Quote:
Originally Posted by Eff-1
No, Masi's goal was to make every effort to restart the race and not finish under SC. How is that different from any other race, in any other form of motorsport? Indycar, Nascar, etc. The goal is always the same: minimize caution periods and maximize racing, and especially avoid finishing under SC if you can avoid it. The wrinkle here was that he only unlapped a portion of the field, and there's no precedence for that.
Not a misapplication, and certainly not obvious. https://www.fia.com/sites/default/fi...t.%2048.12.pdf
That's such a stretch. Red Bull gambled with the pitstop and it paid off, but it also could have backfired. Him having fresh tires has nothing to do with Masi. |
I've been reading various interpretations of the rules on r/F1Technical and mostly it reads as two types of things:
1) The rules are inconsistent in what they say can and can't be done.
2) Some rules imply that the racing director can do whatever they please.
For example:
https://www.reddit.com/r/F1Technical...g_regulations/
My argument for calling it a farce is the inconsistency of how they have applied the rules this year - from how Spa was run to the lack of penalties for Verstappen for driving people off track to even the use of the red flag in Baku. It's been a clown show by Masi and today he inserted himself into the result for two drivers who did nothing wrong to have their work muddied.
Verstappen's win will never been seen as a clean win and Hamilton will be considered by some to have had an 8th championship stolen from him.
Be consistent with the application of the rules so the drivers and teams know what the situation is - don't declare one set of rules (no cars to un-lap themselves) and then declare a new, unused one 6 turns before the start of racing.
For consistency it should have been one of the following:
1. All lapped cars unlapped and SC comes in the lap after. This could have been done a lap sooner so there was still 1 lap left, Masi just left it too late. Verstappen wins.
2. No lapped cars unlapped, SC comes in with 1-2 laps left. Hamilton wins.
3. Red flag with 4 laps to go. Either Hamilton/Verstappen wins. Fair fight.
4. Finish under the safety car. Hamilton wins.
All of these are reasonable applications of the rules with prior precedent (the red flag has the least precedent and one that is arguably questionable) and the winner gets to win fair and square. Instead a half pregnant rule is applied that only affects the top 2 runners and they are only notified 6 turns before racing resumes. How come Sainz in 3rd didn't get a chance to have a shot at Verstappen? Or maybe Sainz could have had a shot at Hamilton for 2nd in scenario #1.
It's total absolute bullshit - this was WWE racing.
Notably, the half pregnant action to allow Verstappen a shot at Hamilton was due partly to lobbying by Christian Horner to Masi - he was lobbying for all cars to be unlapped as soon as the safety car was out and Masi told him to bugger off as he was busy dealing with the crash. Masi ended up doing part of what Horner wanted and left it late enough that Mercedes was unprepared for it.