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?!

@BHX3000 When has Valtteri been used to sling shot Lewis and then pull over?
Anyway, it made no difference to the result or indeed qualifying, Max couldn't convert it.

@Laiste

So - and i know there will be a good reason - why don't they all just slow down and stop when there is a big incident on the track. They must all stop within a certain number of seconds and then start again when the track is clear?

Everyone stays in order and the race just carries on.

They would probably all crash immediately I would have thought. Without keeping tyres warm, and engines cool, the cars would just be undrivable.

This is interesting.

@Laiste

So - and i know there will be a good reason - why don't they all just slow down and stop when there is a big incident on the track. They must all stop within a certain number of seconds and then start again when the track is clear?

Everyone stays in order and the race just carries on.

A good question.

Formula one cars aren't road cars, they can't be started by the drivers. It needs a team of mechanics. Similarly, the tyres need to be up to temperature or it could be dangerous. The safety car aims to achieve what you've described.

@MrsFin

I'm pretty pleased Hamilton didn't win though - based on the fact that he pays no/very little tax in the UK. He lives in Monaco, though he owns residences elsewhere in the world. He specifically told Parkinson in an interview years ago that he had decided not to live in the UK to avoid taxation.

There are very few slebs/sports personalities/pop stars/film stars who don't "live" abroad to avoid paying UK tax. It's nothing new.

Nigel Mansell famously "moved" to Isle of Man to avoid UK tax.

HMRC had to do "sweetheart" deals with several "exiled" UK athletes for them to agree to come to the UK for the 2010 Olympics (they'd have to pay UK tax if there hadn't been sweetheart deals and claimed they simply wouldn't bother attending!).

@ClowningAround21 I 100% agree, it was a disgrace how it all unfolded. I really do hope we don’t see something like that again.

I just don’t think we should take away from either driver’s achievements this season. Max deserved it. He’s had the most wins, the most poles, the most podiums and has been brilliant. Lewis has also been brilliant, and he would have deserved it equally as much.

I think we’re having a healthy discussion on this thread actually, whereas everywhere else on social media you can see so many people directing their frustrations at Max, when he himself didn’t do anything wrong or corrupt yesterday. How everybody else acted, both Merc and RB, and the FIA, was a complete joke, which makes it all a shame, but no need to claim he’s an undeserving champion and should feel bad about winning this way.

The whole season had been insane for unprecedented situations / nearly impossible decisions. I think it was a rather poetic and fitting ending.

Spot on @BHX3000 two very deserving drivers this season.

It’s a shame for both of them that this has happened when (for a change) it’s got nothing to do with either of them. This wasn’t two drivers exchanging harsh moves on the track. This is two drivers who’ve worked their arse off, through a stacked calendar, only to have their driving be the sub plot to a load of bullshit politics and controversy. It’s not fair for either of them.

Agree that, as a lifelong fan, I have never ever complained about the use of a safety car - the very, very last thing I want to see is someone hurt or killed on the track.

The use of the safety car yesterday was totally sensible. Latifi's car was all over the track.

The way it was called is was unprecended and an absolute shit show. I've never seen the SC called back in when only half the lapped cars have unlapped and without the full lap warning that it's going to do so (and after everyone had just been told the lapped cars would stay in position). It has made a mockery of what was going to be a legendary season, regardless of who won. Now it will be remembered for this farce, not the great racing. Masi has made a total eff up and has been getting worse and worse in later races this year.

Also agree that to slag him Lewis for living in Monaco but fail to do the same to Max (who also lives in Monaco) is stupid.

At least Hamilton campaigns for human rights, funding campaigns to increase diversity in F1 and actively spoke out to stop a sponsorship deal with a company affiliated with Greenfell.

The bit that shocked me the most under SC was Verstappen continually edging out in front of Hamilton, that was just shocking driving and he should have been told to stop. No end to the dangerous driving he does.

@Laiste

So - and i know there will be a good reason - why don't they all just slow down and stop when there is a big incident on the track. They must all stop within a certain number of seconds and then start again when the track is clear?

Everyone stays in order and the race just carries on.

They do. It's when they "Red Flag" the race. They didn't want to do that with so few laps left in the race.

@BHX3000 I would never claim Max is undeserving, he is a great driver, who, over the course of a season, went into the final race level pegging, i thought he would win on track, through pace alone, his qualifying lap was awesome, it totally threw Mercedes.

Moving forward, i would either/or, ban pit stops under the SC, make the SC such that time gaps have to be maintained, as per the Virtual SC.

