F1 Season 2021

[MCFC1993]

I don’t quite understand the fallout here.

Red Bull’s strategy was to pit, expecting/hoping at some stage the safety car would be brought out or that Hamilton was forced to pit later on in the race and they could make back the time. If they hadn’t have pitted twice Hamilton wouldn’t have had such a lead.

Mercedes strategy was not to pit, to keep the lead and push on, taking the risk that Hamilton wouldn’t need to pit nor that the race would be restarted.

One strategy came good.

The fallout is that the rules weren't followed. So Mercedes strategy wasn't beaten by a superior Red Bull strategy. They were beaten by the racing director doing whatever the fuck he wanted.

He let the overlapped cars between Hamilton and Verstappen go, he didn't let all of them go, so Sainz in 3rd place didn't even get a shot at Verstappen or Hamilton. Instead he had to defend his position from 4th because the overlapped cars were in the way.

The safety car is supposed to come in a lap later, allowing the overlapped cars to rejoin the back of the group. It went in early.

Or he could have left the overlapped cars but Verstappen would have to get past them like Hamilton did. He wouldn't have won with 1 lap left.

Masi made up his own rules. Hard to strategise when the racing director makes up new rules.

 

[svennis pennis]

It wasn't a gamble though?

Every legitimate option gave Lewis enough time to win.

1) they let every car unlap and Lewis wins under the safety.

2) they don't let them unlap and Verstappen has to get past 5 cars before he even gets to Lewis. Wouldn't even get close to Hamilton over a lap.

Mercedes racing strategy had them both covered, they had planned for it.

If they had pitted Red Bull would have adopted both strategy's knowing there was no legitimate way Mercedes could have won.

It was a gamble, there is a radio message from Lewis saying exactly that under the virtual safety car. That was the point to switch tyres if they were ever going to do so. Toto is on the radio to Masi telling him not to make it a full safety car, they knew it was a risk. If they had switched they would then have been in control of tyre strategy, Red Bull would have kept Max out in a slower car with knackered tyres. The sport can come down to those fine margins. We've seen Lewis brilliantly switch tyres and race back through the field to win races before.

What we saw at the end of the race was unprecedented, im not denying that, but there was a point in the race where Mercedes took a calculated risk not to switch tyres in order to maintain track position.

 

[Citizen of Legoland]

I don’t quite understand the fallout here.

Red Bull’s strategy was to pit, expecting/hoping at some stage the safety car would be brought out or that Hamilton was forced to pit later on in the race and they could make back the time. If they hadn’t have pitted twice Hamilton wouldn’t have had such a lead.

Mercedes strategy was not to pit, to keep the lead and push on, taking the risk that Hamilton wouldn’t need to pit nor that the race would be restarted.

One strategy came good.

With a little help from a rule being applied in a way it never has before, being the salient point. If Mercedes knew that could happen then they would have perhaps taken a different strategy.

 

[MCFC1993]

It was a gamble, there is a radio message from Lewis saying exactly that under the virtual safety car. That was the point to switch tyres if they were ever going to do so. Toto is on the radio to Masi telling him not to make it a full safety car, they knew it was a risk. If they had switched they would then have been in control of tyre strategy, Red Bull would have kept Max out in a slower car with knackered tyres. The sport can come down to those fine margins. We've seen Lewis brilliantly switch tyres and race back through the field to win races before.

What we saw at the end of the race was unprecedented, im not denying that, but there was a point in the race where Mercedes took a calculated risk not to switch tyres in order to maintain track position.

Yes earlier on in the race Mercedes could have come in under the VSC.

But I don't see how that affects what happened because their strategy was spot on.

It wasn't beaten by Red Bulls strategy, it was beaten by an illegal decision that was designed for drama and not sport.

Mercedes 100% would have changed their strategy if they knew Masi was going to make something like that up.

 

[domalino]

I don’t quite understand the fallout here.

Red Bull’s strategy was to pit, expecting/hoping at some stage the safety car would be brought out or that Hamilton was forced to pit later on in the race and they could make back the time. If they hadn’t have pitted twice Hamilton wouldn’t have had such a lead.

Mercedes strategy was not to pit, to keep the lead and push on, taking the risk that Hamilton wouldn’t need to pit nor that the race would be restarted.

One strategy came good.

The fallout is that the only reason the Red Bull strategy worked is that the race directory tore up the rule book to give Red Bull a lap of racing after Horner had pleaded on the radio that he only needed one lap.

 

[Thorin Oakenshield]

The fallout is that the only reason the Red Bull strategy worked is that the race directory tore up the rule book to give Red Bull a lap of racing after Horner had pleaded on the radio that he only needed one lap.

Why the hell are they allowed to talk to the guy anyway? Surely he should be locked away in a neutral position

 

[Bonzo Nododo]

FFS BBC talking about the F1 and repeatedly mention Harry Kane's tweet before Silly Sally and Dopey Dan imply that the rules are so complex that even Mensa Harry can't work them out.
Then they move to a touching story about a lad who gave bone marrow to a girl, now stuying nursing, meeting at Anfield with the goalie who managed to take a player down as he touches the ball with a single finger (allegedly).
Ten minutes of the the happy family and the gutsy Liverpool fan some of it filmed at Anfield last week but most in the studio today entirely surrounded by panamic pictures of the inside of the ground. Not the first time there is an explosion of red everywhere in 10 minutes of entirely free advertising. Brezhnev and his Comrades would have loved all that red.

 

[MCFC1993]

Article with most of the drivers reactions to yesterday, not a single one thought it made any sense. As Lando Norris said 'it was for TV'.

 

[Phil1]

I think your reaction to the shambles of yesterday says a lot about you as a person.
It’s fair to say those dismissing the sheer lack of integrity involved in reaching the result they did and celebrating a victory as hollow and undeserved as it was are not the type you’d want to spend too much time with or trust as far as you could throw.

 

[bugsyblue]

With a little help from a rule being applied in a way it never has before, being the salient point. If Mercedes knew that could happen then they would have perhaps taken a different strategy.

Fair point.