The Formula 1 Thread

[NinjaTuna]

Still shocked how calm Lewis was after the race. I’d of done a Kimi and just stopped the car near the yachts and fucked off

I don't understand the hate this bloke gets. He's remarkably humble and speaks up for a lot of worthy causes, eg the LGBTQ+ issues in the Middle East. I honestly have no idea how he managed to compose himself for the interviews and podium, in the way he did.

 

[TallBlokePH]

Was late catching up on the race today, what an absolute fucking farce Masi created yet again. Ignoring all the previous established practice just to have a last lap drama - which was only ever going to go one way given the respective tyre situation - is an absolute piss take and seriously damages the credibility of the sport.

Horner and Verstappen come across like cocks, but if they'd have won fair and square that's the way it is. Deciding the title like this is so far removed from a sporting outcome I don't even know what to call it.

 

[NinjaTuna]

Was late catching up on the race today, what an absolute fucking farce Masi created yet again. Ignoring all the previous established practice just to have a last lap drama - which was only ever going to go one way given the respective tyre situation - is an absolute piss take and seriously damages the credibility of the sport.

Horner and Verstappen come across like cocks, but if they'd have won fair and square that's the way it is. Deciding the title like this is so far removed from a sporting outcome I don't even know what to call it.

Even though they can both come across as a bit smug at times, I thought they handled the celebrations pretty well. There wasn't much arrogance to it. Although that might have just been because they were gobsmacked

 

[mezza84]

I don't understand the hate this bloke gets. He's remarkably humble and speaks up for a lot of worthy causes, eg the LGBTQ+ issues in the Middle East. I honestly have no idea how he managed to compose himself for the interviews and podium, in the way he did.

I agree. And I find it really weird.

He comes across as nice bloke that is using his position to raise awareness of some important issues.

Not sure what there is to find offence with frankly.

 

[cockjol]

I’m not actually angry about what happened. Just have a nauseous feeling that a Sporting event has been decided by something dodgy, untoward, manufactured like reality tv etc…what a dangerous precedent this sets…what will they do if a race/championship is boring next year hear and ratings start taking a tumble?
I hasten to add, I don’t like Mercedes trying to win a world championship in a court room either despite their feelings of injustice…that’s why it just sucks all round.

 

[TallBlokePH]

Even though they can both come across as a bit smug at times, I thought they handled the celebrations pretty well. There wasn't much arrogance to it. Although that might have just been because they were gobsmacked

Yeah to be honest I mostly forwarded through the interviews today, was more thinking of previous/general way they've been. There's no doubt Verstappen is an exceptional driver, and maybe he will come across better in his later years as has been the case with other drivers previously.

 

[JCRD]

Is it standard practice for barristers and legal teams to be taken by the teams to the races or was this a one off? I mean the fact that Mercedes took with them a barrister - its like they knew shit will happen. Find it fascinating

 

[cwy21]

I’m not actually angry about what happened. Just have a nauseous feeling that a Sporting event has been decided by something dodgy, untoward, manufactured like reality tv etc…what a dangerous precedent this sets…what will they do if a race/championship is boring next year hear and ratings start taking a tumble?

It's in general one of my issues with racing. Someone can be up 16 seconds after dominating a race and then it's gone.

Hey you're up 3-0 after 90 minutes but now we're going to penalty kicks.

 

[NinjaTuna]

Also, shout out to Lewis' dad, who handled the result brilliantly, going over to congratulate the RB team

 

[13VanDerBale13]

I can’t help but think of what Lewis must have been going through that last lap ?