BiscuitBean and MindyStClaire thank you for explaining :)

Wow i know even less about F1 than i thought, lol. Fascinating!

@PlanetNormal

Yet those three white drivers from middle class backgrounds don’t get criticised in the right-wing tabloids for where they choose to live, but a mixed-race driver from a working class background does. Has it ever occurred to you to wonder why that is?

There was plenty of criticism for the while middle class Nigel Mansell when he became a tax exile in the Isle of Man when he was at the height of his F1 career!

There's been plenty of criticism for white middle class singer Shania Twain who "moved" from Canada to Switzerland, apparently for "creative reasons"!

Plenty of criticism for various other UK pop stars who've arranged their world tours to pay no UK tax on the tour revenue - lots of those were white middle class.

It's not a race issue at all - unless you've already decided that based on your own bias.

Also, to clarify, when they red flag a race, the drivers return to the pits and can change their tyres during this time without penalty. Lando Norris (McLaren driver) has claimed that this practice is also unfair to other drivers on the grid who may have changed tyres a lap or two before the red flag which puts them out of position on the track.

@Stellaris22

At least Hamilton campaigns for human rights, funding campaigns to increase diversity in F1 and actively spoke out to stop a sponsorship deal with a company affiliated with Greenfell.

The bit that shocked me the most under SC was Verstappen continually edging out in front of Hamilton, that was just shocking driving and he should have been told to stop. No end to the dangerous driving he does.

Funny, I thought Hamilton was intentionally going so slowly as to goad Max into going past him

[quote ClowningAround21]@BHX3000 I would never claim Max is undeserving, he is a great driver, who, over the course of a season, went into the final race level pegging, i thought he would win on track, through pace alone, his qualifying lap was awesome, it totally threw Mercedes.

Moving forward, i would either/or, ban pit stops under the SC, make the SC such that time gaps have to be maintained, as per the Virtual SC.[/quote]
But the SC and pit stops are part of the overall strategy. It would be very boring if it was just a simple race. It's the planning of pit stops, choice of tyres, percentage risk of safety car at different stages of the race, and on different tracks, etc that makes it an interesting sport.

If you look across the season as a whole, Max and Lewis have both benefitted from favourable decisions/actions by the race director. And Red Bull have consistently demonstrated better strategies that have put Max in the position of having a fresher, faster tyres at the end of the race when Lewis is being given instructions to "mind the curbs" and gamble on there not being a SC/VSC incident in the closing laps.

If the season had closed under SC conditions and not a racing lap, there would have been just as many criticisms. And the accusations would have been that the lapped cars weren't cleared early enough to permit a racing lap.

@senua

In very simple terms: Formula 1 decided that it is no longer a sport; it is a manufactured TV entertainment with predetermined outcomes, akin to WWE.

Excellent!

Funny, I thought Hamilton was intentionally going so slowly as to goad Max into going past him grin

At least there was no suggestion of brake-testing...

@MrsFin “Had the safety car not come on, Verstappen would have been too far behind to be able to win.”

Possibly, but no one knows what would definitely have happened. Lots of things can happen in F1, especially when tyres are getting past their best and there were still 6 laps left when it came on!

At least with the way it was done there was an exciting conclusion, rather than just a procession behind the Safety Car

Wet miserable UK and nowhere to sail your super yacht or sunny and warm Monaco, mixing it with like minded millionaires?

These guys are incredibly fit, they train year round and thats easier in the south of france plus they are nearer the test tracks used over winter.

Tax might be one reason but these people are so wealthy that they'd chose anywhere but the UK regardless of tax rates.

Anything can happen in formula one and it usually does.

If is F1 spelled backwards.

Good old Murray.

@Stellaris22

At least Hamilton campaigns for human rights, funding campaigns to increase diversity in F1 and actively spoke out to stop a sponsorship deal with a company affiliated with Greenfell.

The bit that shocked me the most under SC was Verstappen continually edging out in front of Hamilton, that was just shocking driving and he should have been told to stop. No end to the dangerous driving he does.

Lewis also spoke very eloquently about the oppression of women in Saudi.

I heard a very simply analogy on the TV, along the lines of this.

England v Germany in World Cup final. England is up 3 goals and there are only 10 minutes left.

In that 10 minutes a player hurts himself so they stop the game. During the stop, Germany is allowed to change players and freshen up, England can’t.

Before the game restarts, the referee resets the score at 0-0.

Game restarts and Germany, with their new and energetic players, score a goal and win.

That is pretty much what happened to Hamilton yesterday.