[BlueFreedom]

What a race!!! Amazing
The penalty for Max was inconsequential Hamilton would have overtaken Max any which way, MAX's medium's didn't last long enough to keep Hamilton at bay.
Glad that the shenanigan's of RB and MAX were found out. Max is a dangerous driver. Stewards were forced to act as the actions of Max was obvious and blatant any other day this would have been swept under the rug by FIA.
2nd start from Max was awesome otherwise he didn't cover himself in glory. Calm and a measured drive from Hamilton....

[BlueFreedom]

Originally Posted by smartindboy

Is Lewis in a single lane country road behind Max to complain about brake check?
When Max was slowing down, Lewis should have overtaken him instead of tailgating him.
The final result would still be the same without all these drama.

As someone already pointed out, both Lewis and Max are at fault. Mercedes (along with Bottas) have been unsporting, more than once.

Excerpts from FIA
"However, it was obvious that neither driver wanted to take the lead prior to DRS detection line 3. The driver of Car 33 stated that he was wondering why Car 44 had not overtaken and the driver of Car 44 stated that, not having been aware at that stage that Car 33 was giving the position back, was unaware of the reason Car 33 was slowing.

"In deciding to penalise the driver of Car 33, the key point for the Stewards was that the driver of car 33 then braked suddenly (69 bar) and significantly, resulting in 2.4g deceleration.

It was Max fault and naughty driving which led to the unnecessary incident

It would have been inconsequential as Hamilton would have overtaken Max any which way

[Kickdown]

I am not exactly a Max fan, but I am kind-of bored of seeing Hamilton winning the WDC for so many years repeatedly now. I would like to see a new champion for a change please. May be its also because deep down I don’t want to see Schumacher's record of 7 WDCs broken (senseless of me but true )

I feel Hamilton has had it a bit too easy for so all these years now. Don't get me wrong, I am not disputing the fact that he is a great driver but when you are bestowed with a car which is 1 to 1.5 sec faster than everyone else (until last year anyway) then you are pretty much the favourite to do it. Let’s face it, Bottas was always the wing man wasn’t he. How much ever Toto might deny it, that was the unwritten arrangement.

What makes it even worse is the British media. They never seem to feel satiated enough of singing praises of Hamilton. Gets annoying at times. I wish we had a neutral and unbiased commentary to plug into.

[Cyborg]

The dirty tactic driver Max Verstappen got his just reward, but still lucky as Ocon (at the time, eventually Bottas got third place) was too far back for the ten second penalty (plus two points on his license) to have any repercussion in the points standing. He was found to have suddenly decelerated to the tune of 2.4g.

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/a...MQphh7zCd.html

Excerpts from the above article:





Hope Max Verstappen loses the title in an insulting way because he is constantly insulting everyone’s intelligence by claiming all this dangerous driving and cheater tactics are not done intentionally

Cheers

[sen2693]

Reading some of comments here feels like this is another Twitter thread with Lewis and Max fans taking digs at the other driver, only in a more sophisticated manner.

The race itself was quite embarrassing to be honest. Mercedes, RBR, their drivers, FIA and Masi should share the blame for that. Too many controversial decisions from everyone. Felt watching more like a scripted drama than a race. But end result is what most neutral fans wanted, equal on points going into last race.

[anb]

Regardless of whom you support, if a driver deemed to have overtaken other car illegally, cheated their way in front, and then ordered to give back that place, they should not be allowed to take advantage of any DRS zone to cheat again to come in front.

[Hatari]

This year has been a dream season for Netflix! What drama at this one!

Bizarre race and tactics left a bad taste. Far too dirty from Max.

Coming to the 1st safety car, I was very curious as to why everyone was calling Max's staying out a risk when both Mercs had pitted? 3rd place was assured either way, no one else was close!

The swap on the starting grid was inevitable as Max was guilty, Red Bull did not want that going to the stewards.

The restart was mega, what a great move to go down the inside! Lewis very lucky he didnt get damage from Ocon.

'The' contact incident -

Max was clearly slowing down to let Lewis past in a very much normal fashion, I believe it is a flat out section of the race track (7th gear) and he was gradually reducing speed and down shifting to 4th gear.

Here Lewis chooses to stay immediately behind and close. WHY!??
He can get DRS staying slightly off line as well!

What followed was entirely Max's fault, you cant brake suddenly. Not on and rightly penalised (and sure enough came the boos on the interviews/podium).

Blatant disregard for racing etiquette by Max.

Now the most bizarre move of the race doesnt belong to either of them..
Prize goes to Kimi for that push on Vettel on the outside! Dragging him along
Ice man wanted to do the Tango! Working on notice period is tricky for F1 drivers as well!

Originally Posted by sen2693

Reading some of comments here feels like this is another Twitter thread with Lewis and Max fans taking digs at the other driver, only in a more sophisticated manner.

The race itself was quite embarrassing to be honest. Mercedes, RBR, their drivers, FIA and Masi should share the blame for that. Too many controversial decisions from everyone. Felt watching more like a scripted drama than a race. But end result is what most neutral fans wanted, equal on points going into last race.

Given the madness, I think Masi and the FIA did a good job.

[SilentEngine]

The 10-second penalty has no consequence on the result, same as in Silverstone where it didn’t make any difference to Hamilton's result, so that’s even then.

