2021 Bahrain Grand Prix

Reck said:
Most if not every driver were doing it, too. It'd be interesting to see every driver's onboard. Max started doing it too when he was told Lewis was doing it.

Race control ****** up. They literally changed the rules midrace.
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Yes, my criticism is for the officiating. Hamilton was doing his job.

One unfortunate reality is that Max's desire to keep going and try to build a lead big enough to withstand a time penalty was probably the better play for him. I don't think he could have gained five seconds in two laps, but it would have put the FIA in an embarrassing position of appearing to change the winner post-race. They may not have been willing. Red Bull saved F1 a lot more grief by instructing Max to give the spot back willingly.

It's quite typical of the current iteration of F1 that they were gifted an absolutely thrilling on-track pass for the lead in the closing laps, which is so rare with these cars, and they find a way to declare it meaningless with poor officiating standards.
 
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Just put gravel or grass there so the drivers aren't tempted to run off the track to gain an advantage. It's as simple as that.
 
Marcingak said:
Just put gravel or grass there so the drivers aren't tempted to run off the track to gain an advantage. It's as simple as that.
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Put the grass back in. If you can drive though the grass and not crash, you're ok. If not, at least your earned it.

The race tracks look like trash with all the paved run off and "track limits" is an issue every race. Now it's ruining races. Stop it.
 
I have to admit this was an exciting finish, but it was an example of a crippled car being impossible to pass. Hamilton's tires were shot, and even on better rubber Verstappen couldn't find a way. Then, when we had what looked like a pass, Verstappen drove where everyone was driving all day and had to give it back. Explain that to the casual fans who will probably give up because this racing makes no sense.

However, we saw the best Hamilton ever. While I am sick of the domination, we really did see a legendary level of greatness.

Not so surprised Chico had a big day. He's a Bahrain specialist and he was finally in a competitive car. oi can see it coming he will be third or fourth at worst in the championship. New team, new car, new engineer, and teammates with one of the fastest guys on the planet, but Sergio was flying and only the pit lane start compromised his day. It's going to be fun now that he finally has a car he can fight with, and he's only going to get better as he settles in and learns how to get the most out of the package.

Verstappen fast as usual, but he could have picked a better place to let Hamilton go, like say just before the next DRS detection point. He would be close enough for a tow and DRS, and could have very well gotten past. Hard decision to make heat of the moment, but I think his team let him down there by giving him advice to give it back right now and get it over with. Hindsight, of course. He's going to learn from this and be better.

For all you haters, Mazepin made it one more corner than you all predicted!
 
Doc Austin said:
Explain that to the casual fans who will probably give up because this racing makes no sense.
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It's the oposite. A casual would see the that he went completely off track and concur that the penalty was warranted.

F1 screwed up with the mid stream rule change and they have always had major issues enforcing rules and which penalty is adequate.

At least they try. I dont watch NASCAR anymore but these days when I catch a race or two it seems like you are allowed to do everything under the sun save for speeding on pit road. You can T-bone a car and not be penalised there. Another series I watch is Supercars and in that one they're a bit too liberal with their rules. Drivers get penalized for everything basically and the penalties aren't pretty either. They're often extreme.
 
Reck said:
It's the oposite. A casual would see the that he went completely off track and concur that the penalty was warranted.
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Then explain all the times Hamilton ran off at the same spot without penalty.
Reck said:
F1 screwed up with the mid stream rule change and they have always had major issues enforcing rules and which penalty is adequate.
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No argument there.
Reck said:
At least they try.
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And look at the mess they made out of it.

They could try to have clear rules, enforce those and that might help. For instance, you are specifically not allowed to move so as to impead another competitor. Look it up. It's black and white. Then the drivers take each other out of a straightaway because they specifically are trying to impead each other and there's no penalty. Magunssen absolutely took Leclerc out the front straight at Suzuka in front of everyone swerving like a drunk, but that was a "racing incident."
 
Doc Austin said:
Then explain all the times Hamilton ran off at the same spot without penalty.
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Allowed in all practices. Disallowed in qualifying. Allowed for the race.

Then they said they couldn't do it anymore.
 
Reck said:
Allowed in all practices. Disallowed in qualifying. Allowed for the race.

Then they said they couldn't do it anymore.
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So, if it was allowed in the race, why did Verstappen get a penalty? That and Hamilton drove in the exact same spot multiple time without penalty. I'de just like a little consistency.

I think it's much better to have self enforcing measures like say, grass. Take the officials out of it. If you drive on the grass and crash too bad.
 
Doc Austin said:
So, if it was allowed in the race, why did Verstappen get a penalty? That and Hamilton drove in the exact same spot multiple time without penalty. I'de just like a little consistency.

I think it's much better to have self enforcing measures like say, grass. Take the officials out of it. If you drive on the grass and crash too bad.
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Verstappen was penalized because overtaking out of bounds was gaining a lasting advantage, and against the rules set for the race. Going out of bounds to gain lap time was not going to be monitored, apparently until it was deemed Hamilton was going too far out of bounds and given a warning. If you go further down the Twitter thread you can see drivers were all going over the line, mostly just not as far as Hamilton (until Verstappen did). Hamilton pushed within the rules given for the race, but for the sake of clarity they should probably define some actual limits such as all four wheels over the line = penalty.

 
FLRacingFan said:
............after Free Practice the rules relating to track limits at T4 were changed. "Advantage" in terms of 27.3 here means overtaking or defending not lap time.
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Good to know you can't run off the road to defend your position.

We didn't have these issues when there were things to hit.
 
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