2021 Formula 1 Drivers World Championship!

[Middler]

If you follow F1, you know what a crazy controversial season it’s been for both drivers - neither has been faultless. And you could not script a better finale than this weekends Abu Dhabi GP with the top two drivers in a dead heat after 21 races - so one final race for all the marbles! Hamilton is vying for an historic unprecedented 8th drivers WC. Verstappen, only 24 yo, is without a doubt the heir apparent, with who knows how many drivers WCs in his future. They are both incredibly talented and driven, but they’re quite different on and off the track. They respect each other, but they don’t like each other. Who will prevail?

[GolfSpy_APH]

3 hours ago, Middler said:

If you follow F1, you know what a crazy controversial season it’s been for both drivers - neither has been faultless. And you could not script a better finale than this weekends Abu Dhabi GP with the top two drivers in a dead heat after 21 races - so one final race for all the marbles! Hamilton is vying for an historic unprecedented 8th drivers WC. Verstappen, only 24 yo, is without a doubt the heir apparent, with who knows how many drivers WCs in his future. They are both incredibly talented and driven, but they’re quite different on and off the track. They respect each other, but they don’t like each other. Who will prevail?

It has been interesting following along this season and where their wheel to wheel battles at the beginning were more respectful I dare say. Then Silverstone happened and at least from what I watched that seemed to be a massive turning point. The last race was chaos and I think the NLU boys put it the best way by saying it was the best bad race of the season. Too many side games being played by both teams on a track that was difficult enough as was. 

I truly just hope that this final race is just that a race. No penalties, no FIA intervention and a good solid battle on the track... not to mention no crashes that would ruin what has been one of the best seasons I can remember. In the end I do think Merc has the leg up and will take it. I kinda hope Max takes the win, but just seems like Hamilton is destined to win it especially with the way their car has been performing recently.

[JohnSmalls]

It has been an incredible year.  Lewis wanted a battle and he's gotten it.  Merc has ticked up the wick on car performance and it just seems when Lewis has to get down to business, there still is no one quite as fast as him.  I have been a Lewis fan since the McLaren days (when I really started watching), so at more core I do want to see him break Schumi's record.  Max, to this point has had a better season though in terms of wins.  If it were anyone else driving the Merc right now, I would probably be pulling for Max.  There is a lot of old school racer in him and I like it; and I would love to see a Honda engine come full cycle and win the championship.  But I feel like I'm switching teams by pulling for another driver, so Lewis it is.  Either way it has been a heck of a season.  All we can ask for is a great race this weekend...(and a McLaren resurgence in 2022 )

[Middler]

4 hours ago, GolfSpy_APH said:

I truly just hope that this final race is just that a race. No penalties, no FIA intervention and a good solid battle on the track... not to mention no crashes that would ruin what has been one of the best seasons I can remember. In the end I do think Merc has the leg up and will take it. I kinda hope Max takes the win, but just seems like Hamilton is destined to win it especially with the way their car has been performing recently.

Amen. I'd kinda like to see Hamilton get the historic 8th WC (though I didn't think anyone would ever surpass Schumacher), but if Verstappen takes the WC in 2022 and for the rest of Hamiltons career I am OK with that. They both deserve to win.

3 hours ago, JohnSmalls said:

It has been an incredible year.  Lewis wanted a battle and he's gotten it.  Merc has ticked up the wick on car performance and it just seems when Lewis has to get down to business, there still is no one quite as fast as him.  I have been a Lewis fan since the McLaren days (when I really started watching), so at more core I do want to see him break Schumi's record.  Max, to this point has had a better season though in terms of wins.  If it were anyone else driving the Merc right now, I would probably be pulling for Max.  There is a lot of old school racer in him and I like it; and I would love to see a Honda engine come full cycle and win the championship.  But I feel like I'm switching teams by pulling for another driver, so Lewis it is.  Either way it has been a heck of a season.  All we can ask for is a great race this weekend...(and a McLaren resurgence in 2022 )

Cars aside ***, it's skill-finesse (Hamilton) versus skill-aggression (Max). Max has matured a lot in the past few years, from wildly aggressive to a little more calculated (some times...). OTOH Lewis has gotten a little more aggressive since Max doesn't back off even when any other driver would/should. Silverstone was a turning point, where Max learned what happens when two drivers absolutely won't back down - a disaster just waiting to happen.