Was so obvious what was going to happen & it was like he was being fed to the sharks ??‍

 

[Matrix]

Ive been watching F1 since 87, the year when Mansell crashed in Japan practice and couldn't race to battle Pique in the last 2 races. Even back then it came down to the drivers/team mistakes to decide a close championship (except for the year Senna and Prost crashed I'm McLarens in 88 and FIA decided to disqualify Senna) , today was the first time I've seen cheating legitimised. To have a race director manufacture that last lap shoot out where rules were bent to favour 1 out come just made my jaw drop an lose faith in F1 being a "fair" sport. What Masi did was disgusting, to mould the rules to give Red Bull and Max an advantage so great that we all knew the result even before the SC pulled in.
It was a stitch up on Mercedes and Lewis, the "no unlapping of back markers" most probably made Mercs decision not to bring Lewis in; then Masi changes it when Horner decides to cry to him about getting one lap(knowing full well Lewis couldn't defend with the tyres he was on)....those last 5 minutes were fixed, as every one who watched F1 would have known the Lewis was a sitting duck. Why wasn't Sainz allowed to bunch up to Max?
This was the WWE moment for F1, one which I think will tarnish the product as now every decision will be questioned...was it done because those are the rules, or was that done as its great entertainment? Nothing wrong with entertaining, but if the race is boring then its boring, that's the nature of the sport.....the integrity will now be questioned.

As for the hate of Lewis, I've never got why he gets it. He does so much for various charities/causes, and when I think deeply about it, I think majorly its because he is not white. I maybe completely wrong but that's my gut feeling.

 

[Matrix]

I can’t help but think of what Lewis must have been going through that last lap ?

Was so obvious what was going to happen & it was like he was being fed to the sharks ??‍

This 100X. If we saw it, you can bet Masi saw it and hence Horner was begging Masi to make that happen.

 

[Matrix]

As this continues to drag on, it's becoming increasingly apparent how detestable Horner is.

I can't stand his whinging every 5 minutes, accusing everyone of cheating.. Then his power stance interviews. His slimy handshake gesture to Lewis too, thank god Lewis is calm, I would have chinned him.

 

[beats1]

I don't think there was anything nefarious going on. I think Masi just made a bad decision.

Clearly Horner was in his ear about the original decision to not let lapped cars through, and mentioned some mumbo jumbo about how "sporting integrity" required that they race the final lap.

Masi ultimately agreed that he did not want the championship decided under a safety car, and that it would be an exciting finish - without ever considering that Max, on new tires, would always be able to overtake in that instance - thus it was never a "fair" fight.


Mercedes had the better car, driver and tactics for 57 laps - only to be outdone by Masi.

Masi has made a lot of favourable decision for Max, last week he intervened before the stewards to get Max to give back position instead of giving a 5 second penalty after sector 1 which would have taken him back a couple of positions minimum

 

[cockjol]

I can't stand his whinging every 5 minutes, accusing everyone of cheating.. Then his power stance interviews. His slimy handshake gesture to Lewis too, thank god Lewis is calm, I would have chinned him.

That handshake made me want to puke too…all the shit he’s been saying about lewis…what an insincere slimeball.

 

[cockjol]

Masi has made a lot of favourable decision for Max, last week he intervened before the stewards to get Max to give back position instead of giving a 5 second penalty after sector 1 which would have taken him back a couple of positions minimum

Who gets caught braketesting and is then given just a 10 second penalty which has no impact on where they finish?

 

[Pochemon94]

I hate to say it but Masi did this perfectly for what he wanted. He wants us all talking about this right now which we are. This farce creates dialogue which then creates more buzz for the next season. In the US yesterday I was asked by like 5-6 friends if I was going to wake up at 5am to watch the race. I have never been asked before this year to watch F1 with friends/they normally just say no but this year was different due to the Netflix show/how close the season came out to. Was what happened a farce, yeah, will it help with future F1 seasons global appeal most likely. I just want to clarify that I don't condone what happened and I hope it doesn't in future

 

[Geyzer Soze]

When sporting results must be settled in court, or there's even talk of it, it is no longer a sport it's something else. RIP F1

 

[Gb160]

Latifi with a life time supply of Red bull after what he did

Christian Horner promises Nicholas Latifi ‘a lifetime supply of Red Bull’

Latifi’s crash five laps from the flag brought out a safety car that Max Verstappen used to win the world title

www.independent.co.uk

 

[Gb160]

Athletic article, can't disagree with any of it:

The observation came with 10 precious laps remaining as Max Verstappen’s Formula One world championship hopes dangled by the thinnest of strings. A “miracle” is what Verstappen needed, Red Bull principal Christian Horner told an international television audience watching Sunday’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Sky Sports. Short of divine intervention, Lewis Hamilton would win a record-breaking eighth championship.

