Formula 1 Round 22 Abu Dhabi GP

Without the Mercs taking Max out on several occasions and all the other weird luck they had we would have celebrated a Verstappen world title months ago.

Safety cars are such an element in racing that strategies are built around them and you'll often hear drivers saying the likes of "could do with a safety car" or "hopefully there won't be a safety car". Not the first or last time a race has been dictated by them. Is it fair? You could argue not, but it's for the safety of the Marshalls which is what ultimately matters.

How did you work that out?? Without the half points Max would have been 5 clear of him coming into Abu Dhabi?!?

Had Lewis pitted during the VSC he would have had a far better chance at holding max off.

Had Checo not put in some phenomenal work slowing Hamilton down he may have had enough time to pit for new tires and maintain track position at the last safety car.

Mercedes decisions and Red Bulls excellent teamwork were the deciding factors about what happened at the end of the race. Even if you leave the back markers in between them, Max would have enough pace to catch them.

The issue for me right now is the Race Director, he needs to be changed, as does the method of communication with him. I'd suggest a permanent panel of stewards with a RD at the top to make the final decision.

Who should do it? No idea, I don't follow F1 that intimately any more. Derek Warwick was a steward there yesterday, former F1 driver with 20 years experience in the admin side of it. Maybe him? But I won't make a definite call on it. Either way, Masi isn't suited to the game.

You need a former racer in there as RD who can understand the drivers side of it. It's one of the reasons why I like Brundle so much as a commentator even though I disagree with him often enough.

Wait to you hear about Hamilton being a lap down after crashing and being allowed fix the car & unlap himself and and with the faster car going on to finish 2nd in the GP and claim fastest lap

I think, over this season, it could be argued that Mercedes and Lewis , benefited more from SC's and the ruling of the stewards. Overall I think Verstappen deserved the title so congratulations to him and RB.

But should the chance of a safety car have such a big influence on the result? Perhaps it is time to look at the rules regarding safety cars again.

It is often unclear why we get a full safety car or a virtual safety car. Or when a decision is to red flag the race. Could the sport survive with the VSC and red flag only and get rid of the full safety car? IS there a need to change what can or can not be done during a VSC and Red flag? Of course teams build in strategies around the possibilities of a safety car. And RB definitely had a much better, though riskier, strategy yesterday. Mercedes were caught out a bit.

I am tired of all back and forth with the RD during the race, mostly from Toto and Horner. No team should be allowed contact the RD, except on safety matters concerning their own cars, during the race. Communication should be one way only , RD to the teams. We should not have the nonsense we had in Saudi Arabia of telling Verstappen to allow Hamilton to overtake but not apparently telling Mercedes in time that was going to happen.

We should get rid of the rotating ex-drivers on the stewards panel for each race and have permanent stewards for the whole season in order to bring some consistency into the process.

It is a pity, from the sports point of view, that it looks like this might end up in endless court appeals. I doubt if Mercedes HQ are driving this, I suspect it is more from Toto.( Not too sure how much Daimler Benz actually own of the team )

I wanted Max to win and think he deserved to win over the season but the end was a bit of a farce, the decision to just allow the cars between Hamilton & Max unlap themselves was bizarre.

I really wouldn't envy Masi being in the position to make the call on it knowing there was a massive number of people watching, a lot of them not regular viewers and how poor a look it would be to finish behind the SC. This shouldn't play a part in the decision but of course it does.

Also I think it needs to be pointed out the tyres on the cars shouldn't play a part in the decision either, makes no difference in a call like this if Max/Hamilton have new or old tyres, thats the responsibility of the teams and should have no bearing when deciding what to do with the SC

Stewards and RD are different jobs with different types of experience needed.

The RD is to make sure the event runs properly and safely. The stewards are to review incidents and make decisions on them. It makes sense to have a former driver as part of the steward panel each event. But the pool of stewards for the season is too big and it leads to inconsistencies.

The race director needs to be someone who is trained and experienced at race directing. There are a number of people who would fit the bill - Scott Elkins (Formula E), Beaux Barfield (IMSA), Eduardo Freitas (WEC, ELMS. Asian LMS - good interview here)

Based on Russell’s twitter comments Mercedes have moulded him perfectly to slot into their team.

agreed on the tyres point. RBR took a gamble and it paid off. Merc have taken that call before and it paid off, yesterday it went against them swings and roundabouts.