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I'm with you Mic....I watched on Sunday with my son(recorded of course...ain't go no time for all those commercials and yellow flag fill ins) and was pulling for Dixon, Kanaan, Helio or Sato....I love how badass those guys are.. All proven winners...all know what it takes to win at the 500...and all who never give up until the checkered flag is waving. I think the mental toughness is half the battle in that race...the other half is luck and winds of fate blowing in your direction. It was a good race and it was great to see Helio be able to say "I'm still here and not ready to be done guys" Absolutely LOVED IT. That being said I am seriously pulling for Dixon to get his 7th championship...would love to see him get it.
OK, despite my not-so-enthused viewpoint on watching Formula 1, I am definitely IN to watch this weekend's Abu Dhabi finale race!
Lewis: 369.5 points
Max: 369.5 points
Final round decides the 2021 Champion!!
C'mon! How does this happen in F1!?!? Now THIS is what racing should be about!!
Honestly, I'm torn about the events of the penultimate round Saudi GP last week at the new Jeddeh circuit. On the one hand, Lewis drove an impressive race with Max doing a somewhat "unmagical" out-of-bounds pass. But then Lewis hits Max. And so on... So many "weird" incidents (and rulings) at Jeddeh! Was Max robbed by the time penalty? Interesting that the F1 audience seems split nearly in the middle over the outcome. What do I think? It doesn't matter. Not saying who I want to win the championship because it's inconsequential what I think (and those who know me already know what I think. Laff!) But this all makes for a really interesting final round!
Beyond the personalities, it's rare when two TEAMS can reach the top in the same year. Verstappen will be driving the last Honda hybrid since factory support will be withdrawn after this race. Red Bull Racing will take over the program from 2022 onwards, but Honda has finally matched Mercedes this year. Meanwhile, Mercedes has to be pulling out at the stops in an effort to get Hamilton to his eighth World Championship. Amazing that the parts in these complex F1 cars have become so reliable. Let's hope they power both contenders all the way to the finish at Abu Dhabi.
What a great way to end a wild season. The interwebs tell me the last time an F1 championship has entered the final round in a tie was almost 50 years ago ('74 Fittipaldi/McLaren over Regazzoni/Ferrari ((Hunt's first year if you're a fan of the movie 'Rush')))
Can't wait to see this finale. Lewis' form since the Brazil engine change has been incredible, and as composed as Max is in interviews, it seems like he's feeling the pressure. Lost in the fervor this is also the final race for the 2007 World Champion and most experience F1 driver of all time, Kimi Raikkonen. His Final race livery features the text "Dear Kimi - we will leave you alone now".
I'll be waking up on my birthday morning, pouring a way-too-early mimosa, and enjoying the race.
What a great way to end a wild season. The interwebs tell me the last time an F1 championship has entered the final round in a tie was almost 50 years ago ('74 Fittipaldi/McLaren over Regazzoni/Ferrari ((Hunt's first year if you're a fan of the movie 'Rush')))
Can't wait to see this finale. Lewis' form since the Brazil engine change has been incredible, and as composed as Max is in interviews, it seems like he's feeling the pressure. Lost in the fervor this is also the final race for the 2007 World Champion and most experience F1 driver of all time, Kimi Raikkonen. His Final race livery features the text "Dear Kimi - we will leave you alone now".
I'll be waking up on my birthday morning, pouring a way-too-early mimosa, and enjoying the race.
PS: Mic, I finally got my set of LMGT4's!!
Well, uh, well, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR!? Pics, we want pics I tell ya!! There's a Nismo wheel thread here somewhere or just post your own thread, "What I got for my Birthday/Christmas/Hannakuh/Chinese New Year/You Choose! LMGT4 Whills!!"
But ya, on the F1 season, commentators and other media wags have been calling this "an epic rivalry, right up with Senna/Prost, Hunt/Lauda, Schumacher/Hill, Hamilton/Verstappen. Dunno 'bout that but it's the first season in last ten or twelve years that I've had any interest in watching without putting it in fast forward and stopping for crashes (and lead changes, but that's so rare, I don't pay attention. Laff.....). Will be interesting to watch Quali tomorrow. I'd guess, based on what I said about lead changes, pole position will be odds on favorite for the win.
Max takes the pole position with Hamilton in P2. Nice, gonna be good’un tomorrow! Can only imagine if they did a Hamilton-Rosberg “Hey, let’s take each orher out!” thing like at the Spanish GP 2016 where they crashed lap 1! (That was fun to watch. 😈
But yeah, if that happened (where both DNF), is one chosen as champion based on wins or what? Near as I recall, they both have same number of wins. (I think.) Would they be “co-champions”? Imagine that…. It’s the Lewis & Max appearance on “Ellen”! Or do they mud wrestle for the title? What?! Hmmmmm, pondering now….
Max has 9 wins to Lewis' 8, so in the event of a crash Max would take the title (and raise a lot of eyebrows, based on his recent antics). Seemed like a bit of a screwup on Max's part starting on the soft tires versus Lew's mediums. Christian Horner suggested they might be going with a 2-stop strategy where this race is typically a 1-stop, so mirroring this season it might come down to the final few laps if Max is on a fresh set of softs catching back up to Louie.
