Vettels reaction on hamilton in azerbarjain race

[brianmoooore]

and judging by the comments on a number of sites I'm not on my own

Try Dutch sites, or, for that matter, non UK sites.
What happened in this race was what normally happens when a safety car is deployed, as it was quite correctly in this case, and I can't see what difference it made, other than time saving, by just letting a few cars through.
If it had happened ,say, five laps earlier, all lapped cars would have overtaken, and the result would have been the same. Lewis had the same oppurtunity to change tyres as Max

 

[Midwest]

Try Dutch sites, or, for that matter, non UK sites.
What happened in this race was what normally happens when a safety car is deployed, as it was quite correctly in this case, and I can't see what difference it made, other than time saving, by just letting a few cars through.
If it had happened ,say, five laps earlier, all lapped cars would have overtaken, and the result would have been the same. Lewis had the same oppurtunity to change tyres as Max

Can’t seem to post, without quoting someone, so apologies @brianmoooore .

It would be interesting to hear the views of Max’s fans. I favour Lewis, but I still think the WDC was robbed from him. He was consistently in front of Max, even with his extra pit stops. Mercedes strategy was based on the rules of the safety car, not to pit, then Masi orchestrated the end.

The shenanigans of teams telling the RD what to do, should stop as well.

interesting article from the BBC;

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/59643988

 

[Midwest]

Can’t seem to post, without quoting someone, so apologies @brianmoooore .

It would be interesting to hear the views of Max’s fans. I favour Lewis, but I still think the WDC was robbed from him. He was consistently in front of Max, even with his extra pit stops. Mercedes strategy was based on the rules of the safety car, not to pit, then Masi orchestrated the end.

The shenanigans of teams telling the RD what to do, should stop as well.

interesting article from the BBC;

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/59643988

Max’s aggressive driving has to be reviewed. Have not got the quotes, but even the other drivers seem to question it.

 

[Zerax]

If it had happened ,say, five laps earlier, all lapped cars would have overtaken, and the result would have been the same. Lewis had the same oppurtunity to change tyres as Max

No... it would not. The reason that Mercedes did not bring in Hamilton is because they were applying the 'sporting regulations' and precedent (the two things go hand in hand, precedent allows understanding of the rules). The 'sporting regulations' and precedent said that there would not have been enough time for the race to finish under a green flag (i.e. normal racing)... hence they maintained track position by not pitting Hamilton.

So... looking at what might have happened if the safety car was 5 laps earlier... Mercedes would have realised that there was enough time for green flag ending, and they would almost certainly have pitted Hamilton for fresh soft tyres.

*Any reference to 'sporting regulations' and precedent above, does of course mean the ones that existed at that time. We now appear to have some new ones, that I assume will be written in before the start of next season. They will also need to amend the rule about overtaking under a safety car... that you are now allowed to "nudge ahead", but previously you were not and would have been penalised for it.

 

[Midwest]

Max’s aggressive driving has to be reviewed. Have not got the quotes, but even the other drivers seem to question it.

Last year Masi at the Belgian GP, he clarified that ‘All’ lapped cars had to unlapp themselves before the safety car retired.

 

[mattg4321]

I think Max deserved the championship as he had some bad luck earlier in the season, that Lewis didn’t really have. Baku in particular. He could’ve been champion a few races ago.

However it left a very bad taste in the mouth the way it panned out the other day. I’m half expecting Masi to turn the sprinklers on at his discretion next season to try and spice things up. Maybe they could give the drivers banana skins to drop on the road too.

 

[kropaske]

No... it would not. The reason that Mercedes did not bring in Hamilton is because they were applying the 'sporting regulations' and precedent (the two things go hand in hand, precedent allows understanding of the rules).

This does not make sens whatsoever. Merc did not pit because they would loose track position and that was more important for them then having fresh tyres. At that time merc or any other team for that matter did not know how long will take for Marshalls to clear track, it could be 3 laps or 7 laps.

The 'sporting regulations' and precedent said that there would not have been enough time for the race to finish under a green flag (i.e. normal racing)... hence they maintained track position by not pitting Hamilton.

At that time merc or any other team for that matter did not know how long will take for Marshalls to clear track, it could be 3 laps or 7 laps. There is no regulation that dictates that safety car have to be out for minimum "X" laps.

So... looking at what might have happened if the safety car was 5 laps earlier... Mercedes would have realised that there was enough time for green flag ending, and they would almost certainly have pitted Hamilton for fresh soft tyres.

Not neccessary because they still could loose track position to Max. They would wait to see what red bull do and react to that. Red bull would likely pit and at the end of following lap gap could be big enough for merc to pit and came out on front. But if gap would not be big enough then this would be decision between Lewis and his engineer whether he wants to have track position and old tyres or fresh tyres and loose track position.


The only wrong thing RD did was to announce at the beginning that lapped cars will not be allowed to pass. Very unusual as well. Everything else was correct and regs were followed. RD have right to override rules regarding SC If necessary to allow for racing. All teams agreed that wherever possible they prefer to finish the race under green conditions and that what RD allow to happen.
Of course SC messed up the race for Lewis but its not the first time and certainly not the last.

 

[Midwest]

As far as I've read, RD can override the regulations, but for safety purposes only, not to spice up the racing?

