Formula 1

Don't think anyone particularly stands out for SPOTY so Lewis might be E/W value.

 

That's win only with Bet365. You can get 13/8 Lewis without Emma.

888 Sport go 16/1 all in.

Emma is still far the likeliest winner. But Sir Lewis is now just one race away from a record eighth championship and undoubted GOAT status. At the very least that has to start a conversation, I think!

 

Looking like max got a 10 second penalty for the " brake test " incident . Throw in the lap 10 restart of which max was the cause of the incident ( he cut across Lewis to gain the lead which forced Lewis to slow and others bunching up the pack ) then I'd say it was a unhinged race from him . You can't win world titles driving like that .

 

I'd disagree with that part, many a world title has been won driving like that. If they both DNF next week Max is champion so I expect more of the same.

 

Inexperience definitely got the better of him. You could tell whenever he came on the radio he was losing it.

 

True , world championships have been won like that but the last time it was attempted was 97 with Villeneuve / Schumacher and Schumacher got stripped of all his points . I'm not really aware of a situation since that has got so out of hand . I would say what happens next if their is a crash and its max verstappen s fault ? A repeat of 94 ( hill / Schumacher ) or points deduction ? If a crash happens and it's Lewis Hamiltons fault it won't matter , the other way round and it could get complicated .

 

Remember when F1 was just guys in cars racing around a track?

Even if I started watching it again I don't think I'd stand a chance of understanding it.

 

Yes it could get very messy if Verstappen takes them off. I mean if he made it blatant then I expect they .ay try and do something, though I'm not sure I've ever known a driver have points previously won docked.
More likely is if they end up wheel to wheel Max will refuse to yield, Hamilton will have to play it safe and try and fi ishband hope the Stewards do their job.
Going to be a interesting watch

 

I don't think Max will set out to crash into Lewis but what we have seen is that he is happy to collide with him if it means the consequence of not doing so lets Lewis pass. I think if there's the opportunity for him to go into a 50/50 with Lewis and Lewis is showing more pace he will absolutely try and orchestrate a crash and hope the FIA don't dock him any points.

He will do whatever it takes and his driving and temperament has shown that all season. The championship is going to end in a farce.

 

The changes to the circuit will make it pretty easy for a mercedes to breeze past on the high speed section of the track that they've created. Taken away a lot of the braking areas and made much longer high speed sweeping curves instead which suits a mercedes power unit down to the ground.

 

In what 'skewed' World do Sky viewers live? They voted Verstappen 'driver of the day'. Laughable!

Even more laughable Verstappen used that to justify his antics during the race as showing that "real (F1) fans " understood he was 'racing'. He also said (regarding stewards decisions) ..."A lot of things happened, which I don't fully agree with, but it is what it is."
He and Christian Horner are in total denial. (CH quote " I don't understand why he (LH) ran into the back of you"). Really CH ? Telemetry showed MV applied brakes on the straight. Anyone who has ever even driven a simulator knows you only have to lift off the throttle on an F1 car and it is like hard braking on a road car. Nor did Verstappen move over to the right and stayed pretty much track centre on the racing line. He knew exactly what he was doing.
Cynically even when he gave up the position he did so in a place where he would gain DRS advantage and reclaimed the place immediately. That is the reason he still got the 5 second penalty. Christian Horner's response was "We feel a bit hard done by at RB as Max yielded the position and still got a penalty"!
Furthermore, when he left the track on restart (number 1?) to pass Hamilton who had made a better start on lights out and got in front he out-braked himself left the tgrack cutting the corner to pass Hamilton, he compounded it by cutting right across cut across the track forcing Hamilton off allowing Ocon through. The Red flag saw a farcical situation where RB and Race director Michael Masi ended up 'horsetrading' re restart grid positions.

Given some of his (MM) decisions this season he is, IMO, not even in the same league as the late Charlie Whiting and, frankly not up to the job. Moreover, the leniency displayed towards RB and Verstappen this season has been shameful. Whatever happened to 'drive through' penalties and 10 second stop go penalties which actually impact the offending driver? The latest 5 second penalty for gaining and advantage leaving track with a meaningless 10 second penalty for brake testing (dangerous driving) after the race clearly show bias towards Red Bull.
You have to look at the incidents in a recent races when Hamilton was forced off track going round the outside where both left the track... No investigation needed. Compare that with Silverstone where Hamilton collided with Verstappen (and the Stewards investigation deemed it was in part MVs fault). In that incident there was room on the outside but MV, unlike Hamilton chose not to steer wide. Hamilton even made the corner and did not have to leave the track confines. Hamilton gets a Penalty!!
Time and again Verstappen opens the steering and forces drivers on the outside off track. Time and again he gets away with reckless aggressive driving. Verstappen fanboys/anti LH are quick to call it 'racing incidents' and 'hard but fair', but in reality, unchecked, he is going to cause a serious injury to someone at some point.
Finally his petulance and immaturity was evidenced by his podium behaviour where he walked off after the trophies were awarded. He may be fast on track and if he matures he is undoubtedly capable of winning multiple championships (although Lando Norris and George Russel may disagree) but at the moment he is a liability not helped by the misguided tutelage of the toxic combination of Christian Horner and Helmut Marko.
Clearly Supertyke is more of a MV supporter than Hamilton judging by his posts in this and previous threads so I don't expect him to agree. Most fans of F1 (rather than a particular driver) recognise that MV is nowhere near the finished product though that LH with his years of experience and multiple championships with different teams is.

 

Driver of the Day is an F1 thing, not Sky. It's on the F1 website to vote. Agree that it is strange he won it but he has a lot of support in Belgium and the Netherlands.

 

Think that's the more likely, even if he can breaze past on a straight I'd expect Verstappen to break late into the corner to try and make something happen.

 

Lewis will need Bottas between him and Max as well. Maybe then Bottas might suddenly find as issue and needs to apply his 'brakes' suddenly. Can only hope the best driver wins next Sunday, which is Lewis by a country mile

 

I think Masi has done a better job for Red Bull this season than Checo.

 

The whole deal or no deal offer to them about ceding position was laughable. They need to get their house in order fast.

 

That was the only sensible thing that happened all race.

 

it was quiet obvious Verstappen wanted a collision to send him into the final race ahead of Hamilton
thats why after the first red flag restart i had a fiver on Bottas to win @25/1 nearly paid out
and will be doing the same next Sunday

 

The ridiculous thing is that if MV does take them both out he wins on countback having 'won' one more race than LH. This would OK but for the Spa fiasco where Masi redefined the dictionary definition of a 'race'. Since there was no competition following the safety car for two laps and awarding half points. Another fiasco courtesy of Masi rigged for the benefit of RB. Racing.