I'll admit - I'm rooting for Max if only to see a new champion, and because I have a K-swapped Civic racecar, so I'd love for Honda to get the win in their final race as an official engine supplier (for now).
What an incredible finish to an incredible season. I won't spoil it, but my prediction of how it'd come down to the final lap was way off, and it still came down to the final lap.
I wasn't sure if I'd watch live considering it was a 5am start for me, but I remember seeing the pre-race show started at 330am, and I randomly woke up at 345 and was furious that I'd missed the start, so I set a 1hr timer and was out of bed before it went off. Once again the stewards played a massive roll in the race, but I think it was a fair-enough judgement. Regarding any post-race objections, I think the NFLs rules apply - ruling on the field will stand.
What an incredible finish to an incredible season. I won't spoil it, but my prediction of how it'd come down to the final lap was way off, and it still came down to the final lap.
I wasn't sure if I'd watch live considering it was a 5am start for me, but I remember seeing the pre-race show started at 330am, and I randomly woke up at 345 and was furious that I'd missed the start, so I set a 1hr timer and was out of bed before it went off. Once again the stewards played a massive roll in the race, but I think it was a fair-enough judgement. Regarding any post-race objections, I think the NFLs rules apply - ruling on the field will stand.
Heh heh, and someone's crying in their milk to the FIA. Won't matter, it was fair. Could have EASILY broken the other way. And who wants to win a championship behind a safety car?!? That'd have amounted to a CHUMPionship. I know, I know, that's mean and rude to say but.... Oh wait, I totally meant it!
While Mercedes has filed two protests about the Abu Dubai finish, can you imagine being in the FIA room when the race committee convenes to hear that protest? Is this the final twist to such an incredible year? Or just sour grapes from a vanquished contender?
IMHO Mercedes should have brought Hamilton in for fresh soft tires during the caution period. Yes, they would have given up the lead, but they gambled that the race could have ended under yellow. That decision doomed Hamilton to race on older tires for a single lap. Too bad, but it was a strategic decision that the Mercedes team will have to live with...
Here is what experts say: "It is common under the Safety Car to move those lapped cars out of the way for when race conditions return and Masi did give that order, which meant Verstappen was then right behind Hamilton when the race resumed for one final epic lap. however, it was only those five lapped cars between the title rivals that unlapped themselves, not all of them.The unique element to this situation was the fact that only the lapped cars between Hamilton and Verstappen could overtake the Safety Car, not all of them.
And as per Article 48.12 of the sporting regulations, “any cars that have been lapped by the leader will be required to pass the cars on the lead lap and the Safety Car”.
Mercedes, therefore, may well have a legitimate gripe and a protest is likely to be lodged.
So Michael Masi messed up this one. I think Hamilton deserved the win.
I thought that I read that the real mess up was that per the rule, the race restarts the 'lap following' the lapped cars catching up. But, in this case, the lapped cars were let by and the safety car immediately went in - instead of the 'following lap'.
But, not allowing all lapped cars by would have also had an impact as it would have likely taken more time to let them all by - possibly not having enough time to have 1 more lap. Quite messy. Guess we'll see what happens..
Max is the champion. FIA rejected all claims by MBAMG.
But... the MBAMG team can appeal the ruling - within 72 hours.
Sour grapes. Letting the lapped cars pass to clear the way for a real racing battle might not have TECHNICALLY been the right call but this gave no additional advantage to Red Bull. The Red Bull strategy of putting new sticker reds on before the restart did. And Max simply outdrove Lewis on the final lap.
Yeah, "we'll see" but I seriously doubt it will rule Lewis his 8th. And if it does, well, they're going to have a long, protracted fight on their hands.
Pretty cool. I've not been a huge fan of Sir Lewis (mostly because he wins so dang much) but respect for him, you bet! He's also a pretty good guy according to a friend of mine who's met him since his company is a top tier sponsor of the team. This video of him surprising three kids at the AMG Petronas F1 Team headquarters was pretty cool too. A fun 9 minutes...
Mercedes still wins the constructor's title, but Max Verstappen is now confirmed with the 2021 Driver's Championship.
A protracted appeal would have sullied Mercedes AMG reputation by looking like spilled milk. Have nothing against AMG and their products (love the pair I've owned) and nothing but respect for the 7-time champ but c'mon, Red Bull and Max outdrove Lewis on that final lap. Dirty? Unjust due to the lapped cars reorganization on the penultimate lap? Perhaps. But the ruling stands.
Hamilton is an incredible person and likely the greatest F1 driver to date, but in the moment, Max beat Lewis. Earlier in the race when the tire advantage was flipped, Checo held Lewis off for longer than a lap. I agree that the call was a bit screwy, but Latifi's car was clear on lap 56, so there was an opportunity had Masi made the call at exactly the right moment for there to be a legit final lap battle as we saw.
I certainly don't blame Masi for not making that call on time, and having already revealed myself a Max fan it probably all sounds a bit to convenient for me to accept his rule-bending after the fact, but there was an agreement between teams that whenever possible (aka safe) a race should be decided under green flag conditions.
06-01-2021, 04:34 PM
