Formula 1 2021 - General Discussion Thread (Read 1st post rules)

Maybe they're willing to take a hit to get out and the FIA gave them the excuse. They've been dominant for the last decade or so. Are they getting the same return on their few hundred million a year?

I think they’re being evaluated, there was talk for a while of them being an official FIA mandated thing showing information for fans such as current position. Can’t imagine any team would run them independently, maybe helps your sponsor stand out but it serves no performance purpose, you have to account for it in your construction and structural integrity, and it’s extra weight and a drain on power, however tiny.

The championship result isn't going to change so an appeal is pointless. They should just accept the results on the condition that this kind of thing can never happen again. Not just the safety car thing though, the running cars of track, the brake testing, all that kind of thing will need to be penalised properly next year.

Yeah I was expecting them to not go ahead with the appeal. Inthinkntjeynhad 72 hours from the race to indicate that they were going ahead with the appeal. And I expected them to do some horse trading with the FIA and drip the appealing exchange for some things they wanted such as getting their way on the new engine regulations or or aero rules or legacy payments or something like that.

I'll still be surprised if they really go ahead with the appeal all the way to the court of arbitration. We'll just have to see what happens.

FIA statement about Sunday.

Incredibly unsportsmanlike of Mercedes to be avoiding PR shoots and refraining from any public comment, and I also feel for all the engineers and factory workers who worked so hard all year to not have any acknowledgement.

Toto must have had an insane bonus clause based on Hamilton winning the title for all this apparent pettiness.

Hope Bottas is celebrating with his team in the background at least..

A really good watch this. He explains it very well. Beautiful looking too they are.

This paragraph in the FIA statement rankles me:

"The circumstances surrounding the use of the Safety Car following the incident of driver Nicholas Latifi, and the related communications between the FIA Race Direction team and the Formula 1 teams, have notably generated significant misunderstanding and reactions from Formula 1 teams, drivers and fans, an argument that is currently tarnishing the image of the Championship and the due celebration of the first Drivers' World Championship title won by Max Verstappen and the eighth consecutive Constructors' World Championship title won by Mercedes."

They blame everyone else but themselves.

Being reported that Mercedes will drop their appeal due to Hamilton’s intervention.

Fair play to him. You’d imagine how upset he would be about how it ended up, but at least he’s being a sportsman about it.

Appeal withdrawn

Red Bull are going to take some time getting that ex Honda unit up to speed next year, so unless Ferrari have something hidden up their sleeve next year is going to be Hamilton v Russell. Let Max have this one. Next year should be easier.

Why would you want it easier? Surely you want a competition between teams or do you only want handy championships?

Hamilton v Russell has the potential to be interesting. Russell is a much better driver than Bottas and with the new car they’ll both be on level terms in terms of familiarity.

Hamilton is obviously the better driver and I think Russell will be told to play support next season as I imagine breaking the WDC record is the priority. But on the off chance that Russell shows good pace early on, will Mercedes let them race eachother?

The engines aren't frozen, they can be developed for next year. The regulations are the same so it's not an overhaul like the chassis, but there will definitely be performance gains. Honda are still involved but they're in the process of handing things over and that's almost certain to be a distraction from performance development.

I'd be surprised if Red Bull don't fall back a little bit next year for that reason, but by the same token I wouldn't say that means it's a slam dunk for Mercedes. The new regs give the likes of Ferrari and Alpine the perfect opportunity to move forward, who if they have any sense will have been totally focused on 2022 while the others were preoccupied with the championship.

They wont want another Rosberg situation but I couldnt see him troubling Hamilton in any case.