F1/ Formula E/ Motorsport Thread

World: You should not get full points for a race that barely happened
FIA: We hear you. To stop such a farce happening again, there will be a sliding scale of points based on the number of laps completed
World: Great!
FIA (whispers): But we'll award full points, irrespective of the number of laps, as long as we don't end under a red flag.
World: What? Did you say something?
FIA: Oh, nothing, nothing!

 

No one, including them, knew they'd won. Following Spa last year, the FIA said they weren't going to give out full points if a certain number of laps weren't completed.

But what they didn't say was that hidden in the small print, they'd phrased the rule to specify that this only applies if a race finished at the time of a red flag. So you could have one lap of racing at the end of the maximum permitted 3 hours, and full points are awarded.

So Jonny Herbert told Max he'd won the title in a post-race interview and everyone thought there had been a big mistake. Max was then told to wait in this weird Championship winner room that looked like an 80s pimp room, where he was uncomfortable, embarrassed and thought it was all a big misunderstanding, so left 'because he was lonely'.

 

As per the Race:

"As per article 6.5 of the F1 sporting regulations for 2022, races under 25% distance award points for the top five on a 6-4-3-2-1 basis, with increased points on offer once 25% and then 50% are passed.

Teams were under the impression it would be the 50% provision – which meant the top 10 scored at a reduced rate of 19 for the winner, 14 for second place etc – that would apply at Suzuka today.

But it then emerged during the post-race procedure that the rule over altered points distribution only applied if a race was shortened because it was stopped and “could not be resumed” – the wording specified in the rule, which had also been in place in its previous iterations.

The rule therefore did not apply if a race was shortened because it started late and the clock limit was hit."


Such a botched rule change. Surely in all situations, the % of laps completed should correlate with the number of points: which is what the FIA articulated to the teams had happened. Instead, we could still have a couple of racing laps and full points be awarded, as long as the red flag isn't in place when the race timer expires.

 

Happy that Max can swap his plastic Championship for a real one, well done.

Will be interesting to see what will come out of the F1 FFP results this week. I expect more drama.

 

The situation with the recovery vehicle is madness. Drivers went past it and didn't even see it. 99% fatality chance there (the 1% because of the Grosjean miracle factor).

 

Suzuka still has 2 years on its contract, but after a repeat of the mistake that killed Jules Bianchi I think it needs that contract rescinding. Until their safety standards improve they should not host another F1 race.

Sent from my Pixel 6 using Tapatalk

 

More cheating by Red Bull over the controversial 2021 season. Should be stripped of the title,

https://twitter.com/bbcsport/status/1579491271290372097?s=48&t=dz5clIM5unsqGmG-vAwBnw

 

Whinger Spice will probably start moaning about the transparency of the investigation or something.

I can't see them stripping Max of last year's title. At the most they might strip RedBull of the constructors title but I think that's unlikely.

More likely fines and maybe a reduced cap/testing for next year.

 

This is getting more and more ludicrous.

Firstly F1 got cars to do a ridiculous two lap procession behind the safety car, giving half points to Max for a race that never was. Then the race director (put nicely) completely 'misinterpreted' the rules and gifted RB the drivers title on the final race of last year. Now we find out the RB were the only car to break the spending rules last year.

This will also have had an impact on the 2022 season. Perhaps a complete coincidence, but they delayed their official statement on the 2021 season until after Japan, and suddenly announced Max had won the 2022 drivers title at the end by using an interpretation of the rules that none of the drivers or media even understood (which was against the spirit of the original rule-change). Ahead of likely pressure from Ferrari to punish them for this season too.

It also sounds like RB won't meet the cap this year. I doubt most will to be fair, but RB have been the most vocal that it's impossible to do so, whilst poaching technical experts with higher salaries and introducing more upgrades, which the other top teams can't match.

It all feels like RB keep taking advantage and the FIA keep messing up and then protect RB to protect their own reputation.

Anything but a strong disincentive to RB is going to make the budget cap and F1 even more of a farce than it already is. Doubt it will happen though.

 

How can you say any of this?
Horner told everyone last season that they did not get any decisions in their favour and that everyone was out to get them.

 

The part I find interesting is the wording of RB's response:
'Our belief remains that the relevant costs are under the 2021 cost-cap amount.'

To me the use of 'relevant' implies that not all areas of spending are capped, and I'd guess that RB have tried exploiting the regulations by putting some sporting costs into an unregulated category. It sounds to me like the FIA saw through that strategy and added it to the total spend, which therefore exceeded the cap.

If the FIA want a budget cap in F1 they need to hand out a severe penalty to RB now, otherwise every season the big teams will overspend knowing the punishment is less than the benefits. It'll be interesting to see how much over they are.

 

The part I find interesting is that Brown mentions how many dry runs they did, with lots of opportunities to clarify what was in and out of the budget cap.

That only one team broke the cap also shows the rules were well understood by the paddock.

I'm not sure if we'll ever find out the negotiations taking place or how much RB were over the cap. I imagine a future budget will be reduced by more than the overspend, and they'll get reduced wind tunnel time. Not bad for giving themselves (and being gifted) a drivers championship and a massive headstart in the new regs which already hugely favoured them.

 

The only way to remedy the situation is to penalise them points in the season where it happened and then the season following to negate the development advantage. They then need to take punitive action to make sure it doesn't happen again and refund the other teams who lost out on winnings and sponsorships.

This will likely mean Max losing his first and maybe even his 2nd championship. All distincly "odd" that the decision was delayed until his 2nd was in the bag.

It'll never happen though. There's too much money riding on it. The FIA haven't been fit for purpose for a good few years and I can see big teams ******* off if F1 doesn't split.

Formula E is by and large codswallop. The big F1 teams should set-up their own all electric/renewable series and kill off the FIA in a matter of a couple of seasons.

 

He was a baby as usual about the pit stop, crying over the radio and raging about the team rather than just getting on with it. Graceless berk.

 

I'm no fan but Hamilton is/was the same, although he has mellowed somewhat. Certain character traits seem to offer a bit of an advantage when every tiny detail counts. Nice guys rarely rise to the top.

 

# copout

 

The Mercedes strategy geniuses have had another great day it seems.

 

Great win for Russell.

Verstappen being a massive ******* as always, causing crashes and openly defying team orders at the end. Red Bull will of course just brush it under the carpet and allow the petulant child to carry on.

 

You mean he is a "winner" ?

 

He is no winner today.