Formula One...

[Bob]

22 minutes ago, rb14 said:

There were no real options for LH to pit as it would have lost him track position each time. 

 

A benefit of being the following car is the ability to choose to pit when the cards of race stoppages fall in your favour. They certainly didn't fall in LH's favour today. 

 

The disgrace was the FIA deciding the outcome of the race in the final Safety Car period. I believe they can choose whether to allow the lapped cars to pass the Safety Car. Certainly any race I've been involved in - driving or adjudicating - when lapped cars are waved through, they're then given time to join the train behind the Safety Car before the race restarts. That most certainly didn't happen this time. 

 

I a little surprised Mercedes didn't suddenly have an inexplicable failure on Valteri's car just before the Safety Car came in - necessitating a further couple of SC laps. I'm glad they didn't, but less scrupulous teams might have done so. 

 

A VERY highly placed mate of mine messaged me with three lines in quick succession:

"Terrible." 

"I'm speechless." 

"I don't know what to say." 

 

What we saw here today was the FIA deciding the outcome of the race. Bums on seats was put ahead of racing. In the cold light of day, that should be disappointing whichever driver you support. 

I love this post cause it absolutely drips with better knowledge and informed views than any of mine could, but generally makes the points ive tried to, which makes me feel smug and self-satisfied, which is my favourite kind of feeling.

[rb14]

18 minutes ago, Leyton388 said:

Max deserves it as he's had more wins this season but he was gifted it by the race director. 

I'm not sure I agree that winning more races means someone deserves it. In fact, I know I disagree. 

 

4 minutes ago, Bob Spunkmouse said:

I love this post cause it absolutely drips with better knowledge and informed views than any of mine could, but generally makes the points ive tried to, which makes me feel smug and self-satisfied, which is my favourite kind of feeling.

Ace.

[Creator Supreme]

Lewis Hamilton will be world champion by half 5, load of bollocks!

[Jack the Sipper]

14 minutes ago, rb14 said:

I think it is completely within the regs to allow only some lapped cars through, particularly those between P1 and P2. I don't have access to the F1-specific rulebook, but I've seen it in lower-level motorsport. As I say though, those cars unlapping themselves were always given time to join the back of the "train" before the SC comes in. 

This is the rule (39.12) that people are posting about, which seems to state that only when all the lapped cars have past the leader can the race restart. 

 

[Strontium]

57 minutes ago, Captain Howdy said:

But you could extend that to football, how many teams can really win the league? Money wins the league, the teams are not on an even platform.

 

Not the same at all, is it. You can identify bargain signings in team sport; some teams actually make a profit and win the league.

 

But no matter how good a driver is, he ain't going to make a car with a top speed of 100mph drive at 150mph.

[Babb'sBurstNad]

Toto Wolff should ask for trial by combat against Horner. Smarmy little fuck would be destroyed by the Schwarzenegger sound-a-like.

[rb14]

@Strontium Dog™ there are plenty of formulae that are one-make, one-type series. That's why I chose Radicals back in the day. There are rules and regs that enable multi-make cars to compete on a fairly level playing field, F1 included. Hence Williams enjoying many years of success, despite not being the best-funded team. c.f. Jordan, Brawn, etc. If it were only about the best-funded, Ferrari would be way further up the grid than they are currently. F1 is constantly working to further enable closer competition throughout the field. 

[Leyton388]

43 minutes ago, rb14 said:

I'm not sure I agree that winning more races means someone deserves it. In fact, I know I disagree. 

 

Ace.

That's just me trying to be sporting and trying to process what I've seen today. 

 

Hamilton is 10 times the driver Max is. I Hope the stewards overturn the result though and Massy resigns tonight. 

[Creator Supreme]

I hope the stewards tell Hamilton to go and boil himself in his own piss and ban him from f1 for Life.

[Captain Turdseye]

2 minutes ago, Leyton388 said:

That's just me trying to be sporting and trying to process what I've seen today. 

 

Hamilton is 10 times the driver Max is. I Hope the stewards overturn the result though and Massy resigns tonight. 

Verstappen only has more wins because of that farce there. It was 9-8 going into today. 