*** Red Bull had the upper hand for much of the season, but Merc has finally gotten their cars competitive again, in just the nick of time.

[GolfSpy_APH]

In a season that had more then its fair share of crazy or epic finishes who knew it may have finished the most crazy in the last. Not sure how "fair" it was and I know there will be a lot of talk about it moving forward and I'm not sure where I sit on it. I am happy Max won, if not only to see someone new winning. Give all the credit to Lewis and his drive today as it was flawless. Truly he did not put a foot wrong and more can be put on his team then him.

In the end a great season overall and one I was very happy to witness regardless of all the controversy and fia missteps along the way.

[Middler]

Agreed. To me it was unfair in that without the Latifi crash/safety car, Lewis would clearly have won the race and an 8th WC. The lead he'd protected to lap 54 of 58 would have seen him through. And allowing some lapped cars to advance at the last minute didn't help. But those are the rules, and were the roles reversed, I am sure Mercedes would have done the same as Red Bull, and Lewis would have passed Max and won. It's impossible to predict when fresher tires could trump track position, when leads evaporate under safety cars. So congrats to Max.

OTOH, Max won 9 races to Lewis' 8 in 2021 before Abu Dhabi.

Next year could be a real brawl in F1.

[MGoBlue100]

1 hour ago, GolfSpy_APH said:

In a season that had more then its fair share of crazy or epic finishes who knew it may have finished the most crazy in the last. Not sure how "fair" it was and I know there will be a lot of talk about it moving forward and I'm not sure where I sit on it. I am happy Max won, if not only to see someone new winning. Give all the credit to Lewis and his drive today as it was flawless. Truly he did not put a foot wrong and more can be put on his team then him.

In the end a great season overall and one I was very happy to witness regardless of all the controversy and fia missteps along the way.

This season’s show on Netflix will be EPIC!! Congrats to Max & Red Bull; Toto & Lewis will be on a MISSION next season!! 🏎

[xOldBenKenobiX]

I have a lot of mixed feelings about yesterday's race, I would have been happy with either driver winning the championship.

In one hand LH drove an exceptional race, the one thing that was missing was a pit stop for fresh tires before the end, I think that he should have pitted a few laps earlier and gotten some fresh tires, I missed part of the race as I had to go out of the house for a bit, but I think at some point, after the 40th lap, LH had more than 16 seconds of a lead, and I think on that track Mercedes averages just bellow 14 seconds of pit stop time, now I know that it is not a guarantee that he would pit in and out with the lead, but with the same tires, he was putting a good pace over Max.

Their strategy blew on their face due to the safety car controversy. Yes LH could have pitted once the safety car was out, but at that point with 11/12 seconds of a lead, he would have came out behind Max, and if RB did not pit Max and the safety car stayed out, Max would have won anyways.

LH raced a beautiful race and ended up losing due to poor strategy at the end, I would love to have seen the last few laps being raced with no Safety car and both drivers with similar tires and conditions, going back and forward trying to best each other, but I still enjoyed watching the race, as did my wife, this was the first full F1 race she ever watched, and aside from having to explain the whole, why are there so many curves, I think she got a grasp of the sport, at least she was super stressed out during the race.

I cant wait to get her to watch some more races next season, who knows if things go back to normal we can try and attend the Canadian or US GPs.

 

[cksurfdude]

Didn't see the race but read that final lap was pretty exciting! Makes me wanna watch "Rush" (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1979320/) with a younger Chris Hemsworth (yes: "Thor") as the challenger.

