I did wonder that on Saturday. It’s not a track that took prisoners and if it wasn’t for focus in the racing it’s a difficult track to follow as a spectator… I can think of only a couple of identifiable corners. Not buying the 6/6 call (sorry)…. Max has been found to have braked hard to cause the collision. The stewards seem to have been remarkably lenient so as not to affect the points standing ahead of next weekend! I am fully expecting Max to crash into Ham next week! I also recall somewhere in the past that the giving a position back was followed up with a “rule” that the driver cannot immediately regain the advantage… I think this was following a Lewis incident (with Raikonen, maybe) in his first year? I’m surprised the commentators and team bosses have all forgotten this.
Both as bad as each other, Hamilton didnt want to pass until after the DRS zone, He should also have had a penalty for practice 3
If Hamilton tries to pass Verstappen during the final race you can bet V will try to take H out rather than let him pass, as he has attempted on many occasions to date. If he does it will be a hollow championship victory and I hope it gets reported as such. They should deduct drivers points when a 5 or 10 second penalty has no effect or when the post race footage/data reveals something illegal or dangerous. That would keep them on the straight and narrow.
we watched it live and I did comment that if I was a big fan of one of the other drivers I would have been a bit fed up by lack of coverage. Even in the race for 3rd place we were still watching Lewis!
Its going to be a memorable weekend, one way or another Channel 4 is showing the race live btw in case anyone missed that. Formula 1 Coverage Update | Channel 4 "We will be screening the final race of the season in full from midday, starting with the build up, the race at 1pm and the reaction live from 3pm."
Looking forward to it. Stars are aligning… Mrs can take the nipper to a birthday party, Spurs have resolved the fixture clash. I can pretend to have booster side effects and require sofa rest for 48hours and C4 have stopped me giving Crooked Murdoch any money!!! I predict a lights to flag Lewis win, no controversy and a bit of a mid race nap.
Me too. Michael Masi has reminded them that they can deduct championship points if deemed necessary. It’s clear who this was aimed at so hopefully it will remain a clean race. However, in the heat of the moment, who knows. Looking forward to it. Great that it’s live on Channel 4.
Can't you just hear the bandwagon creaking under the extra weight this weekend though?! Fair weather F1ers!
Probably because week to week over the past decade it's been so incredibly ... dull. It's only the crashes and questionable stewards intervention that's cheered it up. Regarding the stewards they've learned from footy where it's only arguing about refereeing decisions keeps that vaguely interesting. F1 - they even have super rapidly wearing tyres so it depends on pit stops to win - the whole thing is a travesty really. I'll be watching though - hoping Hamilton and that other bloke come to blows and the stewards decide the season's results on a decision that flies in the face of similar ones in previous weeks so everyone can get annoyed.
It needs the hype, and has probably manufactured it with dodgy penalties... to improve the plummeting audience figures... I've been to 15+ GPS over the years.... Wouldn't pay to watch it now..
I used to watch it quite a lot, but I don't know the Abu D track and each track this year has suited the cars differently, hence my question, in my sunny fairweather environment
I wasn't having a dig at TLBers btw. Auntie Beeb was full of it this morning Max won it last year, with Lewis 3rd. Apparently the bookies (parasites that they are) are backing Hamilton
Don't worry, no offense taken I know they were planning to alter the track to give more overtaking opportunities, but can't find info on the web to confirm if they had done the changes as planned. Whatever happens it will be an interesting one.
Track should suit Mercs better with long straights and they’ve taken out the slow corners this year which previously suited Red Bull. You asked about McLaren…? They have a merc engine but the rest of the car doesn’t perform as well. Everyone below the top two seem to have stopped developing the cars as next years rule changes demand a switch of resources. Hamilton tried looking for following and overtaking opportunities during first practice and reported it was still difficult to follow. Might not matter, he’ll should be first into the first corner, or slipstreaming max on the first straight!