2021 - Race 22 Abu Dhabi

[The Black Knight]

Both drivers have been brilliant and really all I wanted today was to see both drivers slug it out and it win fairly on track. This after race protest doesn't benefit anyone. Now we are left with a sport that can't implement his own rules. Max was also ahead under the safety car which he went alongside to compromise Lewis line for the restart. By the rules both protests should be successful and a 5 second penalty applied to Lewis or the race result reversed to the safety car start. Mercedes have taken a Barrister into the Stewards room with them. I think they would be well within their rights to take this to the international court of appeal

[denkimi]

This is going around in circles, if you don't understand I am unsure why you watch the sport. The answer is because you can't plough someone off the track to gain position.

this isn't going in circles. i'm just trying to make you realise you are not being objective by pointing out how you judge 2 nearly identical cases completely different based on how is involved.

[Nitrodaze]

that is always the case, lapped cars can finish earlier than the ones in front of them. in the standings, nothing has changed, they just are classified as in the same lap, while the ones who didn't get to overtake are classiefied as lapped.

the only thing this could have changed is if there were direct fights between someone who was allowed to unlap and someone who wasn't. but i don't think that was the case here.

Some of the cars that were asked to overtake had not been previously lapped. That argument only applies if the cars had been previously lapped by the lead cars.

[Nitrodaze]

Well , I hated that .
That wasn't fair .

There was a moment when I thought they had a reasonable compromise remedy to the situation , which was to leave the back markers where they were , but then they changed their minds .
Even calling a red flag with 3 laps to go could have worked as putting them together might have had them on equal tires for two laps .

But , at that point Merc would have been keeping Lewis out simply because under normally followed procedures the race would have finished under the safety car at that point .

They "went racing" , but they did it in a way that had never been done before .

They did it a way that made it a no contest race . Lewis had no chance .

My sentiments exactly. The decision determined the outcome of the F1 Driver Championship; which is what is ugly about it.

Masi has had his run at the job and shown he is below par. Time to let him go and give someone else a go at it.

[denkimi]

Some of the cars that were asked to overtake had not been previously lapped. That argument only applies if the cars had been previously lapped by the lead cars.

if they were not lapped, then how could hamilton have ended up in front of them?

[Fortitude]

Toto Wolff refuses to meet Christian Horner and shake hands after Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
TOTO WOLFF left fuming after FIA decision in Abu Dhabi.
By CLAIRE COTTINGHAM
15:46, Sun, Dec 12, 2021 | UPDATED: 16:34, Sun, Dec 12, 2021

According to Sky Sports after the race, Wolff had squirreled himself away in the Mercedes office to check through data and regulations, after fuming on the radio to Masi as Verstappen sealed the deal at Yas Marina.

Horner was seen outside of the Mercedes motorhome, after reports he had asked to see Wolff to shake his hand but was turned away, as moments later it was revealed Mercedes have lodged a protest to the FIA regarding the end of the race.

https://www.express.co.uk/sport/f1-a...-offer-refused


Toto Wolff refusing interviews after Max Verstappen's final-lap win over Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff declined interviews after witnessing Max Hamilton edge out Lewis Hamilton to win the Formula 1 championship under controversial circumstances
By Freddie KeighleyDigital Sports Reporter
• 15:42, 12 Dec 2021

The Mercedes team principal refused to speak to the press in the immediate aftermath of the race as his team combed over the sport's rules and lodged a formal protest following late controversy at Yas Marina.

Over in the Mercedes garage, a shellshocked Wolff could not stomach what he had just witnessed and walked out of view before launching into a scathing attack of FIA chiefs.

The German was furious with race director Michael Masi for allowing the lapped cars separating Hamilton and Verstappen to overtake the safety car, giving the Dutchman a free run at the leader.

"You need to reinstate the lap before, that's not right," Wolff said on the radio before Masi hit back by reminding the Mercedes boss, "It's called a motor race - we went car racing."

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/formu...ilton-25678466


Wolff compares Horner to driver going wrong way on autobahn
Reuters
December 12, 202111:55 AM GMTLast Updated 5 hours ago

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff compared Red Bull counterpart Christian Horner to a man driving the wrong way down an autobahn as both bosses braced for Formula One's title decider in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.

Horner on Friday framed the battle between his Dutch driver Max Verstappen and Wolff's seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton as pitting a 'young lad' against a "Mercedes media machine" that depicted him as 'Mad Max'.

Wolff, an Austrian, said he was reminded of a joke about the caller who rang a radio station after an alert warned of someone driving down the autobahn against the traffic.

"One? There's hundreds of them," said the caller.