To the delight of Horner and Verstappen, such a miracle occurred in the form of Nicholas Latifi crashing with just five laps left, much to the chagrin of Hamilton, who uttered a long string of obscenities bleeped out by the network. What ensued was not just the most dramatic finish to a championship in Formula One history, but also a sequence of events showcasing the incompetency of how Formula One presides over races.

The controversy centers around Formula One race director Michael Masi initially deciding the race would be restarted with one lap left and that the five lapped cars between the leader Hamilton and second-place Verstappen would remain in place, per FIA regulations, not reshuffled to the end of the lineup.

Perhaps coincidentally, perhaps not, after Horner continued lobbying Masi, the director reversed his decision. The lapped cars could go around, and Verstappen was to restart directly behind Hamilton. With Verstappen having fresher tires than Hamilton’s, not having to maneuver around slower traffic in only a lap presented him a significant advantage, which he capitalized on by passing Hamilton into Turn 5. Just like that, Masi delivered Verstappen and Red Bull a second miracle, while severely kneecapping Hamilton and Mercedes.




Never should officials give the impression they’re making up the rules on the fly or ignore their own procedures when instituting a decision. Yet here stewards did both to the point that one had the impression Vince McMahon had somehow been placed in charge. This wasn’t a referee swallowing the whistle, this was a referee taking a match to the rulebook before a worldwide viewing audience and shrugging his shoulders when questioned.

“Toto, it’s called a motor race. We want car racing,” Masi responded when Mercedes principal Toto Wolff asked for clarification.

Instead of Verstappen basking in the adulation that comes with winning the championship, the attention was on Mercedes protesting the outcome and whether the results would eventually be overturned. Four hours after Verstappen crossed the finish line, the FIA announced both of Mercedes’ appeals had been denied. The team then responded by filing an appeal before the International Court of Appeal.

Nothing screams excitement like a world championship potentially being decided by a protest. What should’ve been a worthy finale to an all-time season-long tussle between the legendary Hamilton and the upstart Verstappen turned into just another example of FIA officials exhibiting an innate ability to mismanage a race in a season filled with controversies. That list includes the clown show that was the rain-shortened Belgium Grand Prix, to the countless inconsistencies in administering penalties, to Masi seemingly being bullied by Horner on Sunday a week after Masi essentially allowed Red Bull to levy its own penalty against itself after Verstappen was found to have pushed Hamilton off course during the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

Masi’s flimsy justification to Wolff along with his refusal to speak to the media afterward only further undermines any confidence that Masi is capable of effectively officiating a race.

He might as well just have said “because I said so.” Or that he wanted to make sure Netflix gets another juicy storyline for the next season of “Drive to Survive.”

All this does is diminish what Verstappen accomplished. And what the Dutchman did should not be diminished.

Throughout the season Verstappen drove brilliantly, elevating his performance where he was every bit Hamilton’s equal and showed a level of maturity that some thought the 24-year-old lacked. It takes someone special to beat Hamilton, and Verstappen is that worthy foe who denied Hamilton an eighth championship and ended his consecutive title streak at four years. Such an achievement should be celebrated.

But that wasn’t the central storyline post-race Sunday. That distinction belonged to the debacle that played out over the final five laps, trumping the tense drama befitting a finale where for the first time since 1974 the two contenders entered level in points.

Formula One is supposed to represent the pinnacle of motorsports; its drivers are recognized as among the very best in the world at what they do. The same, however, cannot be said of those who officiate the races. What’s clear is that the standard for them is vastly different. And that’s unacceptable.