Formula 1 Round 22 Abu Dhabi GP

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.

Smear tactics? Which Instragram account are you following, you know the one with the little blue tick beside it is the real one, right?

And this is the bit relative newcomers to F1 are struggling with, saying Masi changed the rules on first stopping cars unlapping and then allowing them.

It simply wasn't safe to let them unlap while marshalls were on the track, and once they were gone, then it was safe. Nothing to do with rule changes, everything to do with safety.

The safety car should be left out as long as possible to get track cleared of debris and marshalls but no longer. Leaving it out for the final lap made no sense as the track was cleared.

That was exactly what I was debating actually! Quoted the relevant posts previously where it basically suggested that Abu Dhabi was Max finally getting the some luck.

Max was unstoppable for certain parts of the year and I can definitely see why his consistency deserved it (besides obviously get the points) but Hamilton was justifiably in contention at the end of the season too. As you mention, plenty of swings and roundabouts over the full 22 races but you get opinions coming out from individuals with vested interests, framing it to whatever way suits.

The regulations say that the clerk of the course will call the safety car in as soon as it is safe to do so, and that his discretion is final. It was certainly safe to do so and had been for over a lap. The teams also unanimously agreed that races should be ended under green flags where possible, so this is the overriding priority where two rules conflict with each other in certain circumstances. It's similar about how the rule about going off track can conflict with the rule about not pushing someone off track - they have to make a judgment call about which is more important and in this case they chose the one that all the teams had unanimously agreed in advance was more important.

And, as was pointed out previously, the marshalls were off the track once the train passed on lap 56 so there was time to let the lapped cars to go at that point, which is why many drivers from other teams who had nothing to do with the championship battle were on the radio confused about why lapped cars hadn't been let past yet like they normally are. If they'd been a little quicker off the mark on this then they would have fulfilled all the minutiae that Mercedes have clung on to, and it would have resulted in exactly the same outcome.

I had the opinion that this was Hamiltons clear last chance at the 8th. Russel represents the future for Merc, he is young and has more racing years left in him. Merc would be equally happy with a championship with whatever driver is in the car, like they were with Rosberg.

Not saying Hamilton has no chance, but this was very much the best one.