2021 F1 Discussions

Yes, it will be very hard to beat. I think Mercedes will regret swapping Bottas with Russell. Valtteri was a true team player for Lewis.

https://forums.calibre11.com/threads/2022-f1-discussions.140124/

One post to celebrate and to congratulate Mercedes-AMG for winning 8 consecutive F1 Constructors’ World Championships, a new record! 😀



And also to wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! 👍

Having been for many years Clerk of the Course, Race Director, Steward, and also working in a FIA Championship, I think I can clarify some doubts about the interpretation of the regulation.



No, Masi had no power to take that decision. Art. 15.3 just gives him power over the -local- Clerk of the Course to decide whether to deploy the SC or not, and also to decide when the SC should enter the pit lane, but he has no power to break the Art. 48.12. He must follow that rule. And Art. 48.13 doesn’t override 48.12 either! That Stewards’ decision to protect their colleague Masi was a farce! Trying to defend the indefensible (Art. 48.12 is very clear), they wrote a poorly sustained decision


Under the rules either they'd be 5 backmarkers between Lewis and Verstappen when they went racing again for one lap, or race would end under Safety Car. So under the rules Mercedes made the correct strategy decision. Where Mercedes got screwed is when Masi broke them. Hard to anticipate the FIA Race Director changing the rules on that last lap! 🤬

It was not a matter of luck but of the FIA Race Director changing the rules on the fly, in a very artificial and unsporting way. Lewis was on more than 40 laps hard tyres while Max was on new soft tyres… Lewis was a sitting duck during that last lap invented by the FIA Race Director, which should never have happened.

Inconsistency surrounding wheel to wheel sporting legislation is entirely different as it’s basically left to the discretion of the Stewards by regulation. Michael Masi inventing new Safety Car rules is a serious case of malpractice.
This isn’t analogous to a poor decision. It’s a decision which isn’t allowed.

From the moment Masi allowed the drivers to unlap themselves on lap 57, the race should have legally ended on lap 58 in a procession behind the Safety Car, with Hamilton first and Verstappen second. Lewis is the legit 2021 Champion under the rules, and for this reason Mercedes made the protest and the appeal. Max did nothing wrong, he just took the gift from Masi, it’s Masi’s fault

If we compare it to another sport, we could say that a football referee can decide −more or less correctly− on a foul or an offside, but he can never decide to whistle the end of the match in the 85th minute, even less when a team is about to score the decisive goal into an empty net... This is just as irregular and scandalous as what Michael Masi did in Abu Dhabi with one lap to go.

If there were commercial and television interests, or pressures so that a season as exciting and interesting from the media point of view as this one did not end in a procession of cars after the Safety Car, Michael Masi had two legal options:
Not letting the drivers with a lost lap unlap themselves, or to have shown the red flag when Nicholas Latifi had the accident.

The FIA Race Director does not have the authority to breach Art. 48.12, but to decide whether to use the Safety Car or to show the red flag for such an accident. The red flag would have led to a race with a standing start 3-4 laps in, all drivers would have been able to change tyres, Hamilton would have been in pole and Verstappen second. It would have been a balanced fight between the two candidates, with equal tyres. It would have been a decision within the rules and sportingly fair. However, Michael Masi, of all the options he had, opted for one that was illegal and also sportingly unfair, which adulterated the result. It is a pity to end such a brilliant season in this way.

FIA only had one fair way (for both drivers and fans) to remedy FIA Race Director’s huge mistake (but they weren’t creative enough): awarding two WDC Titles this year, as there were two Golds in Tokyo. Max won the race (because of the FIA mistake), while Lewis is the legit winner under the rules because the race should have ended under Safety Car. Both should have the 2021 WDC Title

Thank you sir @kappa_md ! 😀
After the end of the race in Abu Dhabi I spent a lot of time on twitter looking for information and news, and I wanted to have all the information before entering here again… and I also needed a holiday to be able to catch up with so many posts! 😁

Merry Christmas! 👍