Vettels reaction on hamilton in azerbarjain race

[Phil L]

Masi could of been a bit more subtle about it, the moment the decision was made to let just the first few lapped cars through it was game over for Hamilton, ruined what was a good season, they should of red flagged it let Hamilton put some new tyres on and then had a 3 lap shoot out

 

[brianmoooore]

If Hamilton wanted reds, there was nothing preventing him stopping for them. He would have been behind Max on new tyres, with Max on worn ones. The reverse of what happened.
Danger was that the race would finish behind the safety car, and Lewis would have thrown away the win.
Its normal for lapped cars to be allowed to overtake the safety car and unlap themselves, and this is what happened. In order to save time, and allow one racing lap, just the ones relevant to the title panel did so. The ones that didn't overtake were running 12th position downwards, so would all have had no chance of moving up to even one point in the one remaining lap.
Unusual and controversial, maybe, but Massi owed Max one after the ridiculous first lap decision.

 

[Phil L]

If Hamilton wanted reds, there was nothing preventing him stopping for them. He would have been behind Max on new tyres, with Max on worn ones. The reverse of what happened.
Danger was that the race would finish behind the safety car, and Lewis would have thrown away the win.
Its normal for lapped cars to be allowed to overtake the safety car and unlap themselves, and this is what happened. In order to save time, and allow one racing lap, just the ones relevant to the title panel did so. The ones that didn't overtake were running 12th position downwards, so would all have had no chance of moving up to even one point in the one remaining lap.
Unusual and controversial, maybe, but Massi owed Max one after the ridiculous first lap decision.

Massi owed Max one fair enough, he could of given Max a fair crack at Hamilton with a few laps to go, handing him the title is a bit much though

 

[brianmoooore]

Unfortunately, Latifi left it a bit late to bin it. No one could do anything about that.

 

[Phil L]

Unfortunately, Latifi left it a bit late to bin it. No one could do anything about that.

Agreed it was a late crash, but why after Max put on New tyres did they not Red flag it and give them both an equal chance at the win, after all they went into the final race of the season on exactly the same points, why did they feel the need to hand the title to Max (that was the only possible outcome with the decision they made)

 

[brianmoooore]

A red flag would have been a more satisfactory way of deciding the title, but Latifi's shunt was hardly of the severity that would need a stoppage.
They both had the chance to restart line astern on reds if they wanted. Max rolled the dice, Lewis didn't.

 

[Zerax]

A red flag would have been a more satisfactory way of deciding the title, but Latifi's shunt was hardly of the severity that would need a stoppage.
They both had the chance to restart line astern on reds if they wanted. Max rolled the dice, Lewis didn't.

The bit your missing... is that it looks like the rules were 'changed' to facilitate a Verstappen win.. if Hamilton had stopped for fresh soft tyres, it's likely that the race would have finished 'normally' with the safety car leading the way as Verstappen won. Mercedes were damned if they stopped and damned if they didn't. That's the whole basis of the protest that Mercedes raised... and maybe the appeal and maybe the tribunal.

Mercedes were assuming that the RD (Race Director) would either let through all lapped cars (as is the normal routine that's been established for many many years) or not let through any lapped cars (as is normal only if it's wet). But the RD invented a hybrid solution of only letting through enough cars to put Verstappen right behind Hamilton. That's why it stinks so much ! There's no precedent for what he did.

The RD declared that he wanted the cars to race... but it wasn't... because with Verstappen on fresh soft tyres and Hamilton on 44 lap old hard tyres... there was only every going to be one result !

 

[UNG]

If Hamilton wanted reds, there was nothing preventing him stopping for them. He would have been behind Max on new tyres, with Max on worn ones. The reverse of what happened.
Danger was that the race would finish behind the safety car, and Lewis would have thrown away the win.
Its normal for ALL lapped cars to be allowed to overtake the safety car and unlap themselves, and this is NOT what happened. In order to save time, and allow one racing lap, just the ones relevant to the title panel did so. The ones that didn't overtake were running 12th position downwards, so would all have had no chance of moving up to even one point in the one remaining lap.
Unusual and controversial, maybe, but Massi owed Max one after the ridiculous first lap decision.

