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?!

@RunningFromInsanity

Max also lives in Monaco, along with several other drivers, including British Alex Albon and soon Lando Norris. All for tax reasons.

And it’s hardly like Lewis is popping back to use the NHS services

Alex Albon has a house in Milton Keynes that he bought when he signed. He lives there a fair bit of the year because it's handy for the factory. You can often spot him out for a jog around Furzton Lake in the off season. The apartment in Monaco he rents from David Coulthard.

Their tax situation is completely irrelevant to the last lap of yesterday's race.

Hopefully, over the closed season, the interested parties (manufacturers, GPDA, Liberty Media, track owners) can get together and learn a few lessons from this season so that there's clearer guidance to Race Directors as to what the objectives are. Allow Race Directors to exercise a degree of flexibility to respond within overall objectives - safety, fairness, and racing.

I don't think there's anything wrong with employing former drivers as Race Directors. Most drivers have raced for more than one team. It doesn't take much awareness of the history of Formula 1 to realise that driver and spectator safety has to come first. Making a good spectacle for television is down the list.

Anyway.. off the main topic, how's everyone been watching the F1 this season? It was quite a change for me to watch it with English commentary this weekend. I've been using a VPN to watch it online on either Servus or ORF most of the season since RTL lost it to Sky.

I don't mind the tax exile thing but the vegan dog is taking it too far.

I was pleased to see Max win.

We watch it on sky, and record it if I'm working/we're out with the DC. DP pays but it's expensive, keeps thinking about cancelling because it feels indulgent, C4 highlights just aren't the same.
I wasn't aware of these other platforms for watching it... Are servus and ORF based abroad?

@Chesneyhawkes1

I don't mind the tax exile thing but the vegan dog is taking it too far.

I was pleased to see Max win.

Again, veganism for dogs is not terrible if researched properly. For dogs like bulldogs who are plagued with skin issues and allergies cutting out meat etc can often sort out their problems. I imagine his dog has a top notch diet.

@DogInATent I watch with a VPN too, the Swiss channels usually. I’m fluent in all 3 - French, German and Italian - so I swap between RTS, SRF and RSI depending on my mood that week. With the occasional online stream 🙈 of either Sky in English (Sky Italy for Monza!), or DAZN in my native language.

I also have F1TV Access so can rewatch the ‘race in 30’ with Crofty and Brundle after it finishes. I really like comparing the different views and takes each broadcaster has. Although I wish F1TV Pro was an option in countries such as the UK or Germany, because I’d happily pay for that and be able to watch it live, fully legally. I’ve tried using my family’s DAZN account with a VPN but it also doesn’t work. You’d think it was Netflix!

@Angelcupcake Servus and ORF are public TV channels in Austria, they broadcast the races for free. If you speak good German they’re a good option for watching with a VPN.

I just googled servus and ORF... do you understand German? It's probably quite interesting hearing the commentary from another country. They must have a different take on events... I'm sure our commentators must be biased!

That's a shame, I don't understand much German...could just try it anyway, but I quite enjoy listening to the commentary, it makes it more exciting!

I actually think Crofty and Martin Brundle are quite okay when it comes to bias, especially in recent years. The Sky feed is now used for all international broadcasting in English, including F1TV, so they need to keep it more neutral. There used be a lot more British bias, it’s less nowadays.

They do still have an obsession with George and he can do no wrong in their eyes. Ferrari are either the evil (when they’re good), or non-existent (when they aren’t). It’s been the latter this year, especially Sainz - the man must be invisible to them. Hill, Button, Rosberg and company are another topic altogether, but I always enjoy hearing their views.

Bias is understandable and to be expected in any sport, also F1 is inherently British. But you can find bias in other countries as well, it’s only natural. Spain’s Antonio Lobato is obsessed with Sainz, and took his final standings as proof that he’s beaten Leclerc this year

Honestly, you don't need much German to understand F1 commentary!

ORF and Servus alternate which of them shows each race. So you set your VPN to Austria and then bring up the Live TV website of whichever has the turn that week. I used to watch on RTL, using a second dish and decoder that we had set-up for German TV in the UK anyway. But Sky have got that market too now.

I've copied this off another thread:
"Another trap is thinking that if you need to perform mental gymnastics in order to make a theory work, those mental gymnastics are a sign of your intelligence. You are therefore consider yourself more intelligent than the people who think you are wrong, because those people are not clever enough to understand your mental gymnastics."

That's my take on the Safety Car. I think that the current set-up is unfair. I'm not talking yesterday's race specifically (where it cost LH his 11 second lead), but generally. The aficionado are saying I'm wrong because I don't understand the complexities of F1 blah blah. I'm saying they are wrong - rules in sport are there to make a level playing field, not to create an extra piece-of-bad-luck to overcome.

@senua - the rules are the for Safety first and Fairness second.

If you want to know why, have a look at how it used to be.

@senua what do we do then, change the whole way in which F1 works? The rules that have governed the sport for 71 years? Do we also get rid of the technical regulations by which teams design their cars? So they’re all the same and nobody has an advantage from driving the best car? What do we do, introduce spec cars, to simplify things? And get rid of the feeder series which is where spec cars belong?