Last few years of dominance by Lewis/Mercedes combo meant that most of neutral fans were naturally rooting for the challenger - Max/RedBull, but such a shame that towards the closing stages of this season they are demonstrating they may not be worthy of such support. Max got away with this behavior for far too long. And Horner has no control over his driver.

The likes of Ferrari and McLaren are sorely missed in the fight.

FIA/Masi's handling of the matters - I don’t think anything has fundamentally changed, but now that most of the conversation between teams/FIA is being broadcasted, it does appear that they aren’t always in control, and from time to time they do make a fool of themselves.

Cant help but remember the incident from few years back in Mexico when Vettel told Whiting to **** off when Max didn’t give the place back. Both to remember how Max was and how FIA hasn’t changed much.

[Hatari]

Just came across the telemetry picture from the incident. Now this is completely contrary to Lewis's claim of the brake test! Looking at top most speed graph it looks a very gradual reduction in speed!

[BlueFreedom]

Series of stupid incidents, showed F1, the FIA and Michael Masi in a very poor light for being indecisive, not reacting to infringements of the rules and for allowing the track to be in dangerous condition on several occasions and for allowing dangerous and unsporting driving.

the FIA race director, Michael Masi, offered Red Bull the chance for Verstappen to be dropped to third behind Hamilton because of the incident, rather than involving the stewards. Why the offer ?? if RB had not accepted then a counter offer is it ?, is Masi a negotiator or race director

It’s hard to shake the feeling that if Charlie Whiting was still with us in Race Control instead of Michael Masi, he’d not have let the championship reach its finale reeking of such a poisonous atmosphere as exists as things stand.
Michael Masi should do the right thing that is to resign

In all these episodes I feel for Max, an exceptional talent being spoilt by CH and RB, F1 needs team principals like Frank Williams who knew how to nurture driver than massage their ego.

[Cyborg]

Originally Posted by Hatari

Just came across the telemetry picture from the incident. Now this is completely contrary to Lewis's claim of the brake test! Looking at top most speed graph it looks a very gradual reduction in speed!

Please refer to my post above (#79), the FIA’s stand is clear on why they have given the penalty. Surely the FIA has more data/proof and must have analysed the incident before giving out the penalty. The telemetry data you have posted must be flawed as the FIA would never pass judgement without concrete evidence.

Max was deemed to have decelerated upto 2.4g suddenly.

Cheers

[iamahunter]

Originally Posted by Hatari

This year has been a dream season for Netflix! What drama at this one!

Max has already opted out of Drive to Survive. Which I believe, means Netflix will not be able to use his name or identity(am I right here?).

If so, I am not sure how will Netflix will portray the battle between the contenders, which itself was nothing less than Drive to Survive!

Nevertheless there are many other things which went well this season, which doesn't involve Max directly!

- Battle between the Ferrari mates!
- The rise of Daniel with Mclaren, midseason
- Lando's loss at Russia
- Perez's pole and the Mexico race!
- Alonso's podium!
- Kimi's retirement

Many other things were interesting this season. Netflix does have content, however the epic battle will be at Yas Marina Circuit!

Originally Posted by BlueFreedom

Series of stupid incidents, showed F1, the FIA and Michael Masi in a very poor light for being indecisive, not reacting to infringements of the rules and for allowing the track to be in dangerous condition on several occasions and for allowing dangerous and unsporting driving.

Totally! I don't even want to get into penalties, but the cars were driving with the debris on track, and not one but multiple instances.
We clearly heard Alonso calling it out multiple times.

A high speed track with very little run-off area and race going on with debris on track.

Originally Posted by BlueFreedom

In all these episodes I feel for Max, an exceptional talent being spoilt by CH and RB, F1 needs team principals like Frank Williams who knew how to nurture driver than massage their ego.

RB is really bad at strategies, I did not really understand why did they have to put on a medium compound on the 2nd red flag. Max could have carried on the hards till the end easily. What did RB gamble on?

[DIY410]

Originally Posted by Hatari

Just came across the telemetry picture from the incident. Now this is completely contrary to Lewis's claim of the brake test! Looking at top most speed graph it looks a very gradual reduction in speed!

Stewards said Max applied a brake pressure in excess of 60bar plus, (that's equivalent of water pressure coming from a pipe from a water tank located 1000feet above), there was a 2.4g deceleration.

Lewis said he was slowing down unsure of what is happening, remember Max wasn't exactly moving to one side, for the most part he was in middle. You have to see it from the point of Lewis, after all of Max dirty driving you can't expect Lewis not to be cautious.
Once Lewis did get the message he was being let through, Max braked suddenly and Lewis had to avoid it, Lewis loosing a wing or both being out of race will favor Max.

[AJITHAAA]

In all this we missed out how tough the Merc front wing is built. Took two big hits and still lasted the entire race.

[TT-S]

2021 season finale at Abu Dhabi will be interesting.

Winning the 2021 championship is crucial for both Lewis and Max, for the following reasons:

Although Red Bull have poached top talent from other teams to continue the PU development once Honda leaves F1 at the end of 2021, progress is not guaranteed next year. If Max can win a driver's title, it's this year only. Next few seasons could be very different if PU development does not deliver as expected.

For Lewis, this is probably his last chance to overhaul Schumacher's 7 title tally - Next year George Russel in all probability will have an upper hand over Lewis.