Thing is, the correct procedure wasn’t followed by Masi. I imagine the bit in red is what Mercedes will be protesting. But I can’t see the result changing at this point. Masi is gone though, no chance he’s keeping the job.
EDIT: Ted just confirmed my suspicions.
He did indeed, got to love Ted
Edit: 2 protests from Mercedes
I mean, he’s driving for Mercedes next year so you expect him to say anything else?
He’s also the head of the GDPA, you have to expect him to act without bias on this and I agree with him, it’s unacceptable
Well that was…interesting.
Unpicking that lot will take a while.
In terms of the yellow flag period at the end it will be in the hands of the experts on the rules. I’m not going to play the “I read this on the internet and know the answer” game. Just had a family “debate” on that particular topic!
I put the Christmas tree up towards the end coz Lewis was 11 seconds clear, looked round and Max had overtaken him…. What!
Far more exciting finish than finishing behind the safety car
Next season is going to be really interesting
Much more exciting finish but unfortunately the difference win tyres means it would only ever of finished one way
Whichever way the safety car in/out decision went would have gifted the title to one or the other so accusations would fly regardless.
On the surface, leaving it out would have been the more easily defensible option in my view.
Red flag, grid restart with new types for the last 5 laps.
Saw that suggested and it would have been great, although they’d have probably taken each other out
Could argue it wouldn’t be gifted to Lewis, but Yh leaving it out is certainly the more defensible option. Rather than literally change the rules because Christian Horner had a tantrum
Not necessarily no. Lewis was around 10 seconds ahead before Latifi dropped it.
If the lapped cars weren’t allowed to pass there’s a good chance Lewis would have darted off before Max was able to clear the lapped cars and catch up.
If the lapped cars were allowed to pass, the regulations say another lap should have taken place, i.e. ending the race behind the safety car.
There’s no point debating it here though. At this point it’s a purely legal matter, so we just need to wait and see the outcome the stewards land on.
It doesn’t really matter what we think, my point was more that someone, somewhere would have thrown an internet hissy fit whatever action was taken.
It was a no-in scenario as far as race direction was concerned.
Lewis/Mercedes fans will never let this go.
It wasn’t though, you follow the rules no matter what, the rules dictate all lapped cars are to overtake or or no cars at all, if cars overtake the safety car comes in the following lap, you can’t just change it for better entertainment
Yeah, you’re talking reality while I’m talking the court of public opinion which is the same as reality (wrongly) for much of the world.
Would CAS have any say potentially if FIA back Masi?
It’s going to be a long time until we get a decision on this one I think.
Anyway, all of this is distracting from the real champions of this season, McLaren for being the only team to achieve a 1-2 finish.
Or sainz getting 5th ahead of leclerc and Norris in the middle mental close.
Decision number one. Unsurprising really. This one was just petty. It’s the other one that matters.
