That is just racing Shiggsy - we see similar last lap dashes across all classes which massively favour certain cars at different times, did the circumstance favour RB over Merc purely due to track position? of course & without doubt it left Merc in a very difficult place, but not a scenario we don't see elsewhere in racing generally and in F1 before.

I don't think it's reasonable to be suggesting the race director rigged the race, he took decisions in a very time critical situation and getting the race going again if possible & safe to do so was the correct course to take - the only question that Merc seek to clarify is how much discretion the RD has in the application of rules which often don't seem consistent with each other to begin with. We will find out if Merc do continue to pursue this legally - personally I think they should take it on the chin & move on but there ya go. 2014 Freelander 2 TD4 Manual Dynamic
1956/7 88" Series One Land Rover
1956/7 88" Series One Land Rover - undergoing restoration

Northcroft wrote:

Therefore in my eyes Lewis ahould have had his 11 seconds restored or they restart the race after giving him an 11 second start.

The full safety car has always been a way of getting the cars back close together again to reset the race and deny the currently dominant team from being way out in front all the time. It was viewed as being unfair and the Virtual Safety car was introduced to mitigate this where possible.

If you have a big lead and there is a requirement for a Full Saferty car you lose your lead, its tough luck and if this had happend on SUnday with a few extra laps to spare then we would have a legitimate result. It's a shame the race director didn't let them resart without allowing the cars to unlap themselves, maybe Max would have passed the 5 back markers and still managed to overtake Lewis, we will never know, but that would have been a memorable championship winning finish. 
Hung like Einstein, smart as a horse.

We will indeed never know Shiggsy & I don't think anyone wanted for it to end in this way - Both drivers had done enough to justify a World Championship this year IMHO.

Kudos to the Hamiltons (Lewis & his dad) for seeking out & congratulating Max & his dad, that raised my opinion of Lewis a good few notches  2014 Freelander 2 TD4 Manual Dynamic
1956/7 88" Series One Land Rover
1956/7 88" Series One Land Rover - undergoing restoration

PRadd wrote:

I don't think it's reasonable to be suggesting the race director rigged the race,

PRadd wrote:

he took decisions in a very time critical situation and getting the race going again if possible & safe to do so was the correct course to take.

He had two set of rules available to him, either allow the cars to unlap themseves or restart as they were, simple, but he did neither, he had already announced within pelnty of time he was going to do the latter. Then he decided to make up his own set of rules. His job was to apply the rules not take on the role of Entertainments Manager.

I have no doubt the result will stand, as David Coultard said, "the FIA don't have a great track record of finding against the FIA". Realisitcally they can't undo any of this even if they wanted to. 
Hung like Einstein, smart as a horse.

PRadd wrote:

We will indeed never know Shiggsy & I don't think anyone wanted for it to end in this way - Both drivers had done enough to justify a World Championship this year IMHO.

Kudos to the Hamiltons (Lewis & his dad) for seeking out & congratulating Max & his dad, that raised my opinion of Lewis a good few notches

Agree with all of that.  
Hung like Einstein, smart as a horse.

Hopefully the FIA will be doing quite a bit of thinking over the winter - and making more clear the Race Directors remit/scope of judgement.

Looking forward to next year I hope we can see Lewis & Max going at it again all year in similarly capable machinery (new cars & technical regs next year for those that don't follow F1) & it would be even better to have George at Merc in the mix as well as other teams from the mid field taking a step forward (will certainly be good to see how good Lewis is with George in the same machinery!).

Hoping for a great 2022 F1 WC  2014 Freelander 2 TD4 Manual Dynamic
1956/7 88" Series One Land Rover
1956/7 88" Series One Land Rover - undergoing restoration

Yes looking forward to George vs Lewis. New car regs next year means a bit of a reset so its up in the air to some extent. Hopefully some of the other teams can up their game a bit as there seems to be some top drivers like Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc who can't quite get into the mix at the front yet. 
Hung like Einstein, smart as a horse.

Definite yes to hoping Lando, Charles & more can get closer to the front, no shortage of talent in the driver lineup Carlos has been impressive this year & what a race for Yuki yesterday! 2014 Freelander 2 TD4 Manual Dynamic
1956/7 88" Series One Land Rover
1956/7 88" Series One Land Rover - undergoing restoration

Consensus seems to be the cars are reverting to the low rake set up i.e the Mercedes rather than Red Bull set up, the big difference is going to be the low profile tyre, there will be little give or suspension from the tyres and smaller rear wing, so next year spring rates are going to be critical or the car will shake its self apart.
As good as Lewis is I suspect that George and Lando will be Max's challengers as both have dragged not quite so good cars into higher grid slots, the capability of a driver in adverse conditions tends to sort the men from the boys and both Lando and George are both pretty good.
Lewis doesn't seem to be quite the same since his Covid episode, still good but the edge has gone
Historically Japanese drivers have been very quick but somewhat erratic in consistency  my PC is slightly to the right of Genghis
2012 HSE SD4 In Orkney Grey now gone, best car ever.

I think Lewis will retire and Toto leave his job, for another in the Merc empire.

Then Mercedes F1 will become Ineos F1 with an Ilmor engine  my PC is slightly to the right of Genghis
2012 HSE SD4 In Orkney Grey now gone, best car ever.

3landertwo wrote:

I think Lewis will retire and Toto leave his job, for another in the Merc empire.

MartynB wrote:

I watched on channel 4 via my Sky Box . As the race started , the Vicar called ( my new next door neighbour ) and luckily I could pause the action for 45 minutes , this was fortuitous as it enabled me to skip through a lot of the tedium . The only bit worth watching was the last 5 minutes . Listening to the team principles whining every time something didn’t go their way was in itself tedious . I’m not knocking the skill levels of the drivers , they are super human . However as a sport I think watching paint dry is more exciting . I’ll be sticking to World Superbikes

i would have told the vicar to sod off

Northcroft wrote:

clearly that buffoon who crashed his car late on cost Lewis the title

they need to change the rules, if they can give a 10 second penalty for an infringement, they need to give it the opposite way when the safety car comes on, no one should lose their lead, especially when it was 11 seconds.

Therefore in my eyes Lewis ahould have had his 11 seconds restored or they restart the race after giving him an 11 second start.

IanMetro wrote:

I believe that the problem lies in the over-regulation of today's Motor Sport.

It seems that this came about because we (the public) wanted close racing.

For example, take Touring Car Racing. When I first became interested, wildly different cars raced each other (Ford Galaxy, BL Mini, Hillman Imp, Ford Cortina) in many states of tune and modification. Now the engines, chassis' and weights are heavily regulated, all hidden under replica moulded resin bodies. Even after all this the overall weight is adjusted to hamper the most successful.

It seems that in the future, as we move towards more and more electrical recovery/assistance, we can look forward to success being rewarded by adjusting the amount of time per lap that this stored power will be available.

These sort of methods are already in use in Formula E.

Unfortunately I can't see a way back to the days when real cars raced (and rallied)