I'm hopeful that Red Bull will struggle next year with the cars naturally having a low rake that they are unfamiliar with - and with a new engine that might well not be as good as the Merc engine. I'd just become a bit less angry before Ver came out with that "won it on the track" BS which got me going again. The guy is detached from reality. I fervently hope Ham absolutely smashes is next year and then walks away from the sport. If I'm half as then as I am now I'll walk away from following it too, but I'd like to follow a redemption arc first. I'll always have an interest, but I won't be paying for Sky etc unless there is some sort of serious change and/or admission or error from the FIA. If they want to delay that admission for 6 months to take the heat out of things, fine.
In the sense of not looking ridiculous, Merc have probably done the right thing from a PR point of view. From the sense of getting this mess clarified publicly, maybe not the the right thing. It will probably end with some BS statement, little will change and it will be swept under the carpet.
The presentation ceremony is underway on youtube and strangely comments are not allowed!!!! I wonder why!!!
I think we should look at how Lewis has handled this. I think he is already coming to terms with it, he did on Sunday by congratulating Max. Lewis is not only focused on F1, he has won the championship many times and the only statistic he needs is the 8th, he has 2 years to get that but I don't think he is anxious about. If Lewis is at peace with this, Merc won the constructors, I suggest we don't waste the energy. Enjoy the break and hope for revenge starting in March and no more ambiguity.
Verstappen said: "I can understand the first few days after a race like that you're not happy. "But you should also understand this is racing and these things can happen." I just can't get over how detached this guy is from reality. No Max, these things should not EVER happen in racing.
As I stated earlier the only way justice can be served is for Red Bull and the helmet to not get a single podium finish next season, and for McClaren and or Ferrari to overtake Red Bull and provide a competition to Mercedes that we can all enjoy
Can you imagine if that had happened the other way round, Hamilton would have said that is not the way I would have wanted the title and Horner and the helmet would still be wailing in Saudi Arabia
What is annoying me the most about all this is people playing the well that's just the luck of a draw with a SC. Why are people not seeing it's not the fact Max benefitted from a SC tyre change, but that Masi CHANGED the rules to allow Max the chance he got. He changed the rules to go racing but only Max could go racing. Lewis was on shot tyres and the rest of the field had back markers separating them from Max. I don't like how a driver can lose so much in a SC but that is just how SC's work normally, had this whole fiasco happened a few laps earlier and Max would have won with the rules being applied in full, it's the fact it happened at the end and Masi changed the damn rules last minute. x_x
True. Sadly it's the way of the modern world, the most-repeated messages become the most believed. The spin doctors are out in force, airbrushing history. Ill-informed people will fall for it, and say that it's the nature of competition that sometimes someone is unlucky and on this occasion it was Lewis. To be honest, as much as it would be great to see Lewis return next season, and thoroughly stick it to Max & Horner & Marko, I'd quite like him to tell Liberty to **** themselves, and walk away. Focus on his other interests, and leave F1/Liberty to explain that to their sponsors etc. The other part of my wish would be that Red Bull totally **** up under the new regs, and we watch George, Lando, Charles, Carlos, Daniel and Fernando sticking it to Max & Horner instead. Now that would be a show worth watching - Max losing his **** with his team, as he trundles around in a crap car that won't let him even get on the podium. That's an "F1 show" that I'd be happy to see. Hey, look at that! I've cheered myself up!
At least he'll have his number 1 to keep him company. xD The other one that really annoys me is this the teams all agreed the race should end under racing conditions where possible, surely it should have gone without saying that what ever method was used to get this done it should be fair to all involved. You can't change the rules if it gives a huge advantage to one driver over another regardless of the race or the stakes. Even if it's for 11th and 12th place. At that point, if changing the rules will do that then you have to stick to rules in place, even if it means ending under a SC.
I thought Lewis was putting this behind him but apparently not. He feels hard done by and according to Toto, who is talking to Lewis daily, has said Lewis is disillusioned with the sport and there is no gurantee that Lewis will continue. I hope he stays but if he walks it will be a shockwave. Well done to the sport for making this a possibility (said will all the sarcasm I can muster). Well done to Masi, the massively incompetent. If this happens I am not sure about my emotional involvement in F1.
Or controversially ferrari and mclaren are 100 times better than both mercedes and red bull and we can consign wolf and horner to also rans. The aero and suspension changes are what interest me. I strongly suspect mercedes power will be classic software field already but the possibility exists that they could **** the rest up. However slim. The hope of a radical approach that smashes the field might be small but it has happened before
So do you believe mr wolff on lewis or think mr wolff is the one who is sore and being manipulative to get masi fired.
absolutely but has mr wolff spun it to his own ends? pissed off and disillusioned are two different things. I'd rather hear from the man himself
With due respect, till Lewis makes his mind up we probably won't hear from Lewis. I hope he stays, not because I am a Lewis fan. I fully respect him but like to see a fair race but happy with whoever wins, provided it was fair. Lewis is good at what he does and I would like to see him take that 8th. I suspect it really is whether he believes the sport is operated fairly going forward.
I think the only way this could be 'solved' would be for Red Bull to be found to have breached the budget cap and therefore their cars disqualified . Can't see it happening though. I do hope that FIA will be policing 'inter team' spending!!! Red Bull have thrown a huge amount at winning this season and I can't really see where the money has come from, unless they are using some creative accounting and getting AlphaT to spend some of their budget cap on 'joint' parts that miraculously work on Red Bull and don't on AlphaT???? As for next year I really hope Adrian N has messed up in a massive way and they are fighting to get into Q3.
Yes, but If the race director chooses to only allow lapped cars between the two title rivals, in order to get the show going, effectively leaving only a single car to race, then there is a major problem. Because that's not racing any more, it's show business. And have we seen this before? I certainly don't recall it. But that's not the only problem here, it's not just what happened in the final race. The race director has been choosing what and when to refer clear incidents to the stewards, all with a goal to keep the spectacle alive, At that point we're separating the sport from the show. I get that we've had some mundane seasons, and that F1 is a product they are selling, but it has to make a clear decision on what it is. We started the season with Merc hindered by reg changes for the show, we ended it with decisions made for the show...
