Michael Masi Replaced after FIA review

winston malcolm said:

The key word here is "whenever" . It clearly wasn't possible .

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Well.. "Whenever" was possible.

Personally, I'd take it to mean "if the track is clear (like it was for the last lap), we'll go green. I don't think they realised there was already provisions in the regulations that seemingly don't allow ad hoc decisions like that. Or, in some peoples arguments, that it was possible.

Can’t say I am surprised and being a Hamilton fan, I’m ok with it. However the FIA left him exposed and I hope we are never put in this position again, correct application of the rules and teams not able to talk to the race director in the race anymore

How hard is really to have:
1) white line is track limit, pass it 3 times you get drive-through
2) replace these funny millisecond penalties with DT, stop-go, stop-go+5/10/20 seconds
3) penalise pushing of track (only penalised in Austria last year, out of good part of last 20 years)
4) update engine rules for broken engines

To elaborate on #4: getting 3 new engines in season is fine, but after going over the limit each new engine part is few grid positions now ONLY IF you DNFed in previous race. If you finished the race, then you get pit lane start or with 4/5+ engine you get pitlane start+drive through or something. It was so sad it was funny to look abusing of this rule, which was there only because F1 needed 4th supplier to stay 5 years ago. (someone would say this Massi change is also done so engine supplier will stay )

what we can see is that the british F1 press and Merc have so much influence. you wonder if it will be fair in the future

davehenrie said:

What I want to know, is how did Mercedes sneak their obviously illeagal motor past tech inspectors? No previous iteration of that unit was so clearly overpowered. Simplying saying it was a new unit doesn't cut it, they replaced the engine several times during the season with only mild pace increases, only for the last swap with 4 races to go did they install a super-motor.

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IMO Merc were running the engines on a conservative setting to last the season, adding new components and having a larger engine pool to use allowed them to put less mileage on each engine and run them at a higher setting. The rules regarding engine changes were bunk, but ironically I think those rules were a request for leniancy from Red Bull!!! (could be wrong on that, read it on the net!!).

winston malcolm said:

The key word here is "whenever" . It clearly wasn't possible .

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It was until Latifi's brakes caught fire, Masi (who was probably mentally geared up for a normal restart...which Lewis would probably lose anyway) then had a tiny amount of time under extreme pressure to make a decision. The Rules had nothing to account for a situation like this regarding the agreement to finish under green when possible, so he fudged it as best he could for a "race" not a "victory parade". Don't forget it's ONLY in hindsight that we are certain a restart wasn't all that possible after the brakes caught fire. Yes it was probably the wrong decision ultimately, but countless sporting events have been decided with officiating errors. It's part of sport (like it or not).

Sasha Jednak said:

How hard is really to have:
1) white line is track limit, pass it 3 times you get drive-through
2) replace these funny millisecond penalties with DT, stop-go, stop-go+5/10/20 seconds
3) penalise pushing of track (only penalised in Austria last year, out of good part of last 20 years)
4) update engine rules for broken engines

To elaborate on #4: getting 3 new engines in season is fine, but after going over the limit each new engine part is few grid positions now ONLY IF you DNFed in previous race. If you finished the race, then you get pit lane start or with 4/5+ engine you get pitlane start+drive through or something. It was so sad it was funny to look abusing of this rule, which was there only because F1 needed 4th supplier to stay 5 years ago. (someone would say this Massi change is also done so engine supplier will stay )

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regarding 4, as I said in a previous reply I've read it was Red Bull who requested leniant engine penalties. If true that's horribly ironic!

IMO the hybrid era has been appalling for F1, quite literally the "mercedes cup", and why in an era of cost saving did they decide to radically change the PU at HUGE cost....oh becuase Merc (and Renault) threatened to pull out.

Damage Inc said:

regarding 4, as I said in a previous reply I've read it was Red Bull who requested leniant engine penalties. If true that's horribly ironic!

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Exactly, and that just adds to whole point: you can't have COMPETITOR influencing penalties in COMPETITION they are part of. ORGANISER is the one to do that, and if they are not competent to write good set of rules, you will get: AD, Bahrain, gray zone engines/wings, etc. And then doing the worst possible thing: changing own bad rules ON REQUEST of a participant that didn't remember to abuse them while they were there.
On topic of Massi, I am happy for him, he can continue to work close to sport he likes and doesn't have to be on impact of "all-mighty all-knowing" fans and media.

