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Post by René on Dec 12, 2021 20:07:30 GMT
Well, he did it! Congratulations to Max Verstappen and Red Bull Honda. That was a very unexpected outcome after seeing Hamilton drive away every time. But it was spectacular and I believe well deserved for Max. It’s a shame that Mercedes protested the outcome and now after it has been dismissed even wants to appeal. Lewis accepted defeat and congratulated Max after the race and it was also nice to see Lewis’s dad congratulating and hugging Jos. That was classy. But Toto is obviously pissed, certainly after being put in his place by Masi. Sore loser. Also great defense by Checo and strong drive from Carlos!  |
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Post by mikael on Dec 12, 2021 20:50:59 GMT
Yes, Congratulations to Max Verstappen for a well-deserved World Championship!
- and eventually a real fairy tale ending for Honda, after all the hardships in the early years of the present era (which, in one way, also came to its end today, with the comprehensive changes coming up for next season).
It was a strange ending to the race, though, perhaps a bit akin to a penalty kick competition in soccer. I could not help but feeling a bit sorry for Hamilton with that race-ending. But then again, so many World Championships have been lost due to mechanical failures, and with the present level of reliability in F1, that someone else has an accident, which brings out the safety car - which then, in turn, upsets the status quo - is perhaps the modern equivalent of a mechanical failure ...
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Post by Carl on Dec 13, 2021 4:30:57 GMT
The track alterations were real improvements and well done.
I wonder if what upsets tonto most is that a Williams/Mercedes was the domino falling on a certain win... Sergio Perez was magnificent in defense! Two former World Driving Champions (Jenson Button and Damon Hill) and an outstanding journeyman (Martin Brundle) all agreed that Hamilton should have given back the advantage he gained out of bounds on the first lap. How many lapped cars are waved past the leaders during a safety car is apparently at the discretion of race control. It's not all or nothing. |
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Post by chrisb on Dec 13, 2021 9:15:57 GMT
thank you to C4 for showing it live, although I did mute the commentary for long periods of time as the nonsense was sometimes nauseating
my Godson is a fervent Lewis fan and was incandescent with rage feeling he had been robbed, Damon has posted applications for a race directors job, personally I think a major review is necessary first. he is now unsure if he wants to go to Spa next year, if we can that is
Lewis was certainly unfortunate to put it mildly but his post race reactions raised my estimation of him enormously - that was class, Tonto and Christian less so - My question is given how much faster Max was on the last lap I still think he would have won had he needed to overtake the backmarkers as well - but then I am not sure
So, given it was Williams who caused the problem will they be using Renault engines next year?
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Post by charleselan on Dec 13, 2021 12:35:31 GMT
Well you could not have scripted that, even Hollywoods "finest" would have been pushed to produce that.
Many congratulations to Max; Red Bull - Honda and the whole of The Netherlands, all absolutely worthy of the F1 World Championship. In the end I believe that justice was found and the years stand out driver won what was rightly his. OK SLH dominated the race up until that last safety car but would he have had the correct decision been given after the first lap injustice. Probably would have done as he had a big straight line advantage especially with that awful DRS.
On the contrary Max would have easily been WC before this finalé but for the "Copse Incident" and Bottas' brain fart in Hungary which not only cost him two probable race wins, and Red Bull two engines.
However other than the victory the thing I find of most concern is the antics of Wolff and Mercedes Benz after the race and during it. It is bad enough to tarnish the new World Champions hour of glory with petulant behaviour, the hurt of loosing is understandable but the way it has been displayed has brought the sport into disrepute. The bigger picture is how the sport in general is perceived and a company like Mercedes Benz should be more aware of that than anything else.
I also thought that Wolff and Hamilton's bleating about dangerous driving was disgusting when Checo Perez did an amazing team player role. There was absolutely nothing dangerous in what Perez did in his manoeuvres, in fact it was a brilliant bit of driving.
