Formula 1 Round 22 Abu Dhabi GP

chicorytip · 13-12-2021 12:53am

Liberty owns F1 and has the FIA in it's pocket and Brawn has Masi by the balls so there could have been no other outcome today given the circumstances. It's all about entertainment and global audiences now folks. So what if the rules get bent a little.

breezy1985 · 13-12-2021 1:01am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118312657#Comment_118312657

Ok if he is only doing for the optics on the podium then I understand. I thought you were just against him wearing a mask

breezy1985 · 13-12-2021 1:03am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118312749#Comment_118312749

Funny enough the race director used the "it's about racing" argument and not wanting to end the season on a safety car to justify his decision to Mercedes

Spook_ie · 13-12-2021 1:03am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118312758#Comment_118312758

It's dubious in the fact that the way it ended was neither. If it were red flagged then there would have been no doubt. But allowing only the cars between 1st and 2nd to unlap and then not having the complete lap before the safety car went in was against FIA rules.

Yes you can be lucky or unlucky with safety cars and yellow flag incidents but up until this afternoon they were allowed to play out according to the rules.

Frank Bullitt · 13-12-2021 1:03am

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.onboard-ride-with-verstappen-and-hamilton-for-their-dramatic-last-laps-of.6t9F49nKRirqSAXbwn2sQ6.html

This is an amazing watch, 90 seconds or so of F1 craziness. Love it.

quokula · 13-12-2021 1:09am

To all the people moaning and complaining. The championship wasn't won on the last lap of the Abu Dhabi GP. It was won at Monaco, Zandvoort, Austin, Mexico, Imola and numerous other races.

It was nearly lost through absolutely no fault of his own at Baku at Silverstone and at Hungary, but Red Bull got the rub of the green for once today and made the absolute most of their opportunity so ultimately it wasn't lost.

Verstappen has led more laps this year than the entire rest of the grid combined, he's broken the all time record for number of podiums in a season and, aside from one tyre blowout and being hit by Mercedes three times, he's finished every single other race in the top 2, winning more than half of them.

To say the championship should be somehow taken off him because Michael Masi didn't tell a couple of backmarkers to overtake the safety car quickly enough is absolutely beyond comical.

M three · 13-12-2021 1:12am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118312634#Comment_118312634

Last week hamilton said there shouldnt be a safety car after mick schumacher ploughed into a safety barrier and damaged it.

This week he wanted the safety car to continue to the end of the race so he wouldnt have to race Max for the last lap.

Hypocritical nonsense from hamilton. How fantastic that verstappen beat him, mercedes had the way better car but red bull had the better racing driver.

Well done red bull and max!

Spook_ie · 13-12-2021 1:13am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118312811#Comment_118312811

No it was won and lost in Abu Dhabi, the rest of the season was the lead up to an enthralling final race that was let down by dubious decisions of a race director

Faugheen · 13-12-2021 1:15am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118312811#Comment_118312811

How many people in this thread have said the title should be taken off him?

Probably about as many who think Hamilton intentionally tried to kill another driver.

McFly85 · 13-12-2021 1:16am

I think as it’s clear that they wanted to finish the race with actual racing, it probably would have been more straightforward to start racing again without any of the back markers unlapping themselves.

Ultimately though, would it have made a difference? While it would mean Max would have had to clear them, he probably would have had 2 full laps then instead. I can’t really see any way that changes the result. And I think if that had happened people would still complain and think the race should’ve been red flagged anyway.

M three · 13-12-2021 1:16am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118312644#Comment_118312644

In the last race hamilton questioned and disagreed with his teams tyre strategy, he questioned his teammate bothas. Hamilton may thank all and sundry after the race when he has the chance to rethink and go heavy on the PR but he's as ungenuine as it gets.

Faugheen · 13-12-2021 1:22am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118312829#Comment_118312829

In the last race Hamilton questioned the tyre strategy in the heat of the moment because Max was on mediums.

At the end of the race, when he won, the first thing he did was acknowledge the call the team made with the tyres.

Christ some people expect Hamilton to be superhuman and make zero mistakes ever.

Earlier this week Max was talking about how everyone is out to get him and yet he got the rub of the green today. Does that make Max 'ungenuine' (lol)?

No, it makes him a human, with actual feelings and emotions.

Like I said, Max wins and people still can't get Hamilton out of their heads, even when he does the right thing like he did today.

Obsessive and weird.

