F1 2022- Round 21 Brazilian GP

SM rumour that Perez admitted to deliberately crashing in monaco is why max didn't give up the place today

And RB had a bloody hard time finding that teammate. Max shítting on him will not be well recieved, not when it was literally pointless of Max to do.

Very silly from Max. Checo has a contract for 2023 and 2024 and Max could potentially need his help again.

We shall see next season if Perez needs to hold back a championship rival of Max's or let Max by again if what Max did today has consequences.

Watched with a 2 hour delay so haven't caught up on everything here.

But wow, defended Max on here for years. Absolutely disgusted with that, after all Checo has done for him. Spoilt brat. Time to find someone else to cheer for😫

Serious question, As it was instrumental only, how is it different to God Save the Queen?

Although, I did think there was a little difference in the melody, just at the very end.

Did they change anything to make it different (musically), besides the name on the track (When there is no Voice)?

Yeah it's no surprise a mountain has been made of this molehill though, the media always latch onto any little thing they can to try and use to turn Verstappen into a pantomime villain, as they have done repeatedly the last few years.

It was a spectacular own goal from Red Bull though. Just like multi21, they made an unnecessary ask of their world champion driver to hand a result to his slower teammate, and just like that time, the driver refused because that's what champions do. Never in a million years would Mercedes have asked Hamilton to gift Bottas a result after a hard fought recovery drive having been rammed off early in the race, nor would Ferrari have asked similar of Alonso or Schumacher for example, because it's just a recipe for trouble. Red Bull's obsession with never favouring their number one driver really hurts them at times.

It was amusing watching the mental gymnastics from the commentary team though, that Verstappen gifting Perez a position to help the race for P2 would definitely be the right thing to do, but Sainz gifting Leclerc a position to help the race for P2 would definitely be the wrong thing to do.

Verstappen fan here. He was a disgrace today. Watched you for years attack absolutely everything Hamilton ever did and blow it out of all proportion. Were you the guy who accused Hamilton of attempted murder? So I know you can't be neutral about this.

But he was a disgrace. There's no defending what he did. Checo has helped him whenever it has been asked, Abu Dhabi last year a prime example. And the one occasion he was asked to help back and he didn't. It's either a team sport or its not. Lost every ounce of respect I had for Max after that.

And for what it's worth, Vettel was also out of order in Malaysia

Brundle mentioned Monaco, and Crofty followed up with a wild conspiracy theory about Perez crashing on purpose. I doubt anyone in their right mind believes he did, least of all someone within Red Bull who was present at the debrief with full access to the data.

I'd imagine if it was about Monaco it's more about the fact that the championship was very clearly looking like a tight two horse race between Max and Charles at the time, yet Checo held up Max for the race (he had track position thanks to the crash in qualy, but I think everyone can agree that was more luck than malice) then they gave Perez first preference on pit stops which ultimately consigned Max to third place, when the team could easily have pit Max first and he would have won. Nobody knew how badly Ferrari would crash and burn as the season went on, so throwing away those points for Max could have proved critical in the long run. But then that's just how Red Bull operate, they'll never treat their slower driver as a number 2 until he's mathematically out of the championship.

In Max's mind maybe he thinks he shouldn't help Checo now since Checo didn't help him then, but who knows as it's all conjecture. Maybe they'll clarify in the coming days but it was a real unnecessary shot in the foot from Red Bull when they should have just let them race like Ferrari sensibly did with their two drivers. P2 in the drivers championship has no real benefit or meaning, not one that compensates for introducing these kinds of dilemmas to the team.

Anyway, aside from the sideshow where everyone tries to pile on and make a massive deal of someone not engaging in team orders to hand over a 6th place, overall it was a pretty good race. Interlagos nearly always delivers.

More dirty driving from Hamilton early on but that's really par for the course for him when actually having to race for a competitive place so at this point it's barely worth commenting on. I am impressed with how bullet proof that Mercedes is, how reliably both Lewis and George are able to routinely hit other drivers without taking damage themselves. I found myself wondering what would happen if the two of them ever hit each other, an unstoppable force hitting an immovable object.

