F1 2021 – spoilers here

Mercedes did mess up their pit strategy

No they didn’t

Merc did what they had to in leaving Lewis out. Redbull chose to do the opposite of whatever Lewis did, which is the advantage of following. Max was free to take the tyre changes, both time, because he wasn’t under threat from behind.

Lewis needed a team mate today. Sadly he had Bottas, down in 8th after a lap.

FWIW I don’t believe there’s any great conspiracy to make Merc lose (well, possibly the aero changes between last year and this 😁), I think it’s just incompetent and inconsistent stewarding, and an inexperienced and weak race director.

Did anyone else catch Jenson’s dig at Rosberg? Rosberg was commenting on Honda always quitting when they just get to the front. Button quickly replied “well you quit when you won!” 🤣

I’m almost afraid to look at the F1Tech forum: I think it might have exploded after the last few laps

Jack Nicolls on BBC makes an interesting point that by allowing only some lapped cars to overtake the SC, they theoretically disadvantaged the cars that weren’t allowed to

Indeed. We’ll never know if Max would have been able to make that overtake if Sainz had been allowed to be right behind him and attack.

I also agree it’s incompetence, not conspiracy.

Interesting conspiracy on Kravitz’ notebook, redbull deliberately underfueled Perez so he would be that bit quicker if he had to hold up Hamilton, so he wouldn’t just breeze past. Would explain why Perez was so confused as to why they retired him…

LH had enough race pace in the first half of the race even if they had made Lewis give up the place to max he would not have been able to hold off Hamilton.
DRS and a more stable tyre compound meant Lewis would have reeled max in and overtaken on track using drs and a squirt of electric.
Redbull rolled the dice and were relying on a full safety car to close up the pack. Which happened.
Then the clerk of the course, as soon as he declared “no un lapping” merc knew it was a Hamilton win.
Not enough laps to either. –
Allow the unlapped feild through when safe, plus 1 lap to let the safety car in

Leave the 5 lapped in running order in between lewis and max, who were racing each other for points, making it almost impossible for max to clear those quickly and catch Lewis who would have been away and up the road

I think its the fact that merc ran both scenarios and were very confident, then the clerk of the course moved the goal posts

Can the stewards do what they do in the magistrates court and basically say ‘this is above our paygrade’ and refer it straight to CAS?

Fro Jennie Gow:

The teams went into a meeting with the race director.

I can tell you that Mercedes took a barrister with them.

The head honchos from both race teams appeared before the stewards.

They then came out, Christian Horner looked at me, winked, broke into a little smile and carried on walking.

Then I heard they have just adjourned the meeting and will reconvene in eight minutes.

@thegreatape – interesting and valid point. FIA have got a massive clusterf**k to deal with

I grew up watching F1, Mansell, Senna, Prost etc

Yes, it was all so much cleaner then with Senna cheating when it suited him, and crying like a baby when he got served the same tactics  and Mansell boring everyone to tears moaning about how awful everyone to him was and Prost making sure than that nasty Senna can’t play in his team or not wanting to drive in the rain….

We’ll never know if Max would have been able to make that overtake if Sainz had been allowed to be right behind him and attack.

That’s a very strong point that hadn’t previously occurred to me.

Apparently according to our Craig the feeling among the journos is that mistakes have been made by the RD.

RB PR machine saying ‘it’s not fair, Merc have their QC with them’. Well that’s RB’s problem; ‘what piece?’. ‘This ****ing piece’ basically.

I don’t know for certain whether there were cars in between Sainz and Verstappen at the restart, but it was the first thing that sprang to mind when Twodogs highlighted Jack Nicholls comment.

Interesting conspiracy on Kravitz’ notebook, redbull deliberately underfueled Perez so he would be that bit quicker if he had to hold up Hamilton, so he wouldn’t just breeze past. Would explain why Perez was so confused as to why they retired him…

Ooo,that’s an interesting thought! Nothing illegal about it, I guess,but shows how committed they are.

Yes, it was all so much cleaner then with Senna cheating when it suited him, and crying like a baby when he got served the same tactics  

Kinda the other way round – Prost did a shit takeout in ’89 and not only got away with it but had the title handed to him, which is why we then had Suzuka ’90. Thank Balestre.