[GolfSpy_APH]

8 minutes ago, cksurfdude said:

Didn't see the race but read that final lap was pretty exciting! Makes me wanna watch "Rush" (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1979320/) with a younger Chris Hemsworth (yes: "Thor") as the challenger.

Great movie and one that I definitely need to watch again over the holidays.

[Thin2win]

On 12/12/2021 at 8:18 AM, Middler said:

But those are the rules, 

The thing is, those aren't the rules. Massi ignored the rules to get the race to finish under green. 

Having only the cars between Max and Lewis unlap themselves and not the whole field was a breach of the sporting regulations, then not letting those cars catch back up to the field was another beach of the sporting regulations. And is why Mercedes filed their appeals. But the FIA said that the race director can do whatever they want regardless of the regulations. 

Red bull did nothing wrong, and you are right that if the roles were reversed, Mercedes would have taken the free win from the officials. But the F1 champion having 2 races gifted to him by officials this year is just a bad look for the sport. This honestly wasn't even as bad as the 3 lap "race" all behind the safety car earlier this year. 

This season was a joke of a championship. Not because of the racing, but because of the random rules and officiating. 

I read an article earlier this week that tried to put the last f1 race into golf terms, to paraphrase :

Imagine Tiger leads Rory by 8 with 3 to play at The Masters. Then 2 holes ahead lee Westwood , who is 12 shots of the pace, suffers from heat stroke and collapses on the course. 

Officials stop the event to get medical attention, but it is dark by the time Lee is okay and play can resume. Still wanting to finish they decide that Rory and Tiger will take a 50y chip, closest to the hole wins the tournament. Tiger is given his driver and Rory gets a wedge. 

That is basically how F1 decided the race winner. 

[GolfSpy_APH]

It will never sit well how it ended and there was questionable decisions from the first lap. Unfortunately that was all compounded by us hearing team radios to the FIA which doesn't put it in a good light. Add in the confusion from Jeda last week and the list of other issues (my mind still goes back to Baku and the late calls for Red Flags and Norris getting penalized for not swerving into the pitlane). I love watching the racing this year, it was good racing almost all year with nearly every race providing entertainment for us watching. The politics of it sucked... Netflix is going to love it though. It detracted from the sport whether it be the flexi wings and protests this or that and more or stupid banter between Horner and Toto. 

I appreciate Max and Lewis and all the others on the grid for the racing product they put out this year. In a chaotic season with so many memorable moments the sport is in good hands in terms of its drivers. Sad to see Kimi retire, but it was time. New faces for next year should help grow the profiles for Maz and Mick which can only be good for the sport as well as seeing Russel battle with Hamilton in the Mercedes. 

All of this and not to mention the new cars which are coming and could flip the entire grid! 

I hope the FIA cleans it up makes things more clear. I saw a suggestions somewhere saying there should be a buffer official for teams to yell at rather then the Race Director and liked that. I do appreciate them trying to finish the final race under racing conditions, but it was so forced and desperate and watching we all could tell by the announcers not having a clue whats going on. Clearer defined rules OR a stronger person making the decisions certainly could go a long way to aiding the sport with these decisions that ultimately decide championships.

I know the ending will taint or fog up the season, but lets not forget how incredible the whole season was and how memorable it was race after race. I said it before, but F1 is in good hands with the drivers and racing product they have, now lets see if the politics can get out of the way to make for a enjoyable 2022 season.

Who is going to have the best livery next season?

[Thin2win]

7 hours ago, GolfSpy_APH said:

 

Who is going to have the best livery next season?

Mclaren. They are going to run that gulf throw back livery they used at Monaco all session. 

[Middler]

15 hours ago, Thin2win said:

The thing is, those aren't the rules. Massi ignored the rules to get the race to finish under green. 

