Saudi Arabian GP

[Mesa]

Loosing interest in F1 mainly because the cars are ugly (but getting slightly better) and so is the driving.
Always wanted to like Shoemaker (the worst), but his willingness to "Senna" his way to the win was a huge detraction. I see Max and Hami in the same light, only they are less obvious (especially in Shoemakers case, eg. running Barracello off the front straight in Hungary). The documentary on Shumaker helped one understand how he got the god complex, but still...sheeze.

Let's just make it "Death Race 2021" and stop pretending its a sport.
One thing that will fix this BS is to make the cars unsafe again, short life expectancy will stop this crap.

 

[Trevor]

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.

Yes indeed, Schumacher was involved in a number of sketchy incidents. Most times he got away with it, but the most blatant, I believe, was when he turned into Villeneuve in the final race of the season. Jacques had caught him by surprise to overtake him for the lead. Schumi was too late to react but still turned into him mid-corner. The only problem was he mis-timed his lunge and his front wheel bounced off the sidepod of the Williams. Schumi was out on the spot but Villeneuve managed to limp home with just enough points to take the championship. In a display of would-be toughness the FIA stripped Schumacher of all his points for the year which amounted to a token gesture as had already lost.

If Max tries something similar in the final race, and I have a feeling that's certainly a possibility, but this time succeeds in taking them both out, will the FIA have the balls to award the championship to Hamilton if its clearly deliberate?

 

[Bill Kearley]

After looking back at the history I think your on it Trevor. In those years I was to busy working for a living. It should be an exciting race. I'm, in a small way hoping for Ham, only because I don't know if any one has ever won 8 championships.

 

[Howard Jones]

Hamilton started all this at Silverstone. He could have KILLED max. The FIA didn't want to stand up to him for whatever reason (I know but I won't say so out loud here) Now we are down to it. I hope the universe puts things right and Lewis blows up his motor. They can't blame Max for that.

But here's what I REALLY think. Open-wheel cars are not safe to race unless ALL the drivers know that ALL contact must be avoided. ANY hint of intentional contact (including just taking too much risk in a pass) MUST be responded to immediately within a few laps with at least a drive-through penalty. If that had been done at Silverstone we still would have had a wrecked Max but Lewis, as well as Max, would have gotten the message and Lewis surely would have finished farther down the order with a clean racing season from then on.

In the event that the offending party is not able to continue then the drive-through is carried over to the next race, including the following season if necessary. Should it be clear that the shunt was unprofessionally dangerous, done for tactical reasons, or intentional then the offending driver should be banned for one (or more) of the following races.

All would be well then. IF this is rule was applied equally for ALL the drivers!

 

[Bill Kearley]

A questionable finish at best. What will the FIA rule after Toto's grievance as the they didn't follow there own rules, if they had the race would have finished under yellow I think. After all rules are rules. That said I think Ham left the door open for Max !!

 

[Terry Oxandale]

Formula NASCAR made quite an impression today. Seems the FIA is selling its soul to have cars “racing”, and is not opposed to distorting the rules to do so. The top two teams played based on the established practices and rules. When those rules are distorted so that a last lap NASCAR dash can happen, all that planning and strategy go out the window. The FIA is a farce now with no legitimacy in rules interpretation. F1 truly is a “show” now instead of a showcase for the highest level of racing.

 

[Chris Kouba]

Yeah, as someone who only has access to the F1 recap on youtube, I'm glad I didn't sink 2h of my life into watching that. It looks like LH drove the calculated and appropriate race he had to- he had everything to lose. Max displayed the same risky behavior in the limited coverage which made me think it would all go sideways. There's a point where being aggressive becomes irresponsible and my opinion is he's run up the inside and washed out across the track at critical moments in the last several races. This doesn't convey a sense of driving mastery- it makes him appear reckless and irresponsible.

Lewis did effectively leave the door open for him, but based on his previous record (both in the current race and the previous two), Max running down the inside was probably going to be a DNF for both of them, and if LH got "Schumi'd", it all went to Max anyway...

There's no doubt that Max is talented. I don't think his performance was champion-caliber.

 

[Ian Anderson]

Merc’s mistake for not coming in to change tyres.

At the end one car had fresh sticky rubber and the other was on old hard tyres.

But the rule makers need to look at themselves as some dodgy decisions throughout the year..

Ian

 

[Chris Kouba]

Merc’s mistake for not coming in to change tyres.

I watched the 7m of footage again and still didn't figure out if it was track position or timing when the SC was deployed driving the decision of Merc staying out and RB going in. Why didn't they come in?

 

[Malcolm]

As RB would do the opposite of Merc and gain track position without merc having any certainty that the race would restart as it eventually did. Screwed if they came in, screwed if they stayed out.

In the first lap incident, i think RB definately had had a pre race discussion about what would happen if max pushed Lewis out wide as a strategy, as he did and reckoned they would get a rule interpretation to favour them. But they didn't get the result they wished for.

Put a tight concrete wall all the way around all circuits and then drivers won't get pushed wide. In club racing it is not allowed.

 

[Chris Kouba]

As RB would do the opposite of Merc and gain track position without merc having any certainty that the race would restart as it eventually did. Screwed if they came in, screwed if they stayed out.

Oh yeah.... duh. Thanks Malcolm.

 

[Mesa]

What a mess.
F1 management apparently manipulated their own rules to create a NASCAR finish, long live entertainment of the masses. Truth be told, it was obvious LH had this race under control from start to finish, Max just couldn't match the pace and had no chance on pace to win. Not that I'm a fan of either one of these guys tactics, I must say I was impressed that LH did not try to block or weave or harass MV on the last lap, he let him make his move if he could do it. He knew he had NO chance to hold him off and took the high road (in this instance).

Driver of the meeting HAD to have been Perez for the masterful job of holding up LH all while NOT weaving of changing lines. Awesome job on his part.

 

[Tom]

I don't have a dog in the fight, but the way this all happened leaves a pretty bad taste in my mouth. The prior round red flag, to me, was pretty marginal, as the barriers were displaced so little. That gave RB a free tire change, to the disadvantage of Merc. Despite that, Merc won. Luck is obviously part of the game, but Merc was AWFULLY unlucky in the last two rounds...I know at least one person who is absolutely disgusted with F1.

 

[Mesa]

Malcolm wrote; "Put a tight concrete wall all the way around all circuits and then drivers won't get pushed wide. In club racing it is not allowed."

In motorcycle road racing (generally) you are going to be in a world of poo if you run a guy off in the grass or dirt while making a pass. Someone will be arriving or waiting for you to 'discuss' the matter directly after the race. Reason being - if you run a guy off on a motorcycle there is a good (bad?) chance someone will be injured in the tumble.

Safe cars (and lots of paved run-off) = "It's all about me" hero tactics.

 

[Howard Jones]

Ahhhhhh................I love it when what goes around comes around..............And bites em right in the ass when he surely had the biggest grin on his face he ever had. Congrats Max.

 

[Jeff G]

Just as real wrestling.