Formula 1 Round 22 Abu Dhabi GP

Posted it earlier in week, proves Lineker knows nothing about F1. Bit awkward if he has to present Max with the overseas spoty award.

The most highest paid sports person on BBC making stupid statements. He should be told to cop on.

I’m sure he knows as much as any of us. I think any educated people can understand the analogy, as I am sure he can. Of course, there’s so much nuance involved in F1, that a tweet just won’t capture..Lineker knows this!

in a way the analogy is spot on. It applies to all. You perform great and drive great and build up a deserved insurmountable lead, only for some idiot to crash that has nothing to do with you, and all your efforts and talent are taken away, and you’re then put in a position of weakness, not even a somewhat fair position , but a clearly weak position.

It's not spot on at all. The fact that leads evaporate under Safety Car is nothing new and is a part and parcel of the sport. Teams have entire strategies mapped out of what to do under SC. It's like complaining that the offside rule is unfair after you scored a goal from an offside position.

The analogy I'd use is Red Bull are 3-2 down, have a free kick in the final added on minute in a match where the away goal rule exists and Mercedes keeper was sent off with no replacement. 😄

The problem with people like Lineker who don’t understand the sport is that they’ve just tuned in for this one race and think it represents the whole season.

Even discounting all the more controversial incidents like Silverstone etc, if you just look at Imola alone, Hamilton indisputably gained more points from a Red Flag there than Verstappen gained from the safety car at Abu Dhabi. And that was through absolutely no fault of Verstappen’s or act of Hamilton’s.

Verstappen was robbed of far more points over the season than the opportunity he gained from that one fortunate safety car was worth, and he and the team had to make it work with quick thinking to pit and great racecraft to overtake with just one lap. There’s no way in the world anyone could look objectively at the whole season and think Max didn’t deserve it, just because he happened to have that one small piece of luck.

Guys, Lewis was 11-12 seconds ahead with 5/6 laps remaining to claim his 8th championship. Horner himself admitted they needed a miracle. Lineker’s tweet sums that up, albeit there being a nuance missing ..we all know F1 can change so dramatically so quickly..we all know you can’t compare apples and oranges here.

Bit misleading to suggest Max got the rub of the green once. Brake magic mitigated a disaster. Wouldn’t have been near to second only for the rain in Russia. Promotion to pole in Monaco. Sure there are more incidences of good fortune but those came to mind.

I haven’t totted up the potential points impacts of the above and don’t care to or balance them against Max’s bad luck because I’m happy enough with the result and it’s a fair enough reflection of how tight it was between the two.

Lineker comments are disgraceful and designed to rile up the Brits.

He could equally have have equated it to a football match where one team went 3 - 0 up firstly by having a couple of offside goals wrongly allowed but then lost the lead at the end cause they ran out of steam and couldn't cope with extra time that came about due to an unforeseen lucky late goal..... But that wouldn't get the Hamilton fans all pumped up.

Azerbaijan - Forget Max’s blowout - it’s already happened and he’s out of the race. Lewis is one of the best drivers of all time and forgot to press a button. Far from a stretch to suggest good fortune from Max’s POV hence my brake magic mitigating blowout reference.

Monaco - Verstappen wasn’t the only one to go (off the top of my head Sainz) and had no guarantee of finishing the lap orpole. Even if he does, as you mention, it might not lead to a win but may be difficult to argue that it’s not an advantage nor mind at Monaco! To state the obvious too, the jump in points from 2nd to 1st is better than plus one on any other position. Fact is LeClerc qualified pole and it was good luck to be promoted to 1st for the start which gives you the best shot at the win.

Russia - the element of luck clearly was the rain occurring (not wet driving ability) which led to the period of uncertainty for tyre choice which some like Verstappen were able to take advantage of. No rain, Hamilton still has a chance of a win as was closing on Norris but Vertsappen was nowhere near the podium.

Saudi - anyone who is found at fault for causing contact while brake testing someone while managing not to end their race or their opponents (harsher penalty) and only collecting an inconsequential penalty may have had a slight rub of the green too.

Those are a few examples. You’d have to watch as much F1 as Lineker to think Max’s only rub of the green was in Abu Dhabi!

Don't listen to OTB, but if you're fronting a sports programme, get all facts before spouting nonsense.

However I think the likes of Hamiltons vocal stance on some issues appeals to the likes of OTB, Lineker etc. And then they nail the colours to the mast when they feel their hero has been hard done by.

Basically they're blinkered by wokeism.

Nobody is saying max hasn't had things go his way, but Hamilton had huge slices of good fortune which bagged him huge points over what he should have got compared to Max. Imola and Silverstone spring to mind.

In 2018 at Paul Ricard, Vettel hit Bottas and eventually finished ahead of him. Hamilton complained about the penalty being too soft and how you shouldn't be able to finish ahead of a driver you take out. So by his own logic he should have trundled around in last place at silverstone.

Ultimately the unpredictable nature of Motor Sport gave us a finale which is what everyone is judging the season on. It's like the previous 21 races and the swings and roundabouts nature of it never happened.

Take out the red flag in Imola and Hamilton finishes say 7th. 6 points. That means he is 12 behind on Sunday at the start. So the most meaningful gains both drivers made under red flag/SC actually have a 5 point swing in Hamiltons favour.

But Lewis was robbed is the narrative and Susie Wolffs comments on Social media are further evidence of the entitlement feeling at Mercedes.

Hopefully Alpine, McLaren and Ferrari have it together for 2022 along with Red Bull and we get a proper battle all season long

As predicted, once Mercedes came to the inevitable conclusion that they didn't have a leg to stand on legally in their attempt to steal the championship off track, they're now waging PR war, something that they've been very adept at with the sycophantic British media all year.

Toto has lobbied the FIA to do his bidding with great success this year (and for the whole hybrid era for that matter), so the thought of Mercedes pushing for even more control over the governance of the sport just because a safety car call didn't go their way for once is scary for anyone who wants to see a fair sport.

Amanda Newey (wife of Adrian) posted up a very dignified response to all of Mercedes' smear tactics on Instagram.