Was Lewis robbed

[EPA]

All other things aside Hamilton had no chance when he was on old hard tyres and Verstappen on new soft tyres especially when Verstappen could afford to risk a crash in the knowledge that this would still result in him being champion.
The officials who are very experienced should have realised this.
The correct way to deal with the situation would have been to red flag the race bringing everyone in which would have given them all the opportunity to change tyres . The race could have finished with a two lap race on equal terms
This had actually been done at an earlier race in the season .
Ed

[mark030358]

Hamilton is by far the better driver and had the better car. Even after the first stop for tyres LH was pulling away. He was robbed by a weak man, Masi, giving in to an utter tosser, Horner.

Rules are rules, unless you are a race director or a British PM

Regards

[rgh0]

If Masi did not give instructions in line with the rules then I presume the Mercedes appeals would have pointed this out and succeeded.

As they did not succeed I presume he gave instructions in accordance with the rules, at least in the eyes of the appeals panel. If it ended up in resulting in an advantage to Red Bull which enabled them to be in an advantaged position for overtaking in the last lap it may be unfair and unsporting but the rules are the rules are they not

cheers
Rohan

[Andy8421]

I lost interest in F1 around the time Colin died.

Much of the interest to me was the designers of the cars and the innovation around the designs themselves. It was Chapman's ground breaking designs that got me interested in Lotus in the first place.

My own view is that the FIA have lost the plot, the myriad of micro regulations have done nothing to level the field to make it more exciting (their stated aim), the same teams still win. It's just the differences are much smaller - all the cars are effectively the same and it is still the teams with the biggest budgets that find the very small edge to be had within the regulations. My engineer son pointed out that the FIA limit the number of CFD (computational fluid dynamics) cycles a team can employ when optimising the airflow around the car. Madness.

I can't find the quote, but I believe Chapman said there should be no regulation on car design, just a limit on the amount of fuel. Any innovation was acceptable - you want 17 wheels, then go for it. These days, there would need to be safety requirements as well, but think how much more interesting it would be if designers could do what they like. F1 has become a one make series, and to me is just about as interesting.

[EPA]

If Masi did not give instructions in line with the rules then I presume the Mercedes appeals would have pointed this out and succeeded.

As they did not succeed I presume he gave instructions in accordance with the rules, at least in the eyes of the appeals panel. If it ended up in resulting in an advantage to Red Bull which enabled them to be in an advantaged position for overtaking in the last lap it may be unfair and unsporting but the rules are the rules are they not

cheers
Rohan

I believe the reason the appeal failed is that there is a rule that overrides all the others regarding the restart procedure. This gave Masi the discretion to deviate from the normal procedure if circumstances required but unfortunately in this case he misused this discretion purely to ensure the race didn’t end under the safety car.
Also I saw no action when Verstapen moved slightly ahead of Hamilton whilst behind the safety car or when Verstappen was weaving about on the straight when Hamilton tried to fight back.As I understand it both of these actions are against the rules.
Ed

[Slowtus]

I suspect Max would have managed to pass the 4 lapped cars and go on to catch and pass Lewis, given the fresher tires and then we would have had a genuine exciting finish versus a contrived one

An asterisk beside that championship, no fault of Max.

[baileyman]

After the lap one kerfuffle, I realized the racing was not the event but the FIA, which is about as much fun as watching the USA Supreme Court. JOhn

[Hawksfield]

Andy4821

My feelings entirely

I miss the days of the lotus era when car desiign was the fruits of the individual team, not like today to much control from the FIA, they wanted them to race but only under their contol and toally confused the GP ending, upsetting for Lewis and a holow victory for Max.

We will never see the likes of the fan car, the six wheeler, sliding skirts today with the FIA mindset and the new owners Influence.

[Slowtus]

A new meme floating around the wobbly wobbly web...F1 champion 2021 is Max Verstolen.

Can't blame the young man even though he has got away with some really poor driving decisions throughout the year.

Good to hear that communication twixt Red Bull/Merceds and the race director have been stopped.

All we need now is a new race director

[The Veg]

I don't care, lost interest in F1 circa 1990.

Notice how much stuff in sports and 'extreme sports' has the Red Bull name on it. They're out to own everything anyway and seem to be well on they to doing so. And as a beverage, it's positively *YUCKY*.

[Donels]

Agree the beverage is yucky, I would actually describe it as kin awful. But I don't think we're its target audience, mostly being too old to take the turbo-charged hit.

[h20hamelan]

Not a single person drinks it without good vodka, then it’s tolerable. Like carrot juice, needs good vodka.

[Slowtus]

Not a single person drinks it without good vodka, then it’s tolerable. Like carrot juice, needs good vodka.

Never tried red Bull and I doubt I ever will - I'm fine with vodka though

[The Veg]

I find vodka to be the most boring of distilled spirits.

[pharriso]

I find vodka to be the most boring of distilled spirits.

Yes, but you can make Gin from it