Formula 1 Round 22 Abu Dhabi GP

How do you know that?

How do you know who the best driver in F1 is?

There was one car miles ahead of everybody, now there's two close together at the top and a mile back to everybody else. The best driver could be Mick Schumacher or Giovonazzi or Norris. There's no way to know unless you put them in cars that can compete with each other.

Bottas isnt a very good barometer is he tho? Going on the season he had, never really shown the pace the car had.

Russell , i think, will be similar to Bottas next year..

To be fair to Bottas, I don't rate him at all, but his performance this season has been heavily influenced by the way Mercedes used him - giving him compromised aero to ensure he gave Lewis maximum tow at some circuits, completely compromising his strategy to interfere with Max at others, and using him as a test mule with multiple engine changes ahead of giving Lewis that souped up engine at Brazil - that was the point where he really dropped back from his teammate, due to the engine deficit.

Despite all that he only scored one fewer pole position than Lewis and there there were a bunch of races when he wasn't compromised where he showed he could perform better than his teammate in the right conditions, such as at Monaco, Austria or Turkey.

That said, you'd still expect Russell to do significantly better. Wolff stated that Bottas was specifically hired not to be a repeat of Rosberg and his willingness to completely sacrifice his own performances to help his teammate time and time again is why they kept him for so long. It's hard to imagine Russell being treated in the same way.

This made me laugh

In fairness it was a ridiculous ending to a GP. It should have ended under safety car. The Latifi incident should not have decided the winner of the GP. Not letting all lapped cars through made it very easy for Max on fresh tyres to pick off lewis but also he didn't have to worry about a challenge from Sainz albeit on worn hard tyres behind as he was 2 cars back but it wS one less thing to worry about. Farce. I can see why Hamilto is aggrieved.

The above comment sums it up which is why there is so much controversy

So what about the Russell/Bottas crash at imola. That gave Hamilton a 2nd place he wouldn't have got near otherwise. LH was able to unlap himself and LeC missed out on a podium. Was LeC robbed that day too.? Or is that just another example of the unpredictable nature of motorsport when there is red flag or SC.

If Latifi didnt bin it on Sunday and LH won, would Imola or Silverstone be deemed to have robbed Max of the title? Remember Merc admitted they gambled on leaving LH out that day with a damaged car because they reckoned there would be a red flag.

Sainz was never in a million years going to get near LH or Max so that argument is nonsense to be honest.

And again, it was agreed beforehand by all accounts that every effort would be made to finish under green flag. That's what happened. What tyres LH/Max are on is of no concern to the race director and should not dictate his decision making.

What sort of nonsense is this?

And why are you only looking at means to be fair to everyone if this circumstances ever arise again, however unlikely that is?

Why not be fair to LeC at Imola and promote him to the podium? Max pitted under VSC, the same VSC when Hamiltons team principal was on the blower to the race director pretty much ordering him not to throw a SC.

Remember Hamilton at silverstone and then compare that to his comments about Vettel from 2018 when he contact with Bottas and finished ahead of him. What about Morals then? How about we call the silverstone 2021 race off and come back when Max is able to and his car is repaired? To be fair morally like? Where does this morally right stuff end?

This whole morally responsible stuff is utter bullsh1t. Safety cars etc are part of the sport. Masi cleared the track and got the race finished under green flag conditions.

I haven't checked the rules but my understanding is that a red flag at that stage would mean the race would not be restarted. Anyway, it was never a red flag situation

People don't have a problem with the safety car, at least not specifically in relation to this incident. If the crash had occurred 1 lap earlier and there had been time to end the safety car period and restart the race properly there would have been no real issue, it would have been hard on Lewis and lucky for Max but the luck had been going the other way earlier in the season and Max would have deserved his.

The way Masi handled the end of the safety car period is the only issue here. He had to depart from the normal procedures in order to get the race restarted for the last lap, and the way in which he did this favoured one car in the race over all the others and directly influenced the result of the both race and the championship. It is just wrong that one man has the authority to do this on the spur of the moment, and Masi showed very poor judgement in the way he handled things.

I don't think Mercedes are blaming everybody but themselves, they just feel very let down by the above. With hindsight it is possible to suggest things they could have done differently during the race but unfortunately the strategists have to act on the information they have at the time and cannot predict the future, for the race leader to follow a risky strategy based on the possibility of future SC or VSC periods would have been crazy.

The real tragedy with all of this is looking at people who just started watching F1, try and explain it to you.

Painful.

What would have been a farce would be to manipulate the safety car and keep it out an extra two laps after the track was clear just to ensure that Hamilton would win even though the rules clearly state that the clerk of the course should bring in the safety car when the track is safe and the teams previously unanimously agreed that in situations like this finishing under a green flag should take all priority as long as it is safe, which it was.

It’s unfortunate that all the lobbying slowed down the normal procedure of letting lapped cars through which should have been done much earlier, and this meant that they could only correctly let most of them through, but doing the normal thing for most backmarkers was preferable to doing the normal thing for none of them and ultimately that had no effect on the outcome. People are really clutching at straws if they think Sainz would risk throwing away 5th in the championship by needlessly trying to attack a much faster car on the final lap, and that he’d have succeeded if he tried. Even in prerace interviews guys like Norris were saying they didn’t want to risk interfering in the championship battle and were aiming for third.

Painful? You mean the fantastic airtime it got on us media?

Just listen to the descriptions of the race. "It was a walk-off home-run, a buzzer beater and a hail Mary, all rolled into one. It was the final lap of the final race. It brought chaos, controversy, and a new champion". That's amazing coverage.

And they gave it all that fantastic coverage FOR FREE, simply because of the circumstances. It was actually news worthy of the first time in years.

You're seeing this coverage as an unmitigated success for f1 in the US, right?

It doesn't matter if they would have tried to or not, it's that they should have had the option should they have wanted to.

No one will convince me that letting some cars unlap was the right or correct decision, for Max v Hamilton, or the rest of the grid.

I don’t watch F1 really ,but do watch other motorsports.

that was comical to be honest.

what is the point of having rules if Masi can just change it how he likes?

Also, how can the team directors be talking to the steward and making deals.

they made some deal last race also over the radio.

crazy.

Anyway the safety car always closing the bunch up through no fault of people that had no effect is always a bit sour.

they really should come up with some other solution,

the gaps should be reinstated , cross a line and wait for a signal on the wheel for when you are allowed to go.

Would cut out that accelerating and braking game before the safety car restart also, dangerous in itself.