I wonder if karma from that incident may bite Lewis in the long run because the result was that this could arguably be the race people look back on as the one that cemented his role as the Mercedes number 2 driver, where it would might well have been just another inconsequential Verstappen win had Hamilton kept it clean. For George's part, he didn't really put a foot wrong and the win was never in doubt once Max was out of the picture. The safety car might have made it perilous but he was able to comfortably pull out a gap as soon as they got racing again.

Mercedes do look to have the clear fastest car now though and they'll be the team to beat in Abu Dhabi. It's really only been Max that's beaten them the last couple of races, Perez hasn't been anywhere near them, while Ferrari have fallen away.

It was a great performance from Sainz to recover from his early woes and get on the podium though. I've said it before but I do think Sainz has much better racecraft than Leclerc, while Charles is faster over a lap. Sainz always look racey and is always thinking about strategy, whereas when Leclerc ends up back in the field for whatever reason it often seems like he just doesn't really progress. It was looking like that for a while today but eventually with the aid of the safety car he came through. It was a very sloppy move from Norris that took Leclerc out, but it was pretty uncharacteristic and he had been ill all weekend so he deserves the benefit of the doubt.

Alonso on fine form, after he did himself no favours with the fireworks and inflammatory statements in the sprint race, he showed today that he still has that magic at times and that's why he's still in such demand.

Great recovery drive from Max after being taken out early. To think he was put to the back of the field, had a damaged car, forced to serve an absolutely ridiculous penalty, and still climbed back up and beat his teammate who had a trouble free race fair and square, it was one hell of a drive. Such a shame the team tried to interfere and dirty laundry got aired. They should have just handled it like Ferrari. Everyone is saying if Perez loses P2 it will be Max's fault for not giving him the position, yet Sainz cost Leclerc even more points by not giving him his position this race, but nobody is talking about it because the team acted sensibly. It's not often you can say that about Ferrari compared to Red Bull.

Honourable mention for Vettel, he drove a great race as best of the rest behind the big three teams much of the way through, even in a podium place for a brief time, but was put on the wrong tyres at the wrong time which sent him backwards when the safety car came out.

And even more honourable mention for Magnussen, after the heroics on Friday and the come down on Saturday, what a shame to be taken out at the very start. Ricciardo takes a three place penalty into the next race which is probably about right given he put himself out of this race too with the move. In some ways it was a shame having a sprint race because taking that mixed up grid from qualifying into the race would have been really fun, but it had mostly shaken itself out by Sunday.

On a final note, they really need to look at the mess of the safety car. Not only did they not let Tsunoda through, they let Latifi who was behind him through so Tsunoda had to actually cede a position to Latifi then watch him drive off. And unlike Abu Dhabi where there was a lot of noise about minor technicalities that had zero impact on the outcome, the chaos here probably had a material impact on the final result, as aside from Tsunoda directly giving up a place it really cost Sainz a genuine chance he had of attacking the top two on his fresh tyres after getting past Perez, something he lost due to the multiple extra unnecessary laps behind the safety car in the confusion. I wonder if they'll hold an inquiry into this one? The officiating this year has been dreadful, even by the FIA's usual poor standards.

He might as well leave RB now if that’s the case. He is only in F1 right now because of RB.

Laughable. Just flat out laughable. There will be no real consequences at all.

Lads, he is champion for a reason, this is an example of that. Just like all of them.

So I’ve let the dust settle after all the debate last night! And although I really like Max I thought at the time it was a dick move! But thinking more about it…. That’s what separates good drivers from great drivers… being a bit c**tish! My all time fave Vettel is loved by everyone these days but was just as big a prick when he was winning titles!

The race itself?!? Meh… it had an exciting start but I started paying more attention to the NFL after the first round of pit stops! It wasn’t a bad race, but was missing something!

One things for sure…! That Merc looks, dare I say it… “spicy”