Saudi Arabian GP

^ Spot on. We've seen M Schumacher do it twice, and Verstappen is among the most ruthless of all drivers. I"m not a Hamilton fan boy, but it's only because of his presence of mind and forbearance that there haven't been more collisions. I can only hope that Bottas qualifies and races well enough in the final round to provide some buffer for Hamilton, otherwise there's going to be an "incident".
 

Terry Oxandale

Skinny Man
I agree. The last three races could have decided the championship solely on if both competitors were taken out in an incident. Appearance (for me) is that the onus for avoiding this outcome has pretty much been all on Lewis, with Max being fairly liberal with the rules, and incrementally pushing that "contact" harder and harder. Seems that perhaps he's pushed the boundary too many times in that he was repeatedly corrected on this last race. About mid-season I was beginning to feel Max had matured a bit and I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, but he's showing his other side now (which is understandable to a degree at this point), now it's looking ugly, with him acting like he's been caught with his hand in the cookie jar in the last two driver interviews. Regardless, that was a hell of a race course, even with the inherently dangerous layout.
 
^ the stewards are going to be totally on the spot for the final round. They have been reluctant in the past to make calls that radically change the outcome of a race (I'm not any kind of authority on their powers). But I'm anticipating that unless Hami has pace and position advantage, there is going to be an incident. Red Bull's use of soft tires in the final start, despite Pirelli stating the hard was the best compound, was basically a Hail Mary to set up another on track confrontation
I hope I'm wrong about all of this, and that they can settle things honorably on track.
 

Terry Oxandale

Skinny Man
The problem I see is worst-case where contact results in which one or both have a DNF, in which fault is with one or the other, and a 10 second (or stop/go, etc) penalty is assessed, which pretty much is no penalty given the situation, and performance of the two front-runners. To make it right, the instigator or clearly at-fault, would need to be disqualified or some other penalty which has an appropriate outcome in who wins the championship. And with the steward's decisions made thus far during the year, one could easily debate that lack of apparent consistency in their previous decisions and penalties. Then add all the other back-marker risks, etc. I'm sure foul will be cried no matter what the outcome of next week's race is. Clean racing and good officiating is needed on the last race. F1 has already gotten the "show" benefits this year...now it's time to scrutinize these two closely and consistently for a proper win. If Mercedes can resist fouling up their strategy, I foresee Lewis' ability to save tires as being the greatest contributor for a win given their apparent equal performance and talent at this last race, even if not on pole.
 
Last edited:

Joel K

Supporter
Just an amazing season. Loving every race, and qualifying session. Hopefully a clean and competitive race for the championship. And how about the announcing, they have been so entertaining. I always enjoyed Bob Varsha, Steve Machette and David Hobbs’ broadcasts and these guys from Sky Sports have done great job as well.
 

Bill Kearley

Supporter
Max showed very little class on Sunday especially walking of the podium. I would love to know all the actions he took to cause the rear ender. I think the telemetry could show all. ( haven't seen or herd yet ) Ham definitely showed more class this race. Last thing, no one has won 8, that would cool.
 

Joel K

Supporter
Hamilton is superb and a class act and a terrific spokesman for the sport . Although when he first entered formula one, I remember him being a bit arrogant and obnoxious. I expect Max will mature in due time, he definitely has a lot talent.
 

Terry Oxandale

Skinny Man
Bill, I've read that there was a 2.4G deceleration associated with a brake action just prior to the impact, so it appears it was more than just downshifting and off-throttle reductions.
 

Chet Zerlin

Supporter
Sure hope we get a full and exciting race that doesn't end in the first turn on the first lap like the 1990 Suzuka race where Senna took Prost out and won the title.
 
Bill, I've read that there was a 2.4G deceleration associated with a brake action just prior to the impact, so it appears it was more than just downshifting and off-throttle reductions.
No question that he braked. Question is whether he meant to cause a wreck, or was just frustrated that H wouldn't pass him before the DRS detection zone. The whole situation was a cluster F, with lack of notice to H.
 

Terry Oxandale

Skinny Man
Yeah, so many variables on who knew what, who assumed what. I would be very surprised this ends up a clean race, or even a race after the first few turns.
 
I think F1 is going to have to amend the rules regarding how and when someone gives back a position. Otherwise we're going to keep seeing this gamesmanship about where and when a position is given back. I think it's pretty clear that both Max and Hami were playing a game when the incident took place.

It was one of the more interesting races I've seen, and I've been following since collage many years ago.

I don't dislike Hami, but I'm getting a little tired of the Mercedes dominance. Max is talented, reminds me of Schumi when he was young. Cut throat. But on pace, I think the Merc is pretty clearly faster. RB is going to have to play this next race perfectly (or have an incident/failure at Mercedes) to win the championship.

Regardless, one of the best seasons in a long while. Looking forward to the re-jiggeriing of the rules to see what comes of the competition. Hope HAAS can drag it's butt out of back-marker status, and maybe, just maybe, Porsche will enter F1 (there is talk).
 

Bill Kearley

Supporter
Thanks Terry, That speaks volumes.
On the other side, sometimes I think the FIA gets a bit picky when trying to keep it clean.
Ron, did Schumi play dirty like Max did on Sunday? I don't recall.
 

Malcolm

Supporter
Ask Damon Hill or Jacques Villneuve if Schuey played dirty or not! Both got speared by him with differing outcomes in championship deciding moments.

Hamilton clearly did not want to pass before the DRS line. And his reasoning for this was proven when he did later on pass Max later in the race in the same place and Max just breezed back past due to DRS. I agee the rules should be tweaked to prevent this and would suggest the repositioning needs to happen at the corner, or withing a certain distance of the corner, where the circuit leaving advantage happened. But currently its within the rules so push the rules to the limits as that is simply F1.

What is very impressive is the mental agility and processing by the drivers to work all this out in milli seconds and when under big pressure. These guys can think fast!
 
I think the stewards need to have a very serious meeting among themselves to work out some of the possible permutations (entirely missing the corner and taking another driver into a wall, etc) and determine an appropriate response. Then convey that very clearly to both driver and their managers before the race. These guys should have seen enough to know what's possible as far as dirty tricks, and come up with a penalty that will disincentivize participants. It takes 2 to make peace, but only 1 to make war.
 
Thanks Terry, That speaks volumes.
On the other side, sometimes I think the FIA gets a bit picky when trying to keep it clean.
Ron, did Schumi play dirty like Max did on Sunday? I don't recall.
Yes, Schumi was infamous for playing dirty. Purposly crashing during qualifying to keep others from out qualifying him. Crashing into competitors to keep them from out-scoring him in a race. So, yes, Max is a lot like Schumi...about as cut-throat as they come.
 
Back
Top