Corrected that for you, the rules do state all lapped cars can unlap themselves not just a selected few

This was just another error in Masi's error strewn race directorship in F1. Yesterday was as farcical as the two laps behind the safety car that became a race with half points awarded

With regard to the first lap decision Max has been moaning all season about being pushed off track or not being given enough room yet his lunging late braking antics force others off the track with nowhere to go

 

[brianmoooore]

what difference would it have made if all the lapped cars had been let through, instead of just the relevant ones, other than taking longer, and having the unsatisfactory effect of the race finishing behind the safety car?

 

[UNG]

A red flag would have been a more satisfactory way of deciding the title, but Latifi's shunt was hardly of the severity that would need a stoppage.
They both had the chance to restart line astern on reds if they wanted. Max rolled the dice, Lewis didn't.

A VSC would have been more appropriate to maintain the race positioning

 

[Zerax]

Corrected that for you, the rules do state all lapped cars can unlap themselves not just a selected few

This was just another error in Masi's error strewn race directorship in F1. Yesterday was as farcical as the two laps behind the safety car that became a race with half points awarded

With regard to the first lap decision Max has been moaning all season about being pushed off track or not being given enough room yet his lunging late braking antics force others off the track with nowhere to go

Agreed.

Verstappen has got away with so much this season... the FIA were clearly desperate for someone other than Hamilton to win the title. Just look at that 'brake test' stunt that Verstappen pulled in Saudi Arabia... I'm sure that any other driver would have been black flagged for that ! Instead he was given a 10 sec penalty that actually wasn't a penalty because the had 11 seconds to play with ahead of Bottas. Awarding penalties after the race, when it's already known what the outcome of that penalty would be... needs to stop... it's open to far too much manipulation !!

 

[Zerax]

Corrected that for you, the rules do state all lapped cars can unlap themselves not just a selected few

Actually... the rules say "any" lapped cars... that's one of the ways that the FIA wriggled out of the protest. They argued that 'any' does not mean 'all'... even though in every other safety car situation ever... it has meant 'all' !

 

[brianmoooore]

A VSC would have been more appropriate to maintain the race positioning

Too dangerous for a VSC with a telehandler on track.

 

[brianmoooore]

Corrected that for you, the rules do state all lapped cars can unlap themselves not just a selected few

This was just another error in Masi's error strewn race directorship in F1. Yesterday was as farcical as the two laps behind the safety car that became a race with half points awarded

With regard to the first lap decision Max has been moaning all season about being pushed off track or not being given enough room yet his lunging late braking antics force others off the track with nowhere to go

I don't think you'll find anyone that disagrees that Spa was a farce. You can see exactly where the circuit is from 30 miles away. It's right under that big black cloud in the distance, often with lightning forking from it.
On the first lap. Max was 2/3 past Hamilton by the corner apex, and he managed to slow the car enough to make the corner without leaving the circuit. Hamilton had the choices of backing out and staying on track, causing a collision and taking both cars out, or sailing across the painted tarmac, taking the place back illegally.
It's the circuit designer's fault as much as anything. There should always be consequences of leaving the track, whether it's gravel, high kerbs or chicanes.
Re: the lapped cars, see my post 39

 

[UNG]

what difference would it have made if all the lapped cars had been let through, instead of just the relevant ones, other than taking longer, and having the unsatisfactory effect of the race finishing behind the safety car?

Masi created a hybrid rule off his own bat by only letting 5 cars through in sheer desperation to create a supposed racing ending when all he created was a predictable ending. Why did we need to watch 57 laps for that ending when one lap was enough

It was all done in a hurry and the only winner in the end was acrimony

F1 has suffered more damage in 10 minutes than at any other time in it's history I for one won't bother next season and judging by the comments on a number of sites I'm not on my own