One final thing it was Kimi's last race in F1 and not shown to the best of my knowledge by S*YF1 was the presentation made to him by David Coulthard before the race. S*Y feeling that yet more punditry was more important than paying due respect to this retiring and great driver.
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Post by robmarsh on Dec 13, 2021 14:33:05 GMT
Firstly congratulation to Max, Red Bull and the Netherlands for becoming World Drivers Champion. Max being World Champion is well deserved in my view. He won the most races and I think made the fewer mistakes. He also lost at least one first place, Azerbaijan, and a possible second in Silverstone and Hungary through no real fault of his own. Barring that he would have been champion a few races ago.
I think SLH and his father were very gracious in defeat, a marked difference to the Mercedes management, who displayed really petulant and unsportsmanlike behaviour through out the race. The fact that they arrived with a QC as part of their team sums up their attitude totally. This is the second time in two weeks that Mercedes have displayed alack of public awareness bordering on arrogance.
I can now put this season to bed I hope.
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Post by René on Dec 14, 2021 17:06:32 GMT
Valtteri for the first time in the Alfa. I always wonder if the driver really feels this car is a lot slower compared to the Merc, besides looking at his dash times. But I guess so... new reality for the Finn.  |
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Post by chrisb on Dec 14, 2021 21:26:10 GMT
the car may be slower but I suspect Valteri will feel quicker
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Post by mikael on Dec 14, 2021 22:37:26 GMT
I found this comment amusing:
The "spokesman" conveniently forgot, apparently, that Helmut Marko is a lawyer; or, at least, qualified to be one - actually, a doctor in law; and hence, always referred to as Dr. Marko.
So no team is better than the other in that respect, I guess 
Reference:
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Post by mikael on Dec 15, 2021 5:07:53 GMT
Valtteri for the first time in the Alfa. I always wonder if the driver really feels this car is a lot slower compared to the Merc, besides looking at his dash times. But I guess so... new reality for the Finn.
That's an interesting question. I wonder how large the difference could be; but probably not more than 20-30 HP. Assuming that the total power (combustion + electric) is around 1000 HP (which I believe is how it actually is), then it would be just around 2-3% loss in power. But perhaps a driver of Bottas's caliber can feel that directly, also without experiencing a Mercedes "fly" by ...
On another matter (as discussed also on another occasion), the new 18'' wheel fit well on the contemporary cars; they really have become too large for the traditional 13'' wheels (just as it would look odd to fit a modern full-sized street car with 13'' wheels, although it looks fine by, say, a 1970's car). And the new 2022 F1 cars probably won't be that much smaller (if smaller at all, in the end ...).
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Post by mikael on Dec 18, 2021 15:20:18 GMT
Almost unbelievable, so many people it takes nowadays to run two racing cars! And then, how many at the "mission control centre", back at the base; and how many involved in the production, at the design offices and in the factory? (The Alpine team in Abu Dhabi 2021, photo from grandprix.com)
The McLaren team at the end of the 1990 season, for comparison. It seems that about half of the persons in the group are Honda technicians/mechanics.
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Post by charleselan on Dec 19, 2021 13:20:23 GMT
I was about to say where is Ron in that Team McLaren shot from 1990, but is that him second from right with his left hand on the rear wing?
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Post by René on Dec 19, 2021 14:16:47 GMT
I was about to say where is Ron in that Team McLaren shot from 1990, but is that him second from right with his left hand on the rear wing? Yes that must be him, next to Jo Ramírez.  |
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Post by René on Dec 19, 2021 23:07:43 GMT
Drivers interviewed after the Abu Dhabi test with the new 18” wheels. It’s actually quite nice and especially worthwhile watching a very enthusiastic Pato O’Ward (13.30m)!
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Post by Carl on Dec 20, 2021 18:13:04 GMT
The Gulf States social structures are entirely male dominated, but I have it on good authority that "Yes, Marina" is what United Arab Emirates President Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan constantly says to his wife.
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