Yeah there’s going to be a lot of groaning about that procedure but ultimately the race director can do what he wants. Max got VERY lucky there and his groaning about the luck never going his way was getting pretty annoying. But these bits of luck happen in F1 all the time, it’s just been magnified because of the situation. Red Bull made the right strategy calls to take advantage of the scenario that played out. They were able to roll the dice when Mercedes couldn’t.
Yeah, I’m under no delusion that this will be in any way overturned. And red bull did a brilliant job to put themselves in striking distance if something should happen.
Even though I was rooting for Hamilton I really hope Mercedes don’t challenge it. Though just hearing there are two protests being lodged.
I don’t want this decided off the race track. It will feel really wrong if Hamilton is suddenly given the world championship in a stewards room or a court room. I don’t expect it to be though.
Agreed.
Also, much props the checo. I really didn’t like him when he was with ocon or button. But he did a hell of a job this year.
Exciting? Sure. Desired outcome. I guess. Satisfying? Not in the slightest.
Fitting end to this season? Yes.
Yep. Whole season pretty much summed up in about 10 minutes. I’m not going to pay attention to a fucking word about this until the first practice in March. Bah!
Yeah… me neither…
continues to frantically click refresh on the f1 news sites
Good clean racing by both Max and Checo, but Lewis managed to deal with it and should have won. All in all though, finishing under green was the better outcome for this season.
Now excuse me while I go to the “Ruin sports by changing the regulations” thread to welcome our newest doper totowolff.
It was telling to see Checo and HAM side-by-side and switching positions during that lap. Surely, if that had been Max it wouldn’t have been that clean. Fantastic to watch.
I believe Hamilton should have won just due to him clearly being faster than Max for the entire race. But, sports contests and even championships are won by fluke all the time. I’m not stoked about the outcome, but it is.
It was interesting the way Lewis said something he’ll “see” about next year. That perked my ears up…surely he’s not thinking about retiring on this note?
I also had the “Wait, Sainz??” Moment. I wasn’t even paying attention that far back at the time and was a bit surprised.
Changing gears a little bit (SWIDT), I checked in to tickets for the Miami and Austin races for next year and ummmm…let’s just say that I will definitely not be in attendance. However, there are two Indycar races within 3-4 hours drive of here, so I’m thinking about brushing up on Indy prior to the season and checking one or both of those races out. If I save my couch cushion money until summer, I think I can swing a couple $100 seats.
While you brush up on Indycar, perhaps Max can brush up on NHRA and work on his starts.
Hehe, I’d love to see some f1 or indycar blokes give top fuel a go!
If Bottas had done his job properly in the last few races, we wouldn’t even have this issue.
You know what I’d like to see? Max and Lewis swap cars and hammer out a sprint race. Somewhere tight and twisty, without the mile long straights. Then put them in the two (pick a team) cars and do it again. Would make for some fun viewing. Maybe do a best of 5 series. I will make this happen just as soon as I’m appointed Formula One King. Just hang tight!
You could have then race karts, but they would kill each other.
I’m in. How do I vote you into power?
Why should 2021 F1 be any different from the rest of the shitshow year. Yes, that was a deeply unsatisfying result.
Totally this. Max wouldn’t have been able to pit had Bottas been within 25 secs of him.
It wasn’t clean racing by Max. It never is. He pushed Hamilton off yet again, though that was probably evened out by Hamilton gaining time off track.
That was an utterly ridiculous way to finish the season, and Masi completely binned the rulebook in the name of an exciting finish. Either all lapped cars are allowed to unlap themselves, or none are. There is literally no clause in the rulebook that says “just the ones between the two title contenders can unlap themselves.” Nor does the “director controls the safety car” in any way supersede the other clauses in any proper legal reading of the rules.
But this is the outcome the FIA wanted. Balestre fucking over Senna - and Senna taking advantage by crashing into Prost the next year - was what made F1 huge in the early 90s, and surely this will do the same. Politics has always ruled F1.
My real concern is whether Masi or whoever runs the stewards’ office next year will continue to allow Max to push people off track every time he gets overtaken.
FFS, it’s car racing, not rhythmic gymnastics.