Formula 1 Round 22 Abu Dhabi GP

Masi was in an impossible situation. Clearly he didn't want to finish it under a SC as there would've been massive criticism of that the teams agreed that it was highly desirable to finish under green conditions (haven't seen anything contradicting this). He was also aware of the controversy of bringing out the red flag (ironically after Mercedes had a hissy fit about it last week). He wanted to make sure it finished under green conditions and there is enough wiggle room in the regulations to allow him do that.

Fernando, love this guy.

The right call was to do what would be done in any other race.

Clear all the backmarkers if possible, and if they're aren't enough laps to do that, then the race ends under a SC.

Or if you want to bend the rules, stop the race, let Hamilton pit, then restart for however many laps you decide.

Half arsing it was the stupidest thing to do.

Alonso definitely not hiding his absolute delight at the outcome there.

No race should ever finish under safety car, it should be a race, that's something that needs to be sorted out for next season.

No idea.

I actually think we're talking too much about SC's and Masi. I think we need to give huge credit to Verstappen with what was THE lap of his life. He had one real overtaking possibility, (maybe at a stretch two), and he took it. Yes, his car had the better grip but looking at the onboards, Lewis had the faster car on the straight.

How many of the drivers on the grid yesterday, in Verstappen's car would have done that and succeeded in the one and only lap that they had a chance? Lewis. Kimi or Alonso in their prime, maybe Vettel in his. And that's it. It's an incredible move, if he messes it up he'll never catch Lewis, if he hits Lewis then he'll lose points and Lewis is champion.

I was surprised that Lewis didn't defend as much, you're right in that he should have expected Verstappen on the inside, but if Lewis was responsible for a collision then Max is champion.

Why should no race end under a safety car? Where is that in the rules?

Yes, it needs to be looked at, but as the rules stand, there is no reason why it can't.

Mercedes, I'd assume, thought Hamilton would take care of the tyres well enough to get to the end ahead of Max. And they were correct. And I'd assume they made the calculation, once the crash happened, that the race director couldn't fairly restart the race before the allotted amount of laps. Therefore, no tyre change.

Masi warped the rules in order to allow a one lap shootout where Lewis may as well have been on 3 wheels against Max. That's just a fact.

Yes, the race ended in a race. But it wasn't really a race. Hamilton was never going to hold Max off on those tyres in that situation.

Checo managed it?

So you are certain that if Hamilton had pitted under SC, he could have overtaken Max (who had also pitted not too distantly ago). There is no chance max pits if Lewis does, so Merc are giving up track position in a situation where in any other race, the race finishes under Safety car.

Maybe Hamiltion should have pitted under the VSC, and assume that Max would not, giving him those laps to over take - but had he done that would max on softer tyres at the very end not still have had an advantage?

All well and good saying RB got it right and Merc wrong when you see how it played out - but Hamilton was comfortably going to win the race until the last safety car, and if proper process had been followed he still would have won, and deserved to have done so. In both instances, Max had nothing to lose by pitting, Hamilton did. In both instances RB only had to do the opposite of Merc.

Acting like Merc got it wrong because they didn't anticipate (1) the safety car (maybe they should have) and (2) Masi throwing the rules out the window in the name of 'entertainment' (BS) is rubbish, imo.

that wasnt an exciting finish. anything but. anyway wonder what 22 will bring

Final races like this tend to attract fans and media who are clueless about F1 rules and who shout "Foul" when they don't understand the rules.

Here's the rules explained:

[quote]

The stewards ruled that article 48.12 cited by Mercedes “may not have been applied fully” but in their view “article 48.13 overrides that”, and so Masi’s decision to summon the Safety Car in took precedence.

“Once the message ‘Safety Car in this lap’ has been displayed, it is mandatory to withdraw the Safety Car at the end of that lap,” they added.

The stewards dismissed Mercedes’ request to amend the result of the race to reflect the standings at the end of the penultimate lap, before Verstappen passed Hamilton, stating it would be “effectively shortening the race retrospectively, and hence not appropriate.”

[/quote]

Verstappen keeps win and championship as stewards reject both Mercedes protests – RaceFans

Masi and RedBull followed the rules.

Mercedes wanted the race to end on lap 57. Its like a soccer team asking for a game to end on 85 minutes when they are a goal up.

I'll let you decide who are trying to bend the rules.

As for Hamilton going off the track on the first lap, he gained about 2 seconds from it. In the previous race, Verstappen was asked to give up first place for something similar, so why wasn't Hamilton asked to give up first place also? Another example of Mercedes choosing the rules selectively. They don't have a leg to stand on. They messed up their pitstops towards the end. Pitstops are crucial in tight F1 races.

Daimler/Mercedes are very wary of their image right now with the whole emissions scandal and don't need Toto Wolff dragging the Mercedes brand through the mud. I'm sure the execs in HQ in Stuttgart don't want this headache.

The cars are fuelled for the race distance with little or no margin.