F1 has never been a real level-playing field. As a driver, no matter how good you are, you need to be in the right team at the right time in order to win. That’s down to luck.

F1 is an engineering competition first (hence the world formula, a driving competition second, and a political show third. Even though politics are overtaking everything else lately. Getting rid of anything that can give someone an advantage would destroy the sport’s essence.

Sunday's are too hectic in our house so we quite happily just record C4 and watch about 10pm...
Hate Steve Jones but can live with it (or fast forward) as it's free!!!
But I do have to be careful to avoid social media or my father in law!!!

I find Crofty biased and sometimes just downright bonkers ‘Will Bottas win today after getting P2 yesterday? IS THIS HIS YEAR FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP!!!!!”

Well Crofty, let’s go with no as;

He’s not allowed to win.
He goes backwards at the start & backs the midfield up causing accidents
He has no spatial awareness and panics in traffic.

Despite all this “oooh he could WIN today” Theoretically Mazepin could win but you need to stay grounded in reality when your commentating and not go off into your own little alternative reality where Bottas is a serious contender & not LH patsy. Dh and I wonder if there’s two Bottas and we just need to pay the extra fee to see the one challenging LH for the championship. He only pulls his finger out when his contracts up for re-signing.

Brundles much better. Rosberg is a legend 😂 and calls a spade a spade. DH licks LH arse so much 🙄 CH shut him down recently.

the rules are the for Safety first and Fairness second.
You are still doing mental gymnastics to justify the status quo.
They will know the relative positions of the cars when SC is announced eg P2 is 10 seconds slower than P1; P3 is another 4 seconds; etc. Have SC as at present (so presumably satisfies your safety concerns), have bunching at the re-start but ... when you get to the end of the race add on the 10 seconds, 4 seconds, etc. It takes out most of the unfairness.

@senua

the rules are the for Safety first and Fairness second. You are still doing mental gymnastics to justify the status quo. They will know the relative positions of the cars when SC is announced eg P2 is 10 seconds slower than P1; P3 is another 4 seconds; etc. Have SC as at present (so presumably satisfies your safety concerns), have bunching at the re-start but ... when you get to the end of the race add on the 10 seconds, 4 seconds, etc. It takes out most of the unfairness.

That’s exactly what happens during a VSC. Sometimes the crash is bad enough that it needs a SC, or a red flag. How are you going to do a fair restart after a red flag? How are you calculating the tyre temperature and degradation of each one of the cars, back from when they were first stopped?

It’s not just about the gap between cars. It’s about so much more, including flap angles, temperatures, degradation… how do you plan to adjust those fairly?

It’s not just about the gap between cars. It’s about so much more, including flap angles, temperatures, degradation… how do you plan to adjust those fairly?
What's your plan to adjust fairly?

@senua - how would you apply that with multiple safety cars in the same race? The advantage is not purely time, it's track position, how clear the track ahead is, DRS, etc.

The rules are simple, and they're the same for everyone. Safety cars and disruption are factored into team tactics and strategy. If you have to start carrying seconds plus and minus through to the end of the race, it's going to need a lot of mental gymnastics for the teams and spectators to keep track of who's winning.

@Chesneyhawkes1

I don't mind the tax exile thing but the vegan dog is taking it too far.

I was pleased to see Max win.

Dogs can be vegan but cats can't. Lewis adores his dog and can, obviously, afford the best food.

He has said himself that Roscoe was suffering from skin and breathing problems but isn't since being on a vegan diet so it is obviously better for him.

@senua

It’s not just about the gap between cars. It’s about so much more, including flap angles, temperatures, degradation… how do you plan to adjust those fairly? What's your plan to adjust fairly?

You can’t.

F1 is not a video game where you can decide exactly how each car is going to go back on track when it comes to tyres, brakes, wings… and adjust millimetrically. I mean maybe you could, but it would take you weeks to set each one of them up accordingly. Car A had their brakes at 75.1º but with an XX flap angle, car B had their brakes at 75.2º etc etc… Multiply that by thousands and thousands of data indicators which you’d have to take into account, and would differ in each car.

If you understand the simple concept of a tyre blanket/warmer, then you’ll know it’s absolutely impossible to somehow do race restarts with everybody in a fair position.

Hey, not even a normal race start happens in 100% fair conditions. The first car sits on the grid for almost a minute before it’s allowed to go. The last car, a few seconds. Would you suggest they all drive together in formation, to arrive at their spot at the exact same time? I’d love to hear how that would work on tracks like Monaco or Singapore please!

Well might give German a try then!
Could learn the German for 'box, box', 'softs/mediums' and 'he's got DRS' and then enjoy it for free ☺️

@DogInATent we are lucky that we have Sky F1 without having to pay anything extra. We don't get any other sports channels.

We were offered it many years ago and jumped at the chance. They haven't offered F1 on it's own for quite a long time now I believe.

I am used to the commentators and find it weird if I ever watch a race on Channel 4. They are all pretty ok but I really dislike Button now. He seems to have turned into a real Verstappen arse licker.

I don't feel that Damon Hill licks Lewis' arse but he doesn't take Horner's nonsense and puts him in his place which me and DH think is great.

@angelcupcake
Pit stops are 'boxenstop' :D