Motorsport 2021

[Hank Scorpio]

They had two opportunities to change the tyres and they didnt.

Had they done so the final lap wouldn't have been a problem.

Toto throwing his toys out of the pram was utterly pathetic.

 

[Eleven]

They had two opportunities to change the tyres and they didnt.

Had they done so the final lap wouldn't have been a problem.

Toto throwing his toys out of the pram was utterly pathetic.

It is easier to blame Michael Masi than accept maybe Mercedes fucked up on strategy. It was pathetic to be protesting outside the prize giving last night. I have no issue with Hamilton, but his supporters would want to get a fucking grip.

 

[Hank Scorpio]

Mercedes AND Hamilton not having the good grace to attend the FIA prize giving ceremony was utterly pathetic.

Morons like Piers Morgan and Harry Kane wailing how 'unfair' it all is after a team decision left Hamilton on worn tyres to Max's new set is laughable.

Doubly so when Hamilton was allowed to keep the lead after lap one.

Max was the better driver over the course of the season. Hamilton got away with ramming him off the track twice . Had the FIA censured him properly the championship would have been over with 3 races to go.

Well done Max. Mercedes histrionics makes it all the sweeter.

 

[Hank Scorpio]

Verstappen: Mercedes not gracious in defeat

New Formula One world champion Max Verstappen said Mercedes are not as gracious in defeat as his Red Bull team.

www.espn.co.uk

New Formula One world champion Max Verstappen said Mercedes are not as gracious in defeat as his Red Bull team.

Verstappen claimed the title in dramatic fashion at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, passing Lewis Hamilton on the final lap to win.

The circumstances around the finish are controversial and Mercedes immediately protested the result. That protest was dismissed by the sport's governing body the FIA, but Mercedes are still weighing up whether to lodge an appeal and have until Thursday to do so.

"I think you should be accepting a loss, it doesn't matter how much it hurts," Verstappen said on Wednesday. "I do think there that there is a bit of a difference there between the teams."

Verstappen said Mercedes could never take away the fact he won the race and the championship on track.

"I'm fine, because I don't even think about it too much, because I do feel like world champion and it doesn't matter what they tried to do. We won it on track, we won it when there was a green light, green flag, and we passed them on track.

"They'll never be able to take that away from me anyway, but also about the possible appeal or whatever, I'm not busy with that. As a team it might be disturbing but for us we've been just enjoying the last few days."

Ahead of the finale, Verstappen said his opinion of Hamilton and Mercedes had gone down across the course of the season.

When asked how an appeal would further sour his opinion of the team, he added: "Well, no, that's nothing surprising because of how the season already panned out until the last race.

"My view will not change, it's pretty much the same."

 

[North Cork Star]

Well done to Cork man, James Deane on winning the FIA International Drifting Cup For Drivers award at the FIA Prize Giving Ceremony in Paris this week. On the same night as Max Verstappen received his award, James, Formula D Drift Champion was in good company at the ceremony. He hails from Castletownroche. Well done James, great achievement!

 

[mr.selfDestruct]

The crash put Mercedes in an awkward position. They gambled and lost. Hamilton on the radio at the time questioned it and he was right.

You could red flag it but the fact that they were able to race it at the end probably indicates it wasn't red flag worthy... flagging it would give RB grounds to appeal because it would have bailed out Mercedes.

It may have been the most racing way to do it but if you're just gonna chuck the rest of the GP away, it begs the question why bother with it next time.

The officials messed up,but it's not that simple. Under yellow flag cars are definitely allowed to unlap themselves. The officials made their first mistake in not allowing it earlier. By delaying the unlapping for too long they put themselves in the position of
A) Not letting any cars unlap, handing the championship to Hamilton (and #Istandwithhammy with would be moaning about red bull being sore losers for appealing it)
Or B) Letting all cars unlap and potentially ending the race under the safety flag due to it taking too long and again handing it to Hamilton
(and again #Istandwithhammy with would be moaning about red bull being sore losers for appealing it)

In the end the officials used the "I can do whatever I want" rule to bail themselves out of their earlier mistake but that then automatically triggers the Mercedes appeal because it means Verstappen will win.

What should have happened is they let them unlap immediately and this gives you probably 2 laps of racing to finish it out. It doesn't give Hamilton new tyres though and more than likely Verstappen wins, as he did in real life.

I have sympathy for Hamilton because if the yellow hadn't happened, he would win or if Mercedes had called him in to pit, he would also win.

But the appeal? Sorry , no. In a high stakes moment your team made a decision that backfired. The officials fucking it up didn't cause you to lose, in fact it almost saved you.

Good points. But Merc were still hard done by when Massi decided to only let some of the lapped cars over take. I can't say I've ever seen that happen in all my years watching F1. It all looked very much off the cuff.

As you mentioned, ideally it should have been done it earlier in safety car period. But I'm not sure if Massi would have been comfortable with the cars unlapping themselves while they were still clearing the Williams off the track. That might not be allowed in the rules?

I don't particularly feel sorry for Merc, even though I think they were hard done by with the decision regarding lapped cars. As I said already if they had made the right decisions with tyres none of what happened at the end would have probably have been an issue

Merc have made a lot of wrong calls during races over the last decade, but were so far ahead of everyone it never really matterd.
The first time anyone was close enough to them(even though they still had the better car) they blew it.

 

[Eleven]

I assume the talks of Hamilton retiring is just the media being a bit dramatic?

 

[Hank Scorpio]

No way in hell Hammy calls it a day before he betters Schumeys 7 titles.

He'll give it another lash at least.

 

[Eleven]

No way in hell Hammy calls it a day before he betters Schumeys 7 titles.

He'll give it another lash at least.

Hamilton can win 10 and I doubt most people outside the British will ever acknowledge him as being better than Schumacher.

 

[Hank Scorpio]

Hamilton can win 10 and I doubt most people outside the British will ever acknowledge him as being better than Schumacher.

A great man if hes got a second or two a lap.


Put him in this seasons red bull and he would have come nowhere.