Formula 1 Round 22 Abu Dhabi GP

Russel is very fast, and eager to prove that. What better way of doing that then by going up against a 7 time champion like Hamilton? Russel has been part of the Merc family for a long time as well, so I doubt he will be kept back too much, if at all.

Its at the clerk of the course's discretion when the safety car comes in. Whether people think its irregular or not is beside the point. Most people know this, Mercedes know it, these are the rules they signed up to and agreed to along with letting them race. If they don't like the rules, they know where the door is.

There was no reason to bring in the safety car earlier and zero reason to leave it out for the final lap. Bad enough as the controversy was, it would have been far worse if he left the safety car out to the end. That would really ruin the integrity of the sport.

Anyways its time to draw a line under it. The Brits will continue to whine about it no doubt, well those who never watched a formula 1 race before and don't understand fully the rules.

On the plus side, if he does retire there's a good chance you'll be watching 2 Dutch World Champions race each other at Zandvoort.

Hopefully he makes a quick recovery. With the way omicron is going there'll barely be anybody in the paddock who hasn't had it by the start of next season. Fortunate that relatively few races were missed by anyone during the year.

Last season Lewis himself was saying no guarantee of returning for 2021 and of course he came back. Don’t think he’s the type to finish on such a close loss, one shy of the record when still close to his peak.

Think Merc just want Masi’s head to roll which may already be in the pipeline for all we know.

Nobody, Lineker included thinks Abu Dhabi was the entire championship...Lineker simply used one race/GP/incident to make a point, albeit a point that was too balck and white....but it was deliberately black and white. He's no fool. Filks reading too much int his deliberate/intentional exaggeration

With all due respect this post is a pile of turd!

Not really no, that was an incident during a knock out game, not an incident during a league game. If it were the last game of a premiership season then I could see irony.

Yeah I agree that it doesn't sit right and the chosen approach seems odd. I think masi was in a tough position and didn't know what to do, hence all the confusion around un lapping or not. I don't think he was purposefully trying to manipulate the race for a show.

With hindsight, the fairest solution was a red flag. The crash didn't merit a red flag and in that context alone the call was correct. When we then learn about the implications for the championship then that changes. Hard to blame him for that, although all subsequent decisions are on his shoulders

Wouldn't agree that it has been manipulated. I do agree that his job is to get the race underway. Standard procedure is always fair and your point stands in that context. Normal safety car procedure in the middle of the race would have been fair without question, safety car to the end would have been fair without question.

He did take a different approach than usual so it appears that it is his job to use his judgement to achieve that. And judgment has to be fair, otherwise you are in the realm of being open to clearly biased decision making. In this case it is not clear that the judgment was fair. I'm a max fan and trying to be as objective as possible

I have a feeling he's going to quit.

Hope Im wrong.

It's not about "being fair" to anyone.

Each party had the same options to pit or not. It should be about getting racing as soon as possible. Which it was.

If he had won on Sunday then I’m certain he’d have done a Rosberg and retired that night! Now he’ll have the weigh up what next years car is going to be like. If he thinks he has a chance at #8 then he stays!

He wont???

He finished 15th with 16 points.

I know hes going to the team with the best car, and will improve on 4 points finishes, but hes not going to challenge Hamilton!