Formula 1 Round 22 Abu Dhabi GP

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 🙊😁

You could probably say that about most people using analogies.

Correct.

Which one could ask: what was to stop Perez having an unfortunate driving error and crashing, resulting in a SC?! Just a thought.

Missing my point. Spot on as regards how such a lead can be disintegrated due to issues outside your control.

we all know the rules of F1 here, and I’m sure Lineker is no different.

I can easily understand the analogy, while also realizing that there’s nuance involved.

the tweet shouldn’t be taken word for word literally! And Lineker knows this.

No it's a very silly analogy. It's framed as if it's completely wrong and against the rules that you lose a big lead under the safety car, when it's far from it. The people replying to Lineker's tweet have about as much a clue as he has.

That’s poor form from Lineker tbh. Either he’s tweeting about a subject he genuinely hasn’t a clue about or purposely misleading people to stoke the feelings of injustice.

At best Sunday was a last minute controversial peno to win on away goals anyway.

Maybe it could start a new trend? Man City throw two footed challenges to the entire Liverpool squad until they can’t field a team, get stern warning and 3 points.

Messi injures himself, match stops until he can continue, comes back and scores 2 goals.

Yes, if you think Abu Dhabi was the entire championship. He lost 7 points through bad luck there. He gained 18 points through similar good luck at Imola.

The luck more than balanced out in Hamilton’s favour over the year but in the end Verstappen ended up the very deserving champion thanks to finally getting the rub of the green just one time.

They're all quite tenuous in fairness.

Taking Monaco - Verstappen was on a purple lap and could have got pole if Leclerc hadn't hit the wall and caused a red flag, and it was that collision that broke Charles' car. It's a major assumption to say Leclerc would have got pole if he hadn't crashed, and that he would have won if he started the race. And Lewis inherited a position from Leclerc too so it's not like Verstappen gained much in the championship in any case.

Taking Russia - it rained equally for everyone. Verstappen made the most of it and overtook a bunch of cars. Putting in a great performance on a slippery track isn't luck. Hamilton also gained points from the rain too when he inherited the lead after Norris went off, so again it had very little impact on the championship anyway.

Taking Baku - Verstappen dominated for the entire race then his tyre exploded a couple of laps from the end without warning costing 26 points. Hamilton had been in third and made a mistake that was entirely his own fault and put himself out of contention. Surely you can't say Verstappen got lucky at that race?

Like you said, none of it really matters now, but it'd be helpful if people like Lineker who use their platform to rile people up took account of the context of many other incidents through the season rather than pretending the Abu Dhabi safety car was the only time luck played a part.