DrZeuss · 13-12-2021 1:23am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118312829#Comment_118312829

I don't know there, I'm no fan of Lewis's but he went up a few notches in my estimation with the way he presented himself post race today. Not easy for him to congratulate Max under the circumstances but he did without question. That has to be commended whether a fan or not.

DrZeuss · 13-12-2021 1:24am

Now Toto, who I would have looked at as a very presentable team principal went well down in my estimation with his spoilt child outbursts to Michael Masi. It has definitely put him in a bad light.

JeffKenna · 13-12-2021 1:26am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118312838#Comment_118312838

Yeah I'd have to agree with that. Have a lot more respect for him tonight than his team (as if either care!!).

quokula · 13-12-2021 1:26am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118312838#Comment_118312838

I was surprised and impressed by that, but it does ring a bit hollow when his team brought in the barristers and tried to steal it in the back rooms afterwards, something I doubt they decided to do without consulting him.

DrZeuss · 13-12-2021 1:30am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118312848#Comment_118312848

Very true, but it wasn't Lewis's decision to bring in the barristers. My actual first thought was that Lewis may even look to break free from Mercedes, he has questioned their decisions a lot over the season, sometimes rightly, sometimes not. Again, no Lewis fan here.

the_pen_turner · 13-12-2021 1:31am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118312828#Comment_118312828

i dont think it would have made much diference. those cars were on blue flags and would have pulled out of the way asap down the straight. the 5 cars were

vettle former redbull driver and huge schumi fan who wants his record to stand

alonso who doesnt like lewis

2 alpha tauri s . sister cars to red bull

norris. only one to have any reason to hold up max. would he though who knows

awec · 13-12-2021 1:37am

I don't know a whole lot about F1 rules but as an outsider looking in the behaviour of Mercedes post-race is not a great look for the sport at a time when it should be basking in the huge publicity it's been receiving this week.

Surely you just need to take your medicine and admit you were beaten? I get there's high stakes and records at stake, but at this stage even if it's overturned it's not going to be the same as winning it on the track, is it?

bucketybuck · 13-12-2021 1:39am

As conscious of his image as Hamilton is, I suspect he wouldn't want to win it like this, handed to him after a legal battle. Right or wrong would have little to do with it, it just wouldn't be a good look.

13-12-2021 1:50am

Well the finish to this season has been a shot in the arm for something that has been a relative bore-fest for the last 20 years except for a couple of seasons.

No harm that the self-entitled whinging little sh1t Hamilton came out the wrong end of it either.

This is it · 13-12-2021 1:52am

Couldn't watch the race live but watched this evening having somehow avoided the results. Absolutely delighted for Max. I had said that whoever won deserved it, two awesome drivers.

I'm a fan of Max so it was very much a case of "I don't care how he wins it"... But, if the roles were reversed I'd be cursing Massi and the FIA. I presume the directions he gave were in line with the rules if Mercedes appeals have been turned down but his communication this season, and in particular the last two races, has been atrocious.

What a season. I watched The Silver War last year and was praying for similar, little did I know that we were in for such a treat.

Really hoping Ferrari, McLaren, etc. can put some good cars together for next year. We could be in for even better next year.

Jordan 199 · 13-12-2021 2:02am

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSspxF0F3O0

Spook_ie · 13-12-2021 2:06am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118312818#Comment_118312818

Actually I thought he was complaining about them stopping the race and thus RB getting a free pitstop.

quokula · 13-12-2021 2:12am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118312871#Comment_118312871

Last 20 seasons is a bit harsh - we had consistently great and closely fought championships from 2005 to 2012 before the 2014 hybrid rules were brought in to ruin everything (and 2013 was a bore mainly because all the teams shifted focus to the 2014 cars)

Flinty997 · 13-12-2021 2:15am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118312674#Comment_118312674

Kinda agree. There was too much interference to say it wasn't manipulated a little. Then to do it on the last few laps as well. That's a lot of coincidence.

dloob · 13-12-2021 2:16am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118312848#Comment_118312848

I presume they brought a barrister as they, quite reasonably on previous form, expected Masi to make a total balls of it.

Anyway now they need to take it all the way to the courts and then offer to magnanimously drop it to avoid further embarrassing exposure of the FIA’s utter incompetence if the FIA meets certain conditions and No 1 needs to be Masi’s P45.

Martin Brundle asks who would you put in instead, frankly I’d give bozo the clown a run I doubt he’d be worse.