 hours later in an office off the track..... that worked well then. Oh hang on a minute.... it will still go on and end up in court. Yup great job the F1A bunch of fuckwits!

How can being in the lead by 12 seconds with 5 laps to go and then be placed on level terms because another car crashes and has to be cleared out of the way and the person behind can go in and change tyres to new, much faster ones and then the rules aren't adhered to because one guy wants a final lap spectacle. Surely anyone with any sense at all can see that is a total crock of shit!
 
Lytham_fy8 said:
Why not? The racing was done in the previous laps and Hamilton was coasting, you can't invent rules to make it more exciting, did Verstappen deserve the help? He was done at the start and couldn't keep pace even with new tyres.

And if they didn't want it behind the safety car why not release it after either a) all lapped cars had passed or b) none had?
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They can only release the safety car once absolute confirmation has been receive that the track is totally clear of all stewards and debris.
 
20togo said:
Of course they didn't but they didn't follow the rules. If by following the rules it meant the race finishing behind the safety car then so be it. Remember the key fact that Hamilton was well clear when the safety car was deployed.
It's a professional sport worth billions, they can't just break the rules for the sake of wanting an exciting spectacle of a finish.
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That's exactly it, if this wasn't the title decider it would have finished behind the safety car, it's an artificial result created off track.
 
the specialone said:
the bunch up behind the safety car is normal what i couldn't get my head round was the fact that there were three cars between Lewis and Max when safety car was deployed, surely they should still be between them at the restart as Lewis had overtaken them but Max hadn't ,to remove them gave Max a clear run at Lewis,any suggestions as to why?
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Over lapping (like a Labrador). There were 8 (or 7) that should/could have done so, but Sky and Liberty coverage deemed only the 5 between the Mercedes and Honda should do so; thus putting Verstaapen (new tyres) directly behind Hamilton (old tyres) It would be like the BFC Xmas party dash. Lavery Versus Briggsy.

Corrupt/misjudged 'sport' Meanwhile, Boris is putting crackers out of all 48 table places.
 
I used to love F1 in the seventies & early eighties, Lauda/Hunt, Senna/Prost then got bored with the Schmuacher years & stopped watching it. My daughter loves watching Motorsport (especially MotoGP) & I got sucked in watching again because it was a throwback to earlier years. I was genuinely looking forward to watching this all weekend but after this farce I'll not be watching F1 again.
 
A very unsatisfactory end to a great Championship. Suspect we haven’t heard the end of this. No way should (a selection) of unlapped cars be allowed to overtake the safety car and turn it into a 1 lap shootout with no traffic with Max on better new tyres. Could argue Mercedes fcuked up not pitting Lewis immediately like Max’s pit team. There’s bad luck and there’s this omnishambles. Very poor for the integrity of F1 👎🏻
 
The rules are there for a reason. The second the Race Director starts to make up rules on the fly, with a huge advantage to Red Bull team & driver, the legal challenges and repercussions will rumble on for months.
 
20togo said:
Again, it's about the rules. Not all the lapped cars were allowed to pass the safety car and a lap has to be done behind the safety car with the cars in their correct position, None of these things happened.
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Which is likely what Mercedes’ team thought. There wouldn’t be enough laps left for Max to challenge. So they decided not to pit for fresh tyres. They weren’t to know the Race Director would effectively become Team Red Bull and gift wrap a Championship they didn’t deserve.
 
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