F1 Chat

Not a bad idea.

Final 10 laps, only use VSC or red flag

And no changing tyres under a VSC or Safety Car at any point during the race.

Personally I would just bin off the safety car altogether, we can then have VSC to maintain the race structure or a red flag and then restart.

The problem with closing the pit lane is that some cars may need a visit if they picked up front wing damage or a puncture for example.

Get rid of the safety car altogether and race to the death

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Then they can go into the pit lane for repairs and if they change tyres they can’t rejoin the track until the last car has gone past.

Anyone else super excited for next seasons drive to survive now?

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So what’s the tl/dr of all this for someone who hasn’t watched / understood F1 for about 15 yrs?

Before restarting a race that’s under a safety car, usually all or none of the lapped cars are allowed to pass the leaders.

F1 Rules appear to be written in this way to back this back.

On this occasion, only the cars between 1st and 2nd unlapped themselves, while a lapped car remained between 2nd and 3rd. This meant that Verstappen in 2nd had a clear run at Hamilton in 1st, without worrying about the car in 3rd.

Added complications that Verstappen had an advantage with his tyres by pitting under the SC. Also accusations of team members influencing (or trying to) the Race Director.

The Race Director has previously not allowed any lapped cars to pass because there wasn’t enough time, so has (allegedly) gone against the rules and his own precedent.

Had no cars been allowed to unlap themselves Ham would have won. Had all cars been allowed then the race would finish behind the SC and Ham would have won.

It also meant the person in third had no chance of taking second place as they had a lapped car in the way. Something that seems to be being overlooked! Poor Sainz :frowning:

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Or Tsunoda being denied a shot at the podium.

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Lets be honest here, if all the cars had been unlapped and they still had 1 lap left, Max Verstappen could of still won. As the Ferrari is no match for the RedBull as proven thoughout the series.

And I bet in Masi’s mind he was thinking, “Yes, I’ll make it so Max and Lewis will have a 1 v 1 on the last lap with no other cars in their way so they can prove who the faster driver is”. He was just putting a show on for us.

True, but only up until a point. If there had been enough time for all the cars to un-lap, and then carry on racing, then the tactics would have been completely different for Merc, and they likely would have pitted.

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If he thought that it proves he doesn’t understand F1 and shouldn’t be in the role.

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No but it would’ve added another element to the game, trying to overtake and defend is very different to being able to attack with no worry about defence.

Also if there had been more laps left the Mercedes would’ve pitted. Leaving them either in front of Max both on fresh softs (if the redbull also pitted) or the positions would’ve been reversed with Hamilton on new softs and 1 lap to attack Max on old hards.

Even though the rules have been broken in many ways and the end of the race may be illegitamate. Think of the publicity, as no publicity is bad publicity. I bet Liberty Media are enjoying the extra income.

These days you have F1 Esports, where you can’t cheat becuase it’s all controlled by a video game rather than Masi, and it’s more exciting.

And the most naive statement of 2021 goes to…

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Well, theres no human race director so he can’t decide to reinterpret the rules mid race. You can’t change your car in an illegal way because the game won’t let you. The only thing you could do is inject the people with stroids so they can turn the wheel quicker or something and spin.

I think you may be, in this case, confusing cheating with officials changing rules.

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Indeed, but the way some people are talking about it, they are making it seem the rules were changed mid race to benefit Max, this does seem like a way of rigging the championship or in other words, cheating.

That’s essential what it is. But it wasn’t RBs doing. Unless they had somehow influenced officials that is. But there no talk of that.