First appeal blocked by FIA which was obvious.
The media are a bunch of pussies as when somehting is wrong they should be all over it. These days if you fight for what is right you are most likely fired or not a company man. Where has been doing and saying the right thing been so wrong.
The day after what had to be the most disgraceful ruling in Formula One history things are fairly quiet. Too quiet if we are honest except for the tweets from Red Bull and racing fans trying to understand what took place.
I thought I would put pen to paper so everyone who doesn't quite understand what unfolded can see the irregularities.
What is significant and expected is the media is dead quiet as they now what went down and are waiting for the fall out. Mercedes have not updated their site as it still states 7 Constructors titles instead of 8. Their silence says it all as this is a big thing to how things are going to move forward.
Every racing fan whether you are a Verstappen supporter or just a racing fan like myself has serious concerns. Mercedes may be doing a back deal with the FIA and Formula One where they are paid out for yesterdays misdemeanor. I hope that is not the case as fixing what is blatantly wrong is more important for the sport. If a deal is done I expect we will see Mike Massi resigning being replaced by someone more capable who is not influenced by outside pressures like Liberty Media. The decision was obviously swayed for the 100's of millions watching the race around the world and managed to chase away the proper fans. We all know what happened and why and that does not make it right.
Mercedes were not the only team that were shafted yesterday as what about the other drivers who were in 3rd and above as they were given no help like Max was. Carlos Sainz lying in 3rd in his Ferrari has two back markers in front of him that were not called forward to unlap themselves. Every Championship point is money and big money so this is not taken lightly.
One has to look at this from a neutral point of view to understand how wrong this decision was. I will try an explain this in simple terms so everyone can see the problem here.
The safety car was triggered when Latiffi crashed into the barriers which means all cars slow down and follow behind the safety car with no overtaking. Verstappen changed tyres losing 2nd spot and coming out in 6th as he had nothing to lose. Mercedes never changed tyres as they could not lose track position as the chances were the race would be over as removing a crashed car and following procedure takes time. If Hamilton had pitted and Verstappen stayed out and the race never restarted Verstappen would win. Damned if you do and damned if you don't.
Under normal circumstances ie the FIA's own regulations every car that had been lapped would be called forward to unlap themselves whilst the race is still behind the safety car. Once those cars have driven around the track and caught the back of the leaders up the safety car travels one more lap in order to bunch everyone together. Once that has been completed the safety car enters the pit lane and the race starts from that point right up to the start/finish line. This is the leading cars choice and has to happen before the start finish line. That is how things are done and have always been done.
Understand Mercedes now as there was no need to change tyres as the race had no time to be completed.
The FIA (Michael Massi) decided to remove 4 cars between Hamilton and Verstappen freeing Verstappen up. Sainz in the Ferrari lying 3rd on track should have been offered the same courtesy as long with everyone else. He had 2 back markers to get past and was lucky to hold onto that spot by beating Tsunoda by 0.5 seconds.
What was crucially missing was the final lap of the safety car which bunches everyone up in their rightful positions. Massi did this on purpose as they wanted the last lap of racing. The race has to be completed in the same number of laps due to cars running short of fuel so extending the race by 1 more lap is never the case and the race should have ended under the safety car.
The ruling states that if that is the case then the race result stands for on track positions when the safety car was initiated. The FIA throwing out Mercedes appeal is them covering their backside and nothing else.
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This is good news for the sport if this actually happens.
What does this mean for the sport going forward? Mercedes have 5 options and I will list them below.
Bad news as no one knows where they stand as regulations and rules mean absolutely nothing. Mercedes can take it 5 ways and anyone of these is possible. Liberty Media and the FIA should be nervous as these are not what they want to hear.
Accept the decision and move on which is what the FIA and Red Bull would love. This has serious implications for next season as no change means this can happen again. I just don't see this going down as all the teams are not happy except Red Bull and Torro Rosso.
Back room deal as rumor is Hamilton would not be happy to take the title via a court case. Everyone knows he is the Champion and Max has been given it via questionable circumstance and the title is now tainted. This is a shame as the drivers and teams know what happened. The season was ruined by 5 minutes of madness. The deal would mean a payment plus the race director being replaced by someone capable.
Mercedes walk away from the sport as the Concorde agreement they signed has been broken by the FIA rulings regarding integrity of the sport. That now means 4 teams would be off the grid as engine suppliers is now an issue. McLaren, Williams, Aston Martin and Mercedes.
Mercedes break away with Ferrari, McLaren, Williams, Alpine(Renault) Alfa, Aston Martin and Haas to form their own competition. Audi /Porsche would most likely join this. Red bull and Toro Rosso would have no choice but to join. This is not far out there as this was raised 2 years ago with teams wanting to break away.
Mercedes take the ruling to the Court of Arbitration for Sports in Zurich. I cannot see them losing this as the regulations and race rules are crystal clear.
Bagshaw said: “Everybody wanted to see that race finish in racing conditions but the rule makes it very clear that any cars that have been lapped by the leader have to be allowed to pass the leading cars and the safety car before the race is restarted and he did not allow that to happen. It’s very important for Mercedes to give the message that racing is the most important thing to this sport.”
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A top arbitration lawyer ahs suggested Mercedes have a stronger than strong case and the result could easily be overturned in court.
Whatever happens Mercedes cannot lie down and take this as when something is rotten it festers in the sport. What happened wrecked what was a memorable season up until that point and cheapened the trophy Max received. This is not the way any Champion would want to receive the trophy and is very sad considering both drivers deserved a fair crack at it.