That Sepang 2002 Montoya penalty call was peak "Ferrari International Assistance" in all its glory.

norbs said:

You are comparing them? Holy hell.

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It was just a joke. I thought that was obvious, obviously not to everyone.

zwiss said:

There should be at least 2 m of GRASS between the road and the concrete run-off area's at every corner.

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The only drawback it would hide the road

Kingkoenig said:

Max being Max, I don’t think he gives a rat’s ass. He’s proudly wearing the #1 on his car and his helmet.

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I think outwardly Max will say he does not care how he won in the final race however inside I think he does not feel good about it.

BillyBobSenna said:

I think outwardly Max will say he does not care how he won in the final race however inside I think he does not feel good about it.

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I don't think so after Silverstone and all those pointless penalties. And the bad merry christmas joke " karma is a bitch

BillyBobSenna said:

I think outwardly Max will say he does not care how he won in the final race however inside I think he does not feel good about it.

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I doubt that very much.

Nah, Verstappen won't care. His Dad was a reckless prick too. Like Hamilton, Senna was cheated out of the 1989 championship, but came back and won the next two. I fully expect a blistering performance from Hamilton and a record-breaking 8th championship, putting little Max back in his box for another year. Many silver-spoon kids have won the world championship, few have had the FIA rig it for them.

daveclifton said:

Nah, Verstappen won't care. His Dad was a reckless prick too. Like Hamilton, Senna was cheated out of the 1989 championship, but came back and won the next two. I fully expect a blistering performance from Hamilton and a record-breaking 8th championship, putting little Max back in his box for another year. Many silver-spoon kids have won the world championship, few have had the FIA rig it for them.

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cry on

FIA should give the guy a bonus for ensuring the WC didn't get decided behind a damn safety car.

The rules need to be tightened up so there is no room for interpretation so that the same situation won't arise.
That's the best we can hope for the coming seasons.
Mercedes based their strategy on the rules as they believed they were to be applied.
A virtual safety car would have forced cars to hold station so LH had a big enough lead.
A real safety car would have bunched the cars up but there weren't enough laps to get the race running under green flag after all the lapped cars had past LH
And their options were limited.

1. RB woud have done the reverse of whatever M-B had done with regards to pit-stops. In fact they HAD to do the opposite of whatever M-B did to stand any remote chance of MV winning.
If LH had pitted MV would have stayed out and taken the lead - all MV had to do then is defend...
Would RB have been so keen to have the cars between MV and LH removed in that situation?

2. We also have to ask that if LH was behind MV on newer tyres would both have actually crossed the finish line.
In the event of both not finishing then MV would be WDC...
We've never had any driver deliberately drive another off the track to win the WDC have we.

With the WDC at stake there was no way M-B could allow LH to get behind MV as - and I think we'd all be in agreement here - there wasn't going to be any way the LH was going to be able to find a way to pass MV.

The rules just need to be tidied up - if lapped cars are to unlapp themselves then that's ALL lapped cars.

And as I have said before, lapped cars behind MV then became a "shield" so that he didn't need to defend his second place, and could concentrate on passing LH... that also seems very unfair.
He was given an opportunity that was denied third placed Carlos Sainz.

When Latifi hit the wall the gap between LH and MV was 11 secs, and MV to CS was 55 secs.
The lap before the restart had the gaps at 6.9 secs and 4.9 secs respectively...
At the restart the gaps were 0.4 secs and 2.9 secs - I've not checked what cars were between MV and CS at the restart but a 2.9 secs gap would indicate that there were some cars between the two otherwise CS would have been on MV's gearbox and the gap would have been 0.5 secs and MV would have to be looking in his mirrors.

The other thing to consider is if CS was in the lead with LH second and MV third and each had cars between them what would Masi have done then?

LeSunTzu said:

I doubt that very much.

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The 2021 F1 championship was like a World Cup Final tied until one of the teams scored as time ends but the scorekeeper gives the goal to the team that was scored on. How can Max be proud of that?

trichens said:

2. We also have to ask that if LH was behind MV on newer tyres would both have actually crossed the finish line.
In the event of both not finishing then MV would be WDC...
We've never had any driver deliberately drive another off the track to win the WDC have we.

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The official line prior to the race, was points would be deducted if Max & Lewis went off due to contact with each other. The general consensus was this was directly targeted at Max.