F 1 Abu Dhabi

[olive]

Don’t forget Max and one or two others are starting on softs. Fast but not durabble.

First lap may be messy. Lewis will be keeping out of trouble. I suspect Mercedes will have the pace.

Bring on the race

[olive]

Disgraceful.

[Manchesteral]

Congratulations to Max Verstappen on his first F1 championship win albeit with help from Latifi, having said that Hamilton should have pitted on the last safety car, bad decision from Mercedes and it has cost them dearly, Hamilton will be furious because he now has to race for another season to get his eigth !

[Wicksey]

Lewis will be right behind him and be able to anticipate every move he (Verstappen) makes Lewis Hamilton is the rightful world champion and will surpass Schumacher *another serial cheat) having said that I truly hope the best man wins !

Unfortunately not the case in my opinion. Did someone pay Latifi to cause his crash and the safety car to come on Seems so unfair that Hamilton loses his 11 sec lead, it's like all the previous 50 odd laps were a waste of time. A disappointing result.

[Lavanda]

It's sport. It happens. Tactics win races. They shouldn't, but they do. We all know that Hamilton is a great driver. Even if he never races again he has his place in F1 history. No one can take that away from him.

[Manchesteral]

Lewis will be right behind him and be able to anticipate every move he (Verstappen) makes Lewis Hamilton is the rightful world champion and will surpass Schumacher *another serial cheat) having said that I truly hope the best man wins !

Unfortunately not the case in my opinion. Did someone pay Latifi to cause his crash and the safety car to come on Seems so unfair that Hamilton loses his 11 sec lead, it's like all the previous 50 odd laps were a waste of time. A disappointing result.

The question of the Latifi incident is also in my mind !

There is no question that Hamilton was robbed, I reckon that this could go to court !

[El Cid]

It’s certainly going to be appealed by Mercedes. Masi had a choice, allow the lapped cars to overtake or not. How could he decide to allow only 5 to overtake.

Masi has been useless this season. Allowing a race to finish behind a safety car in torrential rain?

It’s not over yet!

Sid

[Lyric]

Last few races Masi has made some strange decisions, pressure ? Anyway that was one strange decision, why just 5 lapped cars ? surely should be all or nothing.

I see Sid beat me to it.

[peteroldracer]

It will come down to exactly what the regulations say: is it totally up to the race director, or does he have the authority to do as he sees fit?
The shame is that a man who in my opinion is an excessively aggressive driver has been rewarded for the aggression.

[El Cid]

Well it seems two appeals are going in. I feel sorry for Lewis as he lost his 3.4 million bonus! Mercedes got their 20m bonus though.

If the appeal succeeds it going to be a real mess to sort it out.

Sid

[olive]

Mercedes have lodged two protests , with justification in my mind.

The FIA will no doubt find in their FIA favour.

Masi needs sacking. F1 is now just big business and a giant money spinner. A few years back they would just have let the race ( disappointingly) finish behind the pace car. Now they have to give the punters their spectacle.

[Wicksey]

Masi needs sacking. F1 is now just big business and a giant money spinner. A few years back they would just have let the race ( disappointingly) finish behind the pace car. Now they have to give the punters their spectacle.

Sadly, isn't that the way of most sports these days? Surely last week's decision not to punish Verstappen when Hamilton crashed into the back of him when he slammed the breaks on, was to let this week's race be an exciting event with them both on equal points.

[El Cid]

They gave him a 10 second penalty but it didn’t affect the result.

The problem is that Masi is making up/interpreting the rules to keep the races alive, but that is wrong as a team makes its strategy calls based on the rules. Mercedes didn’t pit Lewis as they expected the race to finish before all the lapped cars passed the safety car.

Sid

[Lyric]

Making up the rules as he goes along needs the sack. Rules are there for a reason. Unfortunately the FIA board won't see it that way I suspect.
Masi wants to go back the stone he crawled out of. How can they trust an Australian ?

Not racist I mean send him home.

[markwilding]

There must be thousands of new fans watching the last few races,who can’t get their head around it.

[katy]

Lewis will be right behind him and be able to anticipate every move he (Verstappen) makes Lewis Hamilton is the rightful world champion and will surpass Schumacher *another serial cheat) having said that I truly hope the best man wins !

Unfortunately not the case in my opinion. Did someone pay Latifi to cause his crash and the safety car to come on Seems so unfair that Hamilton loses his 11 sec lead, it's like all the previous 50 odd laps were a waste of time. A disappointing result.

I wondered that

[Cádiz]

There must be thousands of new fans watching the last few races,who can’t get their head around it.

I am one of the ones you mention.... i think it is a marketing trick...

[olive]

There will be a lot of new fanz. Squid game types with five second attention spans . Traditional fans will desert in droves. The sport is driven by media and money not fair racing. Sad but the price of “progress”.

[peteroldracer]

In my racing days (admittedly on two wheels, but in World championship level races) there were a few kamakazi riders, too careless of the lives of others. They usually got sorted round the back of the circuit, giving them the an underpant-changing experience until they got the message.
With today’s F1 the risks of serious personal injury are miniscule, so excess aggression can pay off. At the same time every move is captured in high-resolution video, and every touch if the brakes or throttle can be analysed, so it should be simple to police behaviour, but sadly a driver is far more likely to be penalised for a phobic or racist remark than for forcing another off the track.
I fail to see how someone who has never driven in any race can understand why the rules are there and is absolutely the wrong person to be a race director.

[costakid]

Well the FIA have rejected the 2 appeals surprise surprise. LH was robbed today. F1 wants nobody to have 8 titles and beat Schumi.