Championship showdown this weekend. Will Lewis win his eight title or will Max win his first? All will be revealed on Sunday.
TV Times:
Qualifying Live: 1PM. (Sky Sports)
Race Live: 1PM. (Sky Sports and Channel 4)
Bring! It! On!
Being pedantic here but they didn’t congratulate Max outright on being Champion. Just acknowledge his achievements.
Ah well, I doubt he cares too much.
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.
Boardroom in Stuttgart were on the blower to Toto.
They have the constructors championship and that’s the most important one to them.
Suzie Wolff's statement - although it's her own it surely aligns with the thinking of Toto and Mercedes. And it hints at the eventuality that Mercedes will push for - changes in the governing body.
Realistically they can't push for a change in the results of the race, what's done is done. They will make a lot of threats and then offer to withdraw them if Masi gets the sack, and probably some broader changes to race control.
Appeal withdrawn
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
Please, if Mercedes-Benz were that corrupted they would have told Bottas to stop the car on track once the lap cars message came up.
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.
Susie Wolff pushing the Lewis was robbed angle on Instagram and accused FIA of cheating and lacking integrity
I
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!
The media in UK hyped this up as a title shoot out, so it was almost as if the previous 21 races didn't matter. The hype attracted a lot of attention from people who don't normally follow the sport that closely.
Joe Molloy on OTB kept talking about how Hamilton should have lost his 11 second lead on Sunday as that was unfair, making out it was unfair on Hamilton etc. No mention of the other drivers who also lost out in the SC period on Sunday or the times Max or anyone else lost a lead under SC in the history of the sport. Its like this was the first ever SC.
George Russell tweeted how what happened on Sunday was a disgrace yet his poor driving in Imola is directly responsible for Hamilton actually being in with a realistic shout on Sunday. That one gained Hamilton 2nd place and 18 points when realistically he would have finished 7th or 8th at best if Bottas and Russell didn't crash.
The lads on OTB were Totally oblivious to Hamilton unlapping himself in Imola, or repairing damage/tyres under red flag (that he caused) Silverstone etc. Or Bottas wiping out Max at Hungary via Norris(?). They were fixated on one incident with 2 laps to go in race 22.
Bahrain is another race were Max was very unlucky. Hamilton was running wide at T4 for half the race but as soon as Max was told about it they imposed track limits. Hamilton probably gained 0.2 seconds a lap which was approx 5-6 seconds. That's 5-6 seconds Max shouldn't have had to make up to catch Hamilton after his pit stop meaning he would have had more opportunities to make the pass stick.
As for Baku, when Max had his tyre issue, Wheatley was on the radio to Masi "we had no prior warning, red flag so everyone can change tyres". Mark Webber called that "very fair" on comms. The was a race that could have finished under the SC gifting Checo a win but Red Bull wanted proper racing.
In Abu Dhabi when Gio parked up, Toto was screaming at Masi not to throw a SC.
Merc had 7 seasons basically unchallenged and when they had it put upto them they didn't like it at all. There is a real sense of entitlement from them which kinda makes Toto's statement on DTS last year about doing their talking on the track look about as sincere as most of the stuff Hamilton comes out with.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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. 😄
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.
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.
Which one could ask: what was to stop Perez having an unfortunate driving error and crashing, resulting in a SC?! Just a thought.
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.
Correct.
The most highest paid sports person on BBC making stupid statements. He should be told to cop on.
You could probably say that about most people using analogies.
Posted it earlier in week, proves Lineker knows nothing about F1. Bit awkward if he has to present Max with the overseas spoty award.
Is there anything to be said for another analogy 🙊😁
The definitive reason why Masi got it right
Or else Toto is selling his stake to Storey
https://twitter.com/rich_energy/status/1470471870151593991?s=20
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