Lewis was robbed

[Zico]

To avoid being seen to be relenting to Merc/Lewis pressure, I bet F1 management keep Masi on... and just give him a more focused role with some workload taken off him by others.

The whole situation feels like they are borderline being held to ransom, so I can't say I blame them..

[Bagwan]

Hey , everybody !
Lewis has said "I'm back ".

It's just non-specific enough to keep the journalists happy , and timed well to keep Max's ice capades in the shadow .

I'm getting to the point where I'm rather sickened by the attempt at manipulation .

I still believe Merc and Lewis only lost because they were keeping it close with Max and the Bulls . Call it karma for hubris .

This kind of monkeying around has me hoping they haven't got the design for this year right at all .
Call it karma for lines of press .

[Firstgear]

With the way the FIA tried to slow down Mercedes and the way the season ended, karma might come in the form of another era of Mercedes domination.

[F1nKS]

With the way the FIA tried to slow down Mercedes and the way the season ended, karma might come in the form of another era of Mercedes domination.

That is not an outlandish expectation. With the word that Aston Martin won't have a car for the first practice, McClaren supposedly struggling. It is not clear how much Red Bull sacrificed for 2022 to get Max the championship (but according to Albon simulation effort moved from looking to 2022 to support 2021). Other teams are not talking or talking down expectations.

I would not be surprised if Mercedes comes out rocking it. They seemed to have thrown all their focus on 2022 early and did minimal development. They are publically talking about the challenges with the E10 fuel - which means they have solved the problem.

[Zico]

With the way the FIA tried to slow down Mercedes and the way the season ended, karma might come in the form of another era of Mercedes domination.

It's a real possibility, the FIA have not increased the five place grid penalty of adding a new engine to the pool. If Mercs fresh new PU performance can still give them that much of a hit on the new fuel recipe they are probably still favs.

What are the expectations of how well Russell will compare in qualy against Hamilton this season?

[airshifter]

To avoid being seen to be relenting to Merc/Lewis pressure, I bet F1 management keep Masi on... and just give him a more focused role with some workload taken off him by others.

The whole situation feels like they are borderline being held to ransom, so I can't say I blame them..

You could be right. And really it would become "Ferrariesque" to just can the guy. The teams wanted sessions to end under green, and he made that happen. I have to wonder what would have happened if he red flagged the race and then restarted with a couple laps to go? My guess is that everyone that didn't want whoever won the race to win would cry foul. And with the discretion given to the race director over the years, they need clarification on the role regardless.

My point being primarily that without further clarification of procedures, no sense in making him the sacrificial lamb.

As for your quoted post.... I almost got the impression that Toto's over the top demands as it happened might have been part of Masi's decision to try to end the race under green. Though Horner was being a PITA, he wasn't being nearly as forceful with it. And I wouldn't be shocked if the FIA feels the same way.

With the way the FIA tried to slow down Mercedes and the way the season ended, karma might come in the form of another era of Mercedes domination.

It could go either way, but the only thing that slowed Merc down all season was their performance and breaches of the regs. That final call will be controversial for some time, but through the season Merc suffered no hurdles from the FIA that weren't applied to other teams.

It's a real possibility, the FIA have not increased the five place grid penalty of adding a new engine to the pool. If Mercs fresh new PU performance can still give them that much of a hit on the new fuel recipe they are probably still favs.

What are the expectations of how well Russell will compare in qualy against Hamilton this season?

I'm still on the fence about the engine penalty regs. It makes no sense to me to have a harsher penalty for first "over the limit use" and then ramp it down. Make it all the same IMHO, and really if they are shooting for cost savings as a goal, make it a harsher on track penalty.

Hey , everybody !
Lewis has said "I'm back ".

It's just non-specific enough to keep the journalists happy , and timed well to keep Max's ice capades in the shadow .

I'm getting to the point where I'm rather sickened by the attempt at manipulation .

I still believe Merc and Lewis only lost because they were keeping it close with Max and the Bulls . Call it karma for hubris .

This kind of monkeying around has me hoping they haven't got the design for this year right at all .
Call it karma for lines of press .

While I don't subscribe to your sandbagging theory, in all fairness I have to give Lewis and Merc a break on this one. It's the press that's been making it what it is, not any certain person related to the team. While the press and some might perceive it as game playing to apply pressure, they could just be trying to stay out of the fray until a decision is made. I'm not sure that I've seen any direct quotes that Lewis wanted Masi sacked.... Toto seems to have run with that. But at the same point all teams exert some influence on the FIA when they can, it's just not always a media circus.

If Merc/Toto/Lewis have a fit if Masi isn't sacked.... well then hit the road as far as I'm concerned. I've lived though enough of the Ferrari threats of leaving the sport to not care if any one team or their drivers decide the walk.

[Sulland]

IMO to listen to the calls from team bosses to Massi, is embarrasing.
Team bosses sounds like 5 year olds in the sand box talking to the kindergarten teacher.

"He pushed me"
"No he pushed me first, and he pushed harder. Me knee hurts, make him go away!"

Pls act like a grown up this year.

[airshifter]

IMO to listen to the calls from team bosses to Massi, is embarrasing.
Team bosses sounds like 5 year olds in the sand box talking to the kindergarten teacher.

"He pushed me"
"No he pushed me first, and he pushed harder. Me knee hurts, make him go away!"

Pls act like a grown up this year.

I couldn't agree more. One of the major things they need to change is no direct communications with the race director during the race. And even if it's someone assisting, only when a safety issue is unresolved. Both of them did their best to influence decisions through the year, and acted like the race director reports to the team or something.

[Bagwan]

It has now been decided that direct lobbying of the race director is no longer allowed .
However , I do want to see any entrant allowed to plead their case to the FIA in some way , as they may have a unique perspective to add .
Strategies for different teams are based on different strengths and weaknesses for each car and each driver , and are unknown to the stewards until they play out .

To insulate the race director from direct contact should be OK , but there still needs to be a way to say "Hey , that's not fair !" .