Having only the cars between Max and Lewis unlap themselves and not the whole field was a breach of the sporting regulations, then not letting those cars catch back up to the field was another beach of the sporting regulations. And is why Mercedes filed their appeals. But the FIA said that the race director can do whatever they want regardless of the regulations. 

Red bull did nothing wrong, and you are right that if the roles were reversed, Mercedes would have taken the free win from the officials. But the F1 champion having 2 races gifted to him by officials this year is just a bad look for the sport. This honestly wasn't even as bad as the 3 lap "race" all behind the safety car earlier this year. 

This season was a joke of a championship. Not because of the racing, but because of the random rules and officiating. 

I read an article earlier this week that tried to put the last f1 race into golf terms, to paraphrase :

Imagine Tiger leads Rory by 8 with 3 to play at The Masters. Then 2 holes ahead lee Westwood , who is 12 shots of the pace, suffers from heat stroke and collapses on the course. 

Officials stop the event to get medical attention, but it is dark by the time Lee is okay and play can resume. Still wanting to finish they decide that Rory and Tiger will take a 50y chip, closest to the hole wins the tournament. Tiger is given his driver and Rory gets a wedge. 

That is basically how F1 decided the race winner. 

 

So you’re a Mercedes fan, you’ve cherry picked the arguments that suit their POV. Somehow I wonder if you’d feel the same if Verstappen and Hamiltons roles were reversed…too late to know that answer.

Among other things, with your selective lapping accusation you conveniently ignore the officials understandable desire to finish the race with RACING instead of a parade behind a safety car. I think most true fans would agree we’d prefer every race finish with RACING if possible, including team Mercedes if they’re honest.

And the FIA didn’t grant the Race Director the right to do “whatever he wants” - that’s spelled out in the rules.

And your golf analogy is made up nonsense. Like it or not there are established rules and precedents addressing how Adu Dhabi played out. Your golf example would never happen as there are no rules or precedents that would yield that result/outcome. 

Like most, I was disappointed in how Abu Dhabi played out, Hamilton did have the win almost in hand. But there were controversies in earlier races that favored Hamilton and Verstappen. Hamilton and Mercedes lost control before Abu Dhabi when they simply weren’t competitive for more than a month, notably from June thru October when Max won way more races than Lewis.

But we disagree, no problem…

[Thin2win]

2 hours ago, Middler said:

So you’re a Mercedes fan, you’ve cherry picked the arguments that suit their POV. Somehow I wonder if you’d feel the same if Verstappen and Hamiltons roles were reversed…too late to know that answer.

Among other things, with your selective lapping accusation you conveniently ignore the officials understandable desire to finish the race with RACING instead of a parade behind a safety car. I think most true fans would agree we’d prefer every race finish with RACING if possible, including team Mercedes if they’re honest.

And the FIA didn’t grant the Race Director the right to do “whatever he wants” - that’s spelled out in the rules.

And your golf analogy is made up nonsense. Like it or not there are established rules and precedents addressing how Adu Dhabi played out. Your golf example would never happen as there are no rules or precedents that would yield that result/outcome. 

Like most, I was disappointed in how Abu Dhabi played out, Hamilton did have the win almost in hand. But there were controversies in earlier races that favored Hamilton and Verstappen. Hamilton and Mercedes lost control before Abu Dhabi when they simply weren’t competitive for more than a month, notably from June thru October when Max won way more races than Lewis.

But we disagree, no problem…

If they wanted to finish the race as a race they should have red flagged it. Finishing under green is different then finishing as a race. 

[Thin2win]

6 minutes ago, Thin2win said:

 

2 hours ago, Middler said:

But we disagree, no problem…

 

But im not sure what we disagree on as for the race, or the season. The stewards were as much of the story every week as the racing was. That isn't the look the FIA wants. The teams shouldn't have direct lines of communication to the race director, that and the comms being broadcast also not awesome. 

This f1 session was made for Netflix.