A week has passed since the Abu Dhabi grand prix and I am still angry about how it ended. In my opinion, Lewis Hamilton, having led almost every lap, was robbed in the last one by race director Michael Masi’s poor decision making.
Masi effectively broke the racing rules by allowing just a handful of cars to unlap themselves following the safety car period. He put Verstappen right on to the back of Hamilton and effectively left him a sitting duck. The race should have finished under the safety car if there wasn’t time to get all the out of position cars passed the safety car.
If it was football; it would be like a draw where one side was given an undeserved penalty in the 89th minute and then the goal posts were moved further apart for the poor goalkeeper facing the spot kick.
To make matters worse, apparently the FIA relied on a caveat clause that the race director has the authority to pretty much do what he likes in a race. That scuppered the appeals process. It was Michael Masi that was effectively allowed to choose who won the 2021 drivers’ championship.
The season end had been quite exciting with Hamilton and Verstappen evenly matched. In the last race of the championship both were matched on points and it was going to be a winner takes all situation in Abu Dhabi.
Verstappen had performed well all season and was a deserving winner of the championship, but the way he won it in the end had me screaming at the telly. If the race had been fair at the end, all the out of position cars had been allowed through, and Max Verstappen won it then fair enough. To be frank, I’d still have been disappointed for Lewis, but I wouldn’t have been so bloody cross.
I have watched/listened to F1 for the last 20 years or more and I am a fan of the sport. But if Masi keeps his job or Lewis decides he’s had enough, I’ll never watch or listen to another race again. If F1 is going to be run like the Conservative Party, it won’t be a sport anymore, it’ll be a laughingstock.
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Masi effectively broke the racing rules by allowing just a handful of cars to unlap themselves following the safety car period. He put Verstappen right on to the back of Hamilton and effectively left him a sitting duck. The race should have finished under the safety car if there wasn’t time to get all the out of position cars passed the safety car.
If it was football; it would be like a draw where one side was given an undeserved penalty in the 89th minute and then the goal posts were moved further apart for the poor goalkeeper facing the spot kick.
To make matters worse, apparently the FIA relied on a caveat clause that the race director has the authority to pretty much do what he likes in a race. That scuppered the appeals process. It was Michael Masi that was effectively allowed to choose who won the 2021 drivers’ championship.
The season end had been quite exciting with Hamilton and Verstappen evenly matched. In the last race of the championship both were matched on points and it was going to be a winner takes all situation in Abu Dhabi.
Verstappen had performed well all season and was a deserving winner of the championship, but the way he won it in the end had me screaming at the telly. If the race had been fair at the end, all the out of position cars had been allowed through, and Max Verstappen won it then fair enough. To be frank, I’d still have been disappointed for Lewis, but I wouldn’t have been so bloody cross.
I have watched/listened to F1 for the last 20 years or more and I am a fan of the sport. But if Masi keeps his job or Lewis decides he’s had enough, I’ll never watch or listen to another race again. If F1 is going to be run like the Conservative Party, it won’t be a sport anymore, it’ll be a laughingstock.
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