[Captain Turdseye]

[Babb'sBurstNad]

2 minutes ago, Captain Turdseye said:

[Colt Seavers]

5 minutes ago, Captain Turdseye said:

Verstappen only has more wins because of that farce there. It was 9-8 going into today. 

And 1 of them was that farce in Belgium that was run as 2 laps under a safety car

[Captain Howdy]

50 minutes ago, Strontium Dog™ said:

 

Not the same at all, is it. You can identify bargain signings in team sport; some teams actually make a profit and win the league.

 

But no matter how good a driver is, he ain't going to make a car with a top speed of 100mph drive at 150mph.

Well I think it’s a similar scenario so there it is.

[dandyman]

Sadly, looks like the season may end up being decided in the offices, sporting courts even.

 

Whether the right finish to the last race of the season for a title decider, was under safety car conditions is irrelevant, the rules need to be applied in all cases.

 

If, as it perhaps appears, that Masi, has decided to partly apply rules to get a 1 lap shoot out so that the crowd get a spectacle, then the integrity of the sport has been compromised.

 

You just can’t do that, and whichever way this ends, for both drivers this is a poor end to what has been a really interesting season.

[Babb'sBurstNad]

Wish they'd hurry up so I can enjoy the bitter fallout. In an hour's time I'll hardly care.

[Bjornebye]

I thought Hamilton was very decent at the end. Of course I'm sure he's seething and the team will put a complaint in but he was far more graceful than I expected. Fair play to him. I don't like him but he is one of the greats. 

[Leyton388]

Either way this goes I'm finished with this sport now. The whole integrity of the sports has been smashed to bits by the whim of the race director. 

[JohnnyH]

*beep beep*

 

Twats. 

[Welsh]

Loved the outcome... and Loved it even more that it's made all the Lewis Hamilton arse lickers cry about the decision.

 

 

[stringvest]

1 hour ago, Leyton388 said:

That's just me trying to be sporting and trying to process what I've seen today. 

 

Hamilton is 10 times the driver Max is. I Hope the stewards overturn the result though and Massy resigns tonight. 

He's clearly not 10 times the driver.  It's debatable whether he's better than Max.  We've seen what a good car can do - it can put a rookie at the front of a race, and the rookie would have won it but for mechanical issues.  Hamilton has had the faster car for most of the season, that's why he's won as many races as he has.

[Leyton388]

2 minutes ago, stringvest said:

He's clearly not 10 times the driver.  It's debatable whether he's better than Max.  We've seen what a good car can do - it can put a rookie at the front of a race, and the rookie would have won it but for mechanical issues.  Hamilton has had the faster car for most of the season, that's why he's won as many races as he has.

His 103 races, 7 world titles and being the most successful driver in the history of F1 says otherwise. 

Lewis almost won the title in his debut season despite being the number 2 driver at Mclaren and did in his second season. 

 

Max has had massive help this season to beat Lewis which resulted in the shambles we've just seen. 

 

 

[Bob]

1 hour ago, Captain Turdseye said:

Verstappen only has more wins because of that farce there. It was 9-8 going into today. 

And Spa.

[Bob]

54 minutes ago, Bjornebye said:

I thought Hamilton was very decent at the end. Of course I'm sure he's seething and the team will put a complaint in but he was far more graceful than I expected. Fair play to him. I don't like him but he is one of the greats. 

Yep. More gracious than I expected him to be, and certainly more than it would’ve been if reversed.

[stringvest]

1 minute ago, Leyton388 said:

His 103 races, 7 world titles and being the most successful driver in the history of F1 says otherwise. 

Lewis almost won the title in his debut season despite being the number 2 driver at Mclaren and did in his second season. 

 

Max has had massive help this season to beat Lewis which resulted in the shambles we've just seen. 

 

 

The fastest car wins the race.  The sport is 95% about the design and mechanics.  There are degrees of skill between Hamilton and Verstappen - there isn't much in it, and I wouldn't be sure who is better than who, but apart from those buying a drive through bringing vast amounts of sponsorship with them, the rest of the drivers are much of a muchness imo.