"So I think it's the media machine or its everybody who commented on the driving and was pretty much of the same opinion," said Wolff.
Verstappen, level on points with Hamilton but ahead 9-8 on race wins, goes into the final race of the season on pole position.

https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/sp...2-11/?rpc=401&


Damon Hill points finger at Mercedes after Lewis Hamilton suffers F1 title heartbreak
Former F1 champion Damon Hill has claimed that Mercedes' conservative approach to Sunday's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix cost Lewis Hamilton a record-breaking eighth world title
By Dan Marsh
• 16:28, 12 Dec 2021
• UPDATED16:48, 12 Dec 2021

Former F1 champion Damon Hill slammed Mercedes' "conservative" approach after Lewis Hamilton was pipped to the world title by Red Bull rival Max Verstappen in dramatic fashion.

Hamilton had led for the majority of the race after making a dream start in the first lap, nudging past Verstappen, who started the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in pole position.

But the introduction of a safety car late in the race presented the opportunity for Verstappen to outgun Hamilton in an enthralling one-lap shootout to clinch his first-ever world title.

And Hill blasted Mercedes' cautious gameplan after Hamilton was denied what would have been a record-breaking eighth title.

“Red Bull took the gamble," Hill told Sky Sports. "Mercedes were conservative.”

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/formu...ilton-25678702


Geri Horner looks chic in all-white while gushing over husband Christian as his Red Bull driver Max Verstappen wins Formula 1 World Championship at Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
By ELLIE PHILLIPS FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 16:25, 12 December 2021 | UPDATED: 16:32, 12 December 2021

Her husband is the Red Bull team principal.

And, Geri Horner looked chic in all-white while gushing over Christian as his Red Bull driver Max Verstappen won the Formula 1 World Championship at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, on Sunday.

Appearing on Sky Sports, the Spice Girl, 49, beamed with excitement and spoke of her 'pride' after her husband's, 48, history-making success, branding him 'the best team principal'.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbi...rand-Prix.html

[Nitrodaze]

if they were not lapped, then how could hamilton have ended up in front of them?

Actually, you are right they were all been lapped.

[Nitrodaze]

What Mercedes are protesting

Verstappen

Article 48.8: "With the exception of the cases listed under a) to h) below, no driver may overtake another car on the track, including the safety car, until he passes the Line (see Article 5.3) for the first time after the safety car has returned to the pits."

Classification

"If the clerk of the course considers it safe to do so, and the message "LAPPED CARS MAY NOW OVERTAKE" has been sent to all teams Competitors via the official messaging system, any cars that have been lapped by the leader will be required to pass the cars on the lead lap and the safety car.

"This will only apply to cars that were lapped at the time they crossed the Line at the end of the lap during which they crossed the first Safety Car line for the second time after the safety car was deployed. Having overtaken the cars on the lead lap and the safety car these cars should then proceed around the track at an appropriate speed, without overtaking, and make every effort to take up position at the back of the line of cars behind the safety car.

"Whilst they are overtaking, and in order to ensure this may be carried out safely, the cars on the lead lap must always stay on the racing line unless deviating from it is unavoidable. Unless the clerk of the course considers the presence of the safety car is still necessary, once the last lapped car has passed the leader the safety car will return to the pits at the end of the following lap."

[WUff1]

[COLOR="#B22222"]
Damon Hill points finger at Mercedes after Lewis Hamilton suffers F1 title heartbreak
Former F1 champion Damon Hill has claimed that Mercedes' conservative approach to Sunday's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix cost Lewis Hamilton a record-breaking eighth world title
By Dan Marsh
• 16:28, 12 Dec 2021
• UPDATED16:48, 12 Dec 2021

Former F1 champion Damon Hill slammed Mercedes' "conservative" approach after Lewis Hamilton was pipped to the world title by Red Bull rival Max Verstappen in dramatic fashion.

Hamilton had led for the majority of the race after making a dream start in the first lap, nudging past Verstappen, who started the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in pole position.

But the introduction of a safety car late in the race presented the opportunity for Verstappen to outgun Hamilton in an enthralling one-lap shootout to clinch his first-ever world title.

And Hill blasted Mercedes' cautious gameplan after Hamilton was denied what would have been a record-breaking eighth title.

“Red Bull took the gamble," Hill told Sky Sports. "Mercedes were conservative.”

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/formu...ilton-25678702

Damon Hill was right

[Bagwan]

The drivers behind Max , who were not allowed past the front runners , had no chance at all to make it higher than 7th in that last lap .

A protest of the results should be made for all of them .

I would not have wanted to be Masi in that moment , as I'm sure his intentions were just to finish the race with them racing , but they lost sight of how the shift in procedure would affect the balance of the battle in that last lap .

It became a duel where only one of them had a gun .

An all out effort to finish the story with a bang ended up with them completely missing the plot .
I'd rather see it end under the safety car than see it end like that .