Formula 1 Round 22 Abu Dhabi GP

Was Max’s overtake manoeuvre on final lap a DRS move?

No it wasn't in a DRS zone.

There's an online petition doing the rounds to have the result over turned.

I said by the time the field passed the Marshalls were off track - you then countered this with an image before the field had fully passed - you know full well that within 3 seconds of the frame you took all those marshalls were behind the barrier and well outside of the firing line - if lapped cars were allowed to go after they passed this spot the marshalls would certainly have comfortably been long gone by the time they got around a lap later.

And, as I mentioned, when the actual blockage is cleared and there's nothing on the racing line, it is perfectly normal for cars to go at VSC speeds, as happens on many occasions. This is why people like Vettel and Alonso who know what they're talking about were so confused and incredulous on their radio at normal procedure not being followed.

Bourdais holds a long standing grudge against Christian Horner from when he was sacked by Red Bull so there's no surprise there. I wonder since he was so appalled by Perez having the audacity to defend in racing conditions, how he felt about Bottas deliberately slowing down behind the safety car to delay Verstappen and allow Hamilton a free stop in the previous race - something that was, unlike what Perez did, completely against the rules.

If you had to put it down to one thing that allowed Max win, was it Lewis not pitting during VSC?

his tyres on lap 58 were about 44 laps old

He probably thought it was better to let Max through there and try to re-overtake on the back straight, rather than go defensive and then be a sitting duck himself on the back straight. Remember Max was 2nd in the race but leading the championship if neither finished, so he had nothing to lose by making the late lunge, but Lewis really had to avoid any contact which could have put him down the order.

If Lewis had pitted then he would have conceded the lead. Staying out and maintaining track position was the correct decision at the time, it was only the late safety car that changed that.

Yes. Agreed. It was pure skill and bravery. Real champion move!

So we're in agreement that the marshals were totally off the track and behind the barriers on lap 56. They don't need to be behind the fence for lapped cars to safely unlap themselves and drive to deltas. They don't even need to be behind the barrier, it's totally normal in many incidents that VSCs have been enough for marshals to clear incidents once there isn't something like a car or a large amount of debris on the racing line. There's also the fact that if the lapped cars were let go after that corner, they had a whole couple of minutes before they'd arrive at the corner again, which was plenty of time for the marshals to take the few footsteps required to get behind the fence.

This is all normal, it's why multiple drivers who have nothing to do with either Mercedes or Red Bull were getting on their team radio questioning why lapped cars aren't being allowed to pass like they normally are. The one and only mistake that was made was delaying that call. If they had been more timely then it would have had zero impact on the outcome but would have taken away this silly talking point that Mercedes are pushing.

Other than that it was an unremarkable safety car period. A car goes off on lap 53 and blocks the racing line necessitating a safety car, the car itself is cleared on lap 55, the marshals are completely off track on lap 56, the lapped cars unlap themselves as is entirely normal, and they go racing on lap 58 as you'd expect.

Just saw Lewis getting knighted or something there on the news.

Was expecting Max to barge in and blow Lewis out of the way just as the sword came down, resulting in Max getting knighted instead. 😂

I suppose its a slippery slope. First it's Max team mate holding up his rival which is fine, then it's the Alpha Tauri. Not too far off a race fixing then at that point.

Couple of the bigger teams have way too much sway and power to influence other teams and drivers.

Perez was in P1 at the time and on that basis alone, forgetting team orders and Max, he was more than entitled to fight for the position and keep P2 behind him. Hamilton did the exact same thing in 2016 to slow up Rosberg and back him up into Vettel and the others behind him.

I said what Perez did was fine! I'm just expanding the discussion as I think race results and decisions are being compromised by the power Mercedes and Red Bull have over the driver market.

Alonso on the other hand just has a vendetta against Hamilton :p

Is there anything to be said for another analogy 🙊😁