Nothing illegal about it,

Really? Even as a deliberate tactic to give a unfair advantage to a team-mate?

Hopefully the scrutineers will pick it up, and if it turns out Perez had no chance of finishing, it can be added to the list of outlawed dirty tricks.

The cars that were allowed to unlap themselves, where were they on track when the safety car pulled in?
Not where they should have been id wager, couldn’t see as the cameras were all on the front of the rave, naturally.

Really? Even as a deliberate tactic to give a unfair advantage to a team-mate?

Dunno, but I don’t think so, not specifically? Maybe there’s something broader about fielding a car unable to complete the race?

Massi has been shocking this year. He hasn’t had control and the teams know it and used this to their advantage. Alonso summed it up when he was surprised that certain manoeuvres were now legal. The lack of definition has been farcical.

Sadly it means whoever is crowned champion, it will always be soured. I can’t see Massi being in place next year.

Kinda the other way round

Mleh, who cares it was 30 years ago, the point was that anyone who thinks it was some sort of golden era in F1 when it was clean and everyone followed the rules fairly and that somehow only now it’s got to the dogs, clearly wasn’t paying that much attention

Mleh, who cares…

You posted, I replied. 🙂 But fair enough – I don’t know if there ever HAS been a golden era, just bits we each prefer.

I seem to recall when the T-Mobile doping scandal broke, Germany lost complete interest in cycling. The sponsors pulled out and it went off TV.

I wonder, how well received it will be in Germany. I get the feeling that fairness and following the rules is a bit more important there.

Just watching the C4 highlights…even DC said “they’re making the rules up as they go along”

I dont think dukevduvet actually said it was cleaner or a golden era tbf. Just that, that is when they watched it.

Just a complete sh*tshow to the end of the season , if I was Lewis and the result is overturned i wouldn’t even want the Championships due to the incompetence of the FIA , no one is going to look back at this and go wow what a cracking and fairly fought race and the right guy won

Anyone reading anything into Lewis’s “we’ll see about next year” comment? Just a throwaway comment under interview pressure?

fairly fought

Tbh I think today’s race was fairly fought….between the drivers. Shame the race director screwed it up so badly.

I’d read that as I’m going to come out all guns blazing to try and win the championship early as possible

As expected the protest about overtaking under sc has been rejected

Overtaking protest rejected…

Does anyone know why Perez retired?

Interesting conspiracy on Kravitz’ notebook, redbull deliberately underfueled Perez

Nothing illegal about it,

Really? Even as a deliberate tactic to give a unfair advantage to a team-mate? Hopefully the scrutineers will pick it up

I may be wrong but I don’t think retired cars are subject to scrutineering.

Whichever way the decision goes, it’s ruined F1 for me. What an utterly crap way to end a season like that. Masi must go. They need a strong hand that applies the rules and does not bend and make “deals”. It’s the rules, they don’t bend, that is that. Other sports seem to run ok. The ball was either out or in, it can’t be changed.
Sometimes a match is a 0-0 draw in the rain. It happens. Not every race can be a classic.
Very disappointed with the whole thing.

Anyway I think the issue here is the same as any other high level sport. It’s no longer controlled by the “nominal” governing body, there are too many other vested interests.

Will Mercedes go to CAS?

Sometimes a match is a 0-0 draw in the rain. It happens. Not every race can be a classic.

Nice analogy; you’re 2-0 up with 5 mins left. The other team score but it was just offside……

But we’ve decided to let it stand because it’ll make the last 5 mins exciting, and we just want to see exciting finishes.

Damage has been done now , don’t think anyone cares now about the result other than Max/Hamilton fans and the teams 🤷‍♂️

“Anyone reading anything into Lewis’s “we’ll see about next year” comment? Just a throwaway comment under interview pressure?”

I noticed that and my gut feeling in the moment was that he’ll retire.

@Piemonster – correct. No doubt that this season has been dramatic and worth watching. As to the ending let’s see what happens now.

@nickc had me chuckling there with your recap of the past especially Mansell moaning!

Jack Nicolls on BBC makes an interesting point that by allowing only some lapped cars to overtake the SC, they theoretically disadvantaged the cars that weren’t allowed to

Is a very good point.