I’m not a big Hamilton fan but he was robbed!
They couldn’t have made it more obvious if they had tied one hand behind his back.
Even on worn tyres he had about 8 laps to go and 11 seconds in the bag. He is a very experienced and skilled driver and other than an act of God, Verstappen would not have caught him.
The act of God came as Latifi piled into the wall in what I believe could have been a staged incident. Any driver worth his salt could do a safe crash like that, by allowing the back of his car to make contact with the barrier and consequently blocking the track at a place where recovery would be difficult.
Hamiltons only mistake was not to give the place back after taking the short cut at the beginning. He would have caught Verstappen up and passed him easily by playing the long game. A very bad decision in my opinion and somebody wanted Hamilton out…
Racing my Ar$e! Bar Humbug!
@OldGreyFox , l agree Lewis had the race down up OGF,
But the conspiracy theory of yours is off the wall ?
I also agree he should have given the place back, and l cannot
see why the stewards didn’t make him do so ?
Hamilton’s mistake was that he didn’t go in for tyres when
Verstappen went in, he would still have rejoined in first place
but with fresher tyres !!
His car was faster than Max’s by about *3 of a sec per lap !
Red Bull out thought Mercedes that is why Toto was
so pissed !!
Donkeyman!
@Bread , Which decision are you talking about Bread ?
The onem where Lewis was let off the hook,or the pace car one ?
Imo letting Lewis off the hook was inexplicable ??
The pace car decision will doubtless be corrected next year ?
and asnthