Formula One ( F1 )

I'd like to address the position that some people are holding that RBR played an excellent strategy.

I think this is a classic case of a gamble that's played off and retrospectively looks intelligent. What did RBR do that was different from what they normally do?

They exploited safety cars for tyre changes. This is normal. If there hadn't be an abnormal safety car decision then they most likely wouldn't have won.

I think it's fair to say you're doing XYZ in case something that is vaguely predictable happens.

I wouldn't go as far as saying this was a Black Swan, but you can't tell me someone at RBR head office crunching live outcomes had:

Safety car lets just the cars between Lewis and Max through then goes in with 1 lap left to go

In the possible options they needed to plan for.

Yes they did everything they possibly could to give Max the best possible outcome, which is good strategy, but given all possible predicted outcomes, Max was going to lose.

Sorry that wasn't a well constructed argument.

My point is that all the actions RBR took as a team would not have made a difference to the outcome unless Lewis made a big mistake or something completely unpredictable happened.

This wasn't the result of anything RBR/Max did beyond what they normally do in every other race.

This win was a gift. not in the bribery, conspiracy, or corruption sense, but a gift from the racing gods.

ah okay thanks

Why didn’t Mercedes just cover it off though? That still seems weird to me

This win was a gift. not in the bribery, conspiracy, or corruption sense, but a gift from Michael Masi.

Over the moon at the result, obviously a cleaner season would be preferable (without it being sterile) but happy it wasn't another Ham/Merc win, boring

This win was a gift. not in the bribery, conspiracy, or corruption sense, but a gift from the racing gods.

Oh, yeah totally. Who is saying RBR played a blinder (on here?) - I missed it. Or is it dweebs on Twitter or somat?

Pitting a lap after Verstappen would've put them behind on track and no realistic possibility of regaining the lead.

Good riddance to Kimi too, do NOT understand the cult surrounding the miserable sod

Why didn’t Mercedes just cover it off though?

They looked at the possibilities and decided that making sure Max would not be anywhere near Lewis was worth more than covering for an eventuality that seemed highly unlikely.

It's basically Nagumo's dilemma but not at Midway

For the first pit under VSC?

would've put them behind on track and no realistic possibility of regaining the lead.

Dunno - Lewis had the pace I think. It would have been tough but doable. I'm not even sure if he would have had to lose track position, he might have come out just ahead of Max? Haven't looked at the timings in great detail but that's what I immediately thought. For the first VSC situation.

Ah, sorry. That was simply not wanting to concede track position and risk having to overtake on track despite having better tyres.

It's easy to appreciate why they were cautious in that respect.

They knew that if they put Lewis near Max then Max would have a go and they knew Max would throw everything at it because why wouldn't he?

I’m not a fan of F1, but I am a huge fan of seeing Lewis Hamilton not getting his own way. Great stuff, would watch again.
👌👌

Not on here, a few guys I know who work in the motor racing industry.

I wasn't sure if people had been saying that stuff online too and that viewpoint had mildly annoyed me.

That's a shit hot take...

Fair enough if Verstappen managed to overtake the lapped cars and Lewis on that final lap but the FIA literally broke the rules to manufacture that chance.

How anyone who likes sport can condone cheating to alter a result is beyond me.

King Cantona karate kicking a fan was sort of cheating but everyone loved it, the viewing figures for the next season will be double, mark my words

They didn't have enough time in hand on the first VSC to get Lewis back out in front. Would have been interesting if Max was in front and Lewis in his position when the Safety Car came out to see what would have happened.

That didn’t affect the outcome of the premier league season though, did it?

Such a shit analogy

Yeah, F1 is boring as hell. I’m just here for
The controversy.

the viewing figures for the next season will be double, mark my words

Zero interest in a sport that manufactures its results with this as the goal. But it's not that surprising with F1. There's something a bit gross about the whole travelling circus anyway.

Anyway the point is WE won and YOU lost, forza Max! (where's he from again??)

How anyone who likes sport can condone cheating to alter a result is beyond me.

Sorry, who cheated? Max or Lewis, Redbull or Mercedes?

I'm not sure the ref. can cheat - they are officiating, not playing. They can influence / manipulate I guess, but the players still have to do their thing. Had Mercedes had the balls to cover the VSC pit stop, Lewis would be champion.

I do think they way it was handled was...not great, but did you hear the roar of the crowd when Max overtook Lewis - that was beautiful.

Yeah I don't think anyone who has any idea what they're talking about would say it was any sort of strategy genius from RBR. They were behind with nothing to lose, they rolled the dice and came out on top. Where they do deserve praise is that Perez did a great job of staying in Hamilton's pit window which reduced Mercedes' options. I'd say Perez's driving against Hamilton for those 2 laps was up there with (and maybe even more impressive than) Alonso's driving in Hungary.