ger147
Tour Winner
12 laps to go, safety car restart and Lewis vs Max, showtime...
F1 2022
- Thread starter bobmac
- Start date
ger147
Tour Winner
I wouldn't fancy being Lewis Hamilton's cat tonight, presumably it's already hiding behind the couch...
Wilson
Head Pro
The Tsunoda episode was very bizarre, and his post race interview didn’t help, as he couldn’t really explain the problem!
Oddsocks
Ryder Cup Winner
It stinks…. BIG TIME
cliveb
Head Pro
It would have probably been futile to try, but at the point when the safety car was out and the order was Lewis then George then Max, surely there was an opportunity to play the team game:
At the restart, Lewis bolts off early, and George trundles around with Max not allowed to pass him until they reach the SC line. That could easily have given Lewis a several second gap over Max.
The fact that George asked to go on the soft tyres and gave up track position to Max before the restart tells me that he's not interested in helping out Lewis.
No doubt Lewis will realise this so the gloves could now be off.
At the restart, Lewis bolts off early, and George trundles around with Max not allowed to pass him until they reach the SC line. That could easily have given Lewis a several second gap over Max.
The fact that George asked to go on the soft tyres and gave up track position to Max before the restart tells me that he's not interested in helping out Lewis.
No doubt Lewis will realise this so the gloves could now be off.
Reemul
Head Pro
Mercedes could have said no stay out, they were obviously happy with the strategy he wanted as well. Lewis was stuffed due to the VSC anyways better a 2 and 4 than a 3 and 4 eh, just unfortunate for Lewis it wasn't him in 2nd.
Neilds
Assistant Pro
Why should he help Lewis, he is beating him in the races so has a much better chance of catching the leaders
Springveldt
Well-known member
If they pitted both then they would have had a 2 and 3. It's obvious they thought leaving them both out with George as a buffer would give the best chance of a win (in reality it would still have failed as Max was too fast on the softs) but then George waited nearly a full lap before demanding to pit that left Lewis high and dry. George saw an easy 2nd by pitting and getting softs.
Merc screwed up. They should have left both out or pitted both and settled for a 2nd and 3rd.
He has no chance of catching the leader in the championship and this was the teams best chance of a win all season.
Swango1980
Well-known member
Agree with this. For Mercedes it was about giving themselves the best chance to win the race, and there is no chance they have any expectation that either driver will catch the leaders now. If they had pitted both for the best tyres, that would have made sense (especially if they were going to make that decision for one of their drivers). They wouldn't have beaten Verstappen, although maybe there would be a small chance if he had reliability issues or made an unlikely mistake, of which they could profit from.
Alternatively, they could have held track position, but they really needed to give Lewis a buffer by keeping Russel between Lewis and Max. Again, this may not have paid off as Max was considerably faster on those tyres, but not sure this would have been a guarantee before that decision was made (e.g. the hard tyres did very well earlier in race, and Lewis' tyres were not that old anyway.
It just seems to be a dodgy decision by Mercedes. I also thought the leading driver in any team would often be get the benefit of any strategy call, so I can see why Lewis was especially upset. It would only make more sense if Russell was in with a shout of winning the championship.
My impression of this season is that Lewis has had extraordinary bad luck in many races, whether it be due to the appearance of a safety car (or virtual), or a call from his team. Whereas it seems George has benefited a good number of times. Obviously neither would ever have a chance of the individual title. However, the whole Tsunoda incident, as mentioned by others, was just plain bizarre.
I bet whinger spice wasn’t on the radio pleading for them to be allowed to race today
theoneandonly
Blackballed
SLH tops FP1. Haven't seen that for a while.
Sounds like RBR were naughty boys last year with regards to the budget cap with Merc and Ferrari pissed off and out for blood!
Sounds like RBR were naughty boys last year with regards to the budget cap with Merc and Ferrari pissed off and out for blood!
how much will whinger spice moan if RBR are found to have breached the budget cap that he was apparantly unaware of
cliveb
Head Pro
We don't know yet if they did breach the cap, and Horner seems adamant that they didn't.
But if (and it's a big if) they are found to have done so, I suspect the FIA will retrospectively DQ them from the 2021 constructors championship and claw back the prize money for 2nd place. They may also have their cap for this year reduced by whatever last year's overspend was. Which could make life very difficult.
As for last year's drivers championship, I can't see anything changing. Hamilton and Alonso were allowed to keep their points in 2007 when McLaren were DQ'd and fined. But it will make Max's win even more tainted than it already was - had RB not overspent, he wouldn't have got anywhere near winning.
ger147
Tour Winner
Red Bull will absolutely NOT be DQ'd from last year's Constructor's Championship. The latest rumour is it is a minor breach, and if there was such a breach it will most likely be dealt with via a fine, a future additional budget restriction on top of the existing budget cap or a future additional restriction on development time.
ger147
Tour Winner
FIA update on budget cap outcome postponed until Monday.
Must be a good laugh behind the scenes in Japan tonight...
Must be a good laugh behind the scenes in Japan tonight...
Piece
Tour Winner
SaintHacker
Journeyman Pro
The delay obviously means they've found something significant. Question is what are they delaying for? To decide on a punishment? To allow the team time to explain? To make sure the allegation is watertight before handing out a punishment? Working out how they can sweep this unde the same carpet they hid Masi under?
You know this how?
Bunkermagnet
Journeyman Pro
The whole things is a joke. Merc were punished for a fractional wing flex, fair enough thems the rules. RB will probaly get a slap on the wrist, and for a sport that deals in thousands of a second, fractions of this, that and everything, to not know where their budget is at is frankly laughable. But hey, the FIA have their new favourite buddies.
Reemul
Head Pro
Get a grip, you are all posting as if you know what the outcome already is. The whole RBR V Merc Max v Lewis is almost as bad as the LIV Tour stuff.
I tell you what, if everyone we knew listened to crap like that about us individually at work or in our lives we all be sacked and living in ditches whether it's true or not.
Wait for the outcome and then act like whiny babies as it won't suit your narrative regardless of what is said..
I tell you what, if everyone we knew listened to crap like that about us individually at work or in our lives we all be sacked and living in ditches whether it's true or not.
Wait for the outcome and then act like whiny babies as it won't suit your narrative regardless of what is said..
theoneandonly
Blackballed
Who pissed on your cornflakes ??
It's one of the biggest stories in F1 at the moment.
