To wonder what happened in the F1 yesterday?

[WonderingWoman30]

I am trying to get my head around what happened with Lewis v Max in the F1 yesterday! I have read articles and was watching it… but I don’t understand the controversy… can anyone explain in (very) simple terms?!

How do you set your VPN to Austria? I speak German, and it would mean no interviews with Geri...

Oh really... Boxenstop! That's quite funny!

The radio messages must all still be in English though?

Which would make it easier too

Plus, all the radio calls are still in English so that’s half your commentary sorted! Graphics are still in English, and you can look at the coloured stripe on the tyres to see which ones they are.

I have NordVPN and I can just select which country I want to ‘be in’ from a dropdown list, or a map. I don’t know how other VPNs work.

You can’t.
That's probably it for me, then.
I invested two hours of my life in that race yesterday only to have the result decided by that fiasco. What a waste of time. They might as well have all stayed at home and tossed a coin.

The FIA’s behaviour yesterday was silly, but everything else that happened was the natural consequence of racing. And that will never be fair. Which sport is? Someone will always have an advantage somewhere.

I've loved Damon Hill ever since one of our DC wrote to him aged about 5 (may have had a bit of help!) and received a ton of goodies back in the post

Christian Horner is horrible isn't he. I always think he secretly wishes he was really Toto - richer, better looking, taller, more successful And when he stamps his teeny tiny little foot, it's hilarious.

Oh and I don’t know how many of you watch it, but F1’s official post-race show on YouTube (for free, but turn off the VPN or it won’t work ) is good. Not as in depth as Sky’s, but Will Buxton is fab and they also bring in Sam Collins who’s really good at explaining strategies and anything technical. As a bonus, you don’t get Toto, Christian or any shitstirring apart from the odd question on how their race went, which they never expand too much on.

@Swirlywoo

How do you set your VPN to Austria? I speak German, and it would mean no interviews with Geri...

I've got NordVPN for work to use when working on client sites through their internet/wifi. With that it's as simple as clicking on Austria on the map screen and it finds a server there. After that Servus/ORF thinks you're in Austria and lets you watch. Sometimes it needs a refresh if it hits a blocked server, but very rarely. I buy NordVPN in 3yr blocks in the Black Friday/New Year sales rather than the monthly option. And I get to claim it against tax.

I have tried watching ORF/Servus on the satellite dish I have tuned for German TV, but the Austrian domestic channels are encoded and the versions that are free-to-air for German viewers don't carry the F1.

@Angelcupcake

The radio messages must all still be in English though?

Yes, and all the onscreen captions, and most of the interviews.

My favourite meme of the weekend...

Thank you! Am going to look into this. I like a random reason to watch German TV

@DogInATent

As soon as the last SC was called, any decision other than finishing behind the SC would have favoured Max. That was the gamble Red Bull had taken by calling him in for new tyres under the earlier SC

Really? with 5 lapped cars to clear, Lewis would have been long gone, all the commentators said that at the time.
Max finished 1.8 seconds in from of Lewis.

Aside, did Max pit under the VSC or do you mean much earlier in the race, i'd have thought that was irrelevant, Lewis was 12 seconds ahead and pulling away, Max's radio chat was that his tyres were cooked, so whatever strat they were on, was the wrong one.

Really? with 5 lapped cars to clear, Lewis would have been long gone, all the commentators said that at the time.
Max finished 1.8 seconds in from of Lewis

This.

Lewis was the one being advised to watch his tyres and avoid curbs. Before that Mercedes were advising him that as long as Max wasn't gaining faster than 0.8 seconds per lap he could hold on to the end. Max was gaining, but not quite that fast. But at that point there were 10+ laps remaining and it was Lewis on the goosed tyres.

If the lapped cars were allowed to remain in place there should have been at least two racing laps at the end rather than just one. All five lapped cars would have been under blue flags to let Max through.

But... would Lewis have been scraping the back bumper of the safety car with his front wing to stretch the field for the resumption of racing, or would he have held back and bunched them up as normal to get a run at the line?

With just one lap Lewis would have held it, with three Max would haul him in, but two laps could have gone either way.

Regardless, it makes for the prospect of a good season next year if Mercedes and Red Bull remain as competitive.