At this point, it would be obvious his decision would alter the car positions and WDC, thats not his role. I take the point that all Teams, generally want races to end under green conditions. The safety car has been deployed before, and altered a race result, thats what it does, but not with just 1 lap left. MM messed up.

I can't see the WDC being revised, nor should it. The point is though, everyone plays the sport by the rules, making tactical decisions by them. Seems MM altered his plans, after prompting by CH. There will be rule changes, and one should be, Teams Mangers will not be able to speak directly to the referee, whilst the game is on.

 

[kropaske]

Ruls does not specify the reason RD can override SC. His primery job is to make sure is safe on track and when it is next priority is to resume racing and that is what he did. . Either decision he would make at this time to resume or not, he would be bombarded by either redbull camp for not restarting or merc for restarting.
I can't agree his decision alter WDC, it just give Max a chance, Lewis was still ahead.
Look how long took Lewis to overtake Perez and he was on ruin soft compound that should be changed long time ago but he put a fantastic defence.

I don't think they will change that rule about TM speaking to RD but they may not broadcast it.

For me redbull is a big winner here as a team. Starting from fantastic defence from Perez to great tactical decisions and finally Max great move on Lewis.
Merc really dissapoint here. Botas was not there for Lewis and tactically they played very safe. It looked like when Lewis pulled away they left him on his own without any support to finish the job.

 

[littlespark]

Sorry about this….


I heard Lewis Hamilton had an audition to join Musical Youth but didn’t make it….

He failed to pass the dutchie on the left hand side

 

[Zerax]

Ruls does not specify the reason RD can override SC. His primery job is to make sure is safe on track and when it is next priority is to resume racing and that is what he did.

Actually... there are two things upon which the regulations are based and are contained in section 1.1.1 as follows

1.1.1 The FIA shall be the sole international sporting authority entitled to make and enforce regulations based on the fundamental principles of safety and sporting fairness, for the encouragement and control of automobile Competitions, and to organise FIA International Championships. (that's my underlining)

So... by bringing Verstappen (on fresh soft tyres) right up behind Hamilton (on 44 lap old hard tyres) for a one lap 'shoot out' where there was only every going to be one winner was clearly a breach of the FIAs own fundamental principles.

The FIA should rip up the existing Sporting Regulations and just replace with a single sentence; "The FIA can do whatever they want."

 

[Zerax]

At that time merc or any other team for that matter did not know how long will take for Marshalls to clear track, it could be 3 laps or 7 laps. There is no regulation that dictates that safety car have to be out for minimum "X" laps.

All F1 teams have highly intelligent and highly paid tacticians to work out all this stuff. If I was an F1 tactician (and I'm not as I'm not intelligent enough), I'd have analysed all previous safety car deployments, to understand the length of time they were out... based on the amount of debris, the track, the distance from the track access point etc etc... so that if there was a crash and the team wanted to know the answer to the question "Should we pit ??" I'd quickly have the right answer...

That right answer would, of course, be based on the Sporting Regulations and precedent and not the whim of the RD to manipulate the result... and that's were Mercedes fell down.

 

[kropaske]

Actually... there are two things upon which the regulations are based and are contained in section 1.1.1 as follows

We can agree that the safety part was meet as track was clear and no danger present.
As for fairness as RD you have 2 options:
1. Restart race with Lewis 1st, Max 2nd and let them race
2. Not restart race and let them finish behind safety car so Lewis wins.

RD is not interested on who have what tyres and what positions they are. They did not hand the win to Max. What they did is just allow for racing.
They cannot not restart the race when is safe do do so and said " we did not restart the race cause we feel sorry for Lewis cause he had worn tyres and he could loose" - do you think that would be fair?
Lewis was still 1st when they resume and as Perez proved it could defend himself well.

All F1 teams have highly intelligent and highly paid tacticians to work out all this stuff.

Yes of course they have its part of the game. But they only humans which often makes mistakes. How many times we have seen someone forgot to tight the wheel nut or they forget to bring tyres or the make wrong call as to pit or not. They don't have answer to every scenario. You don't really think when Latify crash they start dig in the computer to find this particular scenario in the meantime another person counting debris on track to punch that in their model and see what possible outcome can be given position of the cars on track, that would take forever. They only have split second to make the call. For them it was simple - if we have a gap then we pit if not we stay on to have track position. Mercedes fall because they did not work as a team and they make wrong choices

 

[Midwest]

Not just LH who missed out, those other cars that were not allowed to unlap themselves, were affected. Also the safety came in straight after the lap cars had passed, where in the past it waited after the next lap.

The cynical amongst us, might think someone might not want a Merc driver wining the WDC. There’s some scudulkery going on, much like the Ferrari fuel thing, swept under the carpet

 

[Zerax]

We can agree that the safety part was meet as track was clear and no danger present.
As for fairness as RD you have 2 options:
1. Restart race with Lewis 1st, Max 2nd and let them race. They could have red-flagged the race when the Latifi crash happened... but that's highly irregular for such a 'simple' crash. Red flagging a race is only done if they really really have to. Red flagging would have allowed all cars to change tyres though, so from that perspective, the RD would have contravened less rules than what his actual actions did.
2. Not restart race and let them finish behind safety car so Lewis wins. The decision on what to do or not to do should never include consideration of who may win or lose... it just has to be fair for everyone. So if sticking to the rules meant that it was a safety car finish... then so be it... that's what the rules say.