F1 2021

[Rosencrantz]

What a complete bleddy farce

Here you are Max, have a title. Gifted it by Masi. You either let all the lapped cars past or none. Could get protested.

 

[Rosencrantz]

If Masi wanted the race to end competitively, he should have red flagged the race with three laps to go. At least then they could have both raced off the grid with fresh softs and have an equal battle. The way he did it was the equivalent of a boxer who had been outboxed for eleven rounds having the scores wiped out and the referee slipping some lead into his gloves for the final round.

 

[Spoonz Red E]

I don't follow F1 but, to my untrained eye, that looked like an absolute fix.

Good for ratings in a big money sport 'though.

 

[Colesman Ballz]

But will it remain a "competative sport" much longer ? Now that the Yanks have got hold of it will it just be turned into a money making machine like the NFL etc ?
It will be interesting to see the way that Premiership Rugby goes forward for exactly the same reason ?

 

[Rosencrantz]

But will it remain a "competative sport" much longer ? Now that the Yanks have got hold of it will it just be turned into a money making machine like the NFL etc ?
It will be interesting to see the way that Premiership Rugby goes forward for exactly the same reason ?

F1 has been a money making machine way before it was sold. Bernie was the ultimate money first owner. If Bernie was still in control Max would have been World Champion before this race. He was always trying to interfere if he thought the spectacle was too one sided, with the possible exception of Ferrari as success for them was always seen good for F1. Max Mosley was also not above trading decisions around as head of the FIA.

Whatever the outcome now though, and this is only the stewards decision of Michael Masi's decision, it is not going to be satisfactory. It could go to the FIA yet.

 

[Red Devon]

I don't follow F1 but, to my untrained eye, that looked like an absolute fix.

Good for ratings in a big money sport 'though.

Seemed like Michael Masi was trying to balance up the First lap incident that Hamilton appeared to get away with.

Looking forward to the new reg changes and hopefully more competitive racing next year.

 

[Spanks]

I actually feel sorry for Max in all this. He is a worthy champion, but his first will now always be tainted as artificially manufactured, through no fault of his, or Red Bull's own.

I've always been a huge fan of the sport, but this has left me feeling very hollow. It was the ultimate intervention in a sporting contest.

 

[Grecian2K]

It was the ultimate intervention in a sporting contest.

Second surely?
Have you forgotten the Cambridge Cup Tie already?

 

[Rosencrantz]

I actually feel sorry for Max in all this. He is a worthy champion, but his first will now always be tainted as artificially manufactured, through no fault of his, or Red Bull's own.

I've always been a huge fan of the sport, but this has left me feeling very hollow. It was the ultimate intervention in a sporting contest.

It was always going to be tough on whoever lost out today. Whether you like the aggressive side to Max's racing or not, he is a great driver and was always going to be a World Champion one day if given the equipment. He was this year given the equipment to compete. Mercedes took a long time I think to work out their car from the changes in regs made last year which did favour the higher rake concept cars such as Red Bull.

I think the danger the sport is in now is the apparent view that maximum aggression on and off the track will be the way to go. It might make for entertainment but it is a dangerous sport and the consequences could be very costly. I think the pressure showed on Max last week where he overstepped the mark and the rhetoric being put out by Horner and Max in not accepting that was poor.

The abiding moment of this season will now be Horner hectoring Masi into giving Max a free shot at the title with the advantages all in his favour outside of the written regs. Now we know the race director has the power to do it, look forward to him being battered from now on as all teams will see it as imperative to get an advantage or at least not be disadvantaged. Masi has come out of this looking confused and weak. It needs sorting over the winter.

Over the season Max probably deserved it and could point to at least Budapest as being unfortunate (as well as Silverstone and Baku). But when it does come down to the last race, and you get viewers who probably don't watch F1 too often, to pretty much take a comfortable win away from a driver who was clearly the quicker on the day by seemingly making up the rules as they go on (or be hectored into doing so) looks terrible.