There was a radio message between Toto Wolff and Masi, where masi said, and I'm paraphrasing, "Toto, we're car racing, so I've made it a car race" in response to Toto's question about why he only let 5 cars through and pulled the SC in early.
Problem there is Max would still be the champion so it would be largely pointless wouldn't it? Only way Lewis wins is if they somehow do what Toto said and go back t the previous completed lap but they can't do that because that's making the rules up just as much as Masi did. He's created a mess that really can't be undone
What a brilliant title battle, huge congrats to Max and Red Bull Racing. I feel for Lewis and Mercedes but they should be proud of their season and I'm sure they will be back and up at the front again next season. It just wasn't quite meant to be for them today. It's been nice to have title battle go down to the wire!
His quote was "Toto, it's called a motor race ok. We went car racing". He never mentioned doing anything wrong or changing any rules (even if he did)
Drivers have been stripped of a race position following the ceremony, several times, affecting the result.. Somewhere in the rules, there’ll be a rule about the (mis)implementation of rules. Result should be made void & final champ positions as they were prior to kick off. I joined 10 laps in & don’t know who was leading the champ..? I could tell you more about race regs from the 80s, than the current mess..
And the way they went car racing, was by Masi changing the rules to only allow 5 cars through and pulling in the SC early. If he had followed the rules, is answer would have been a simple "rules are rules". It's a complete ****-up, top to bottom. It's also going to overshadow Max's title win. It will forever be remembered for being won in a dodgy way(although I can't see it bothering Max).
They have but, as far as I am aware, there’s no pending investigation and Max has been confirmed as Champion.
1 Safety cars deployed is always a problem... you cannot maintain the current gaps since the idea is to have a train to allow stewards a period of time on track to clear debris etc. VSC does not do that. Adjusting the times at the end of the race to include the times at the moment the SC is deployed is a partial answer but confusing for fans trying to work out who is actaully leading (although different tyre strategies have the same effect.) Allowing tyre changes under the SC for safety reasons should be allowed by could include a 10 second penalty for doing so to deter tactical changes. 2 No changes shoudl be allowed on cars under red flag conditions. Whilst all the controversy has surrounded Masi rule breaking it should be noted the SC deployment was timed to coincide with the time where it was too late for LH to come into the pits and perfectly for MV to get in and out in 2nd place. Conincidence? Good luck? Based on previous decisions this season ....I suspect not.
Let's be honest, whichever one of them won it today there would have been controversy and complaints from the other side. I'm just glad for a change we've had a title battle go down to the wire. Both should be proud of a wonderful season and F1 has been enjoyable for a change. I do agree that the SC rules need an overhaul though. More of the same next season with the new cars please!
And max can't be issued with a penalty because he didn't break any rules. Masi did but how do you penalise him?
the victor is usually magnanimous….. That’s a complete sh1tshow and everyone involved should be embarrassed.
It’s all an almighty mess, the rules were applied incorrectly directly altering the outcome of the race and consequently the WDC. I can’t see anything coming of it though and if it did it would just make it an even bigger mes tbh. What’s done is done now.
I don't agee. If Hamilton won the only thing Redbull could moan about was the incident at the start and Hamilton not having to give the place back. But he had such a pace advantage(he was able to build 5 second leads pretty easily on two occasions, and even with heavily worn tyres was only a couple of tenths slower once the newness of Verstappen's tyres wore off) mean I think they know he would have taken the lead again at some point anyway. Of course, that doesn't stop Horner having a moan, but that's par for the course....
I dont understand how button can say, it was ok to change the rules to get a final racing lap in? It’s like a football match being 3-0 but the ref deciding it’s 0-0 because they want an exciting last 5 minutes?
I’m not recognising that Max title win. Absolute disgraceful scenes. Complete embarrassment after petulant Max tried to ruin the whole spectacle on the first lap. I’m fuming.