The F1 thread

skullfunkerry

Max is complaining that Lewis pushed him wide when he overtook at the first corner... hard to feel much sympathy for him, isn't it?

chillidoggy

We wanted excitement, and boy did we get it. I felt for George, he was doing sterling work pre-engine failure. Some of Perez's overtakes were amazing to watch, but Max didn't have it all his own way for once. His starts were weak, although the RB ultimate pace shone through once again, so I hope Merc is on the right track to provide some serious competition, cos Ferrari have still got both legs down one hole of their underpants.

Race management left a bit to be desired, though. That last red flag was a joke. A potentially dangerous one, too. Pleased no-one was injured in the mess.

boogieman

Well that was better than the last race! Such a shame for Russell, I’m sure he would’ve bagged 2nd place but I wonder if Merc had his engine tweaked right up and that caused it to grenade? Whatever, it was good to see the Mercs fighting Red Bull again at the front. Also good to see Max getting a dose of his own elbows-out-coming-through like it or not treatment.  

  

The red flag stuff was crazy indeed. I thought Sainz was going to have a complete emotional meltdown until they reversed the last decision. 

RiftAmps

I've been saying for years that F1 needs to adopt the NASCAR Green/White/Chequer rule to ensure that races always finish with racing, rather than  the silly restart and parade for nothing more than procedure.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green–white–checker_finish

Cols

At the risk of being a bit Eeyorish, I'm not sure it was such a good race.

Sure, it may have felt exciting.  However, that was really just an artifact of red flags and safety cars being introduced at every available opportunity and bunching the field up.  Once Verstappen got his tyres up to temperature after the first restart he was straight past Hamilton without a fight.  Such was the DRS advantage, Max was past Lewis before they were anywhere near the braking zone.

Not sure why the stewards chose to be so extravagant every time there was an incident.  Maybe the presence of the wretched Michael Masi cast a curse on things.

fretmeister

dazzajl

fretmeister said:

Very harsh. Very harsh but also very true. 

stickyfiddle

https://i.imgur.com/OYlVJfo.gifv 

skullfunkerry

Bloody hell

https://www.planetf1.com/news/felipe-massa-assessing-legal-dispute-lewis-hamilton-2008-title-win/

stickyfiddle

skullfunkerry said:

Bloody hell

https://www.planetf1.com/news/felipe-massa-assessing-legal-dispute-lewis-hamilton-2008-title-win/

Jesus Christ. 3 thoughts spring to mind.

1 - I don't bloody blame him. They won't change the history books but they might pay him some money

2 - I'm surprised this didn't happen at the time.

3 - Ferrari should back it as their best shot at a post-Kimi title in years...

dazzajl

I wouldn’t be at all surprised if he’s asked for a wheelbarrow full of money from the FIA and they’re being a little slow to take him seriously. 

fretmeister

I bet Bernie has done this because he previously said that LH should have retired rather than take MSC's record from him - "out of respect"

Boromedic

Well if they do this, then they should give Lewis the 2021 title that was stolen from him, so he'd still have 7. If you're going to right all wrongs that's the obvious one, Massa and Hamilton were just innocent bystanders of events they had no idea about in 2008. In 2021 the race result was contrived in front of a global audience, I know which is the bigger crime. 

TimmyO

Sounds like Bernie is the one he should sue. 

Cols

I’ll file this one along with Hamilton wanting his 2008 Belgian Grand Prix win to be restored.

https://www.planetf1.com/news/hamilton-wants-2008-spa-win-back-deletes-post/

stickyfiddle

And in ever more farcical F1 news, Rokit is suing Williams (including former bosses) for not having a fast enough car in 2019  


https://www.racefans.net/2023/04/04/former-williams-sponsor-rokit-brings-case-claiming-149-million-in-damages/

Jalapeno

skullfunkerry said:

Max is complaining that Lewis pushed him wide when he overtook at the first corner... hard to feel much sympathy for him, isn't it?

It is.  He's a whiny little so-and-so

fretmeister

TimmyO said:

Sounds like Bernie is the one he should sue. 

If Bernie made the decision as part of his position in the sport then he'd probably sue the FIA and Bernie at the same time.

If the allegations are correct then of course there's the argument that Bernie was acting outside of the requirements / restrictions of his position and can be sued personally, but just in case his job role pretty much allowed him to do anything he felt like PM would still have to sue the FIA.

It was 12 years ago, so the first thing PM would have to do (assuming that the law of England and Wales actually applies for this) is to issue the claim and then make an application under the Limitation Act to arrange a hearing to deal with whether the limitation period didn't start to run until he discovered this new information.

Otherwise he's out of time for the courts.

But I have no idea which jurisdiction actually applies. I suspect either E&W or France. I have no idea what the French rules are.

chillidoggy

The whole thing is ridiculous. One can only assume that PM has run out of money, and needs a top up, and I don’t for one minute suppose Bernie’s worried.

skullfunkerry

Based on this it doesn't look likely that anything will happen:

https://www.planetf1.com/news/examining-felipe-massa-claim-crowned-2008-world-champion/

If you don't want to read it, basically it's saying that rather than cancel the race, its more likely that Renault would be disqualified, which actually means that Lewis would win the championship by more than one point in the end.

And as @Boromedic says, if they do this because of incorrect procedures, then it opens the door for yet another look at Abu Dhabi 2021, which even though I'm a massive Lewis fan, I really don't think is something we should be doing now.