Formula one

[screenexile]

I am absolutely no expert and have no love for Hamilton but from what I've read it sounds like they've done things differently for this race and if that's the case Mercedes have every right to take it as far as they can.

In a sport like F1 I'm sure the money at stake is massive and the FIA will be hauled over the coals for their inconsistency. This championship is tainted no matter who wins it there will always be an asterisk beside it.

They'll have to rewrite the rule book after this year and I can see it going to CAS.

[mouview]

Having read the judgment it seems the FIA have interpreted the rule "any cars that have been lapped by the leader will be required to pass the cars on the lead lap and the safety car" as meaning some but not all cars at the discretion of the race director.

I foresee this one rumbling on.

If the above is the rule then where's the problem? Only the cars that Hamilton lapped passed him and the SC out at the end. Hamilton didn't lap the entire field. And he got lucky with that decision in the first corner and had the rub of the green in Saudi last week also.

[Hound]

Magnificent season and fantastic result. Delighted for Max.
Lucky today, but he would have have won it long ago had Hamilton not taken him out in the British Grand Prix and Bottas took him out in another race too.

Safety cars happen all the time and impact on races. That's part of the drama (often much needed drama!).

It's great to see the usual begrudgers out in force. Suck it up boys!!

Hamilton is clearly a tremendous driver, but prefer Max and Christian Horner to Lewis and Toto Wolff.

To be honest, even if all this is overruled, it's not going to bother me, but those few laps between Latifi crashing and Max passing out Hamilton was 'jump up and down and roar and shout' sporting joy. Can't beat it!

[on the sideline]

No big lover of Hamilton, but he has been screwed today. This will be going further and you can't blame Mercedes for that.

[David McKeown]

Having read the judgment it seems the FIA have interpreted the rule "any cars that have been lapped by the leader will be required to pass the cars on the lead lap and the safety car" as meaning some but not all cars at the discretion of the race director.

I foresee this one rumbling on.

If the above is the rule then where's the problem? Only the cars that Hamilton lapped passed him and the SC out at the end. Hamilton didn't lap the entire field. And he got lucky with that decision in the first corner and had the rub of the green in Saudi last week also.

He lapped 3 other cars that were still on the track. You can't have lapped positions 7-11 without also having lapped 12,13 and 14th.

I don't think he got overly lucky with that initial decision. Max forced him off track and had no racing speed when he made that apex because of the manoeuvre to force Hamilton off the track. Regardless though I don't think you can equate the two. One involved the stewards interpretation of a racing incident one required a written rule to be ignored.

As screenexile said above it leaves a sour taste and whomever comes out of it at the end on top will have to live with questions being asked about that ending and not the superb racing seen all season. To that end I feel somewhat sorry for whoever wins.

[thebigfella]

Mercedes know they wont win this but they want the rules amended for clarification..... which is fair enough but suspect Massi's days are numbered. Wolff and Horner know what they are at 

[David McKeown]

And so it continues as Mercedes lodge notice of intention to appeal the second determination.

[GJL]

I am absolutely no expert

[screenexile]

I am absolutely no expert

Cheers GJL

[Orior]

Admit it folks. The only reason why you like Max is because his boss's wife is Ginger Spice

[Bord na Mona man]

The race director gave us what we wanted, a final lap showdown of the ages.
Ok, so he might have taken a lenient interpretation of some of the rules...

But it is a sport where drivers are hostages to fortune, the best driver can fall foul of safety car slowdowns, numpties who make it awkward to lap, numpties taking them out and a ton of rules and regulations.
Hamilton may not be loved by the public but he took his defeat graciously. The stuff he gets flak for, private jet, tax exile, bling are not uncommon amongst other wealthy sports people, yet he gets worse heat for it than others.

[Ghost]

Admit it folks. The only reason why you like Max is because his boss's wife is Ginger Spice

+1

[David McKeown]

The race director gave us what we wanted, a final lap showdown of the ages.
Ok, so he might have taken a lenient interpretation of some of the rules...

But it is a sport where drivers are hostages to fortune, the best driver can fall foul of safety car slowdowns, numpties who make it awkward to lap, numpties taking them out and a ton of rules and regulations.
Hamilton may not be loved by the public but he took his defeat graciously. The stuff he gets flak for, private jet, tax exile, bling are not uncommon amongst other wealthy sports people, yet he gets worse heat for it than others.

If it were ever likely to be a fair final lap with two competitors on close to a level playing field I think there would be a lot less controversy but Mercedes made decisions based on the rules. Left Hamilton out there and left him on old hard compound tyres. It was never going to be a fair fight. So instead of a final lap showdown for the ages he just handed Verstappen the title on a platter and wiped out the great work that Hamilton and Mercedes had done the rest of the race.

Anyway come this time tomorrow I'll likely have forgotten about it and will move on. I don't think that ending though will have done anything other than put me off F1 for the foreseeable

[RadioGAAGAA]

Two eminently dislikeable pricks.

Rubbish. Two great sportsmen at the top of their game.

Being two great drivers (and they aren't great sportsmen - although arguably very few great drivers are so hard to hold that against them) does not stop them being two dislikeable pricks.

Who (besides yourself) is your hero?

Irrelevant to the discussion of whether Hamilton or Verstappen are likeable.

[Keyser soze]

I would usually be one for supporting the underdog and I'm no great fan of Hamilton, but Verstappen is a really unlikable character, he would run over his Da without a second thought if he thought it would win him a race, or an extra point.

However that absolute hateful hoor Horner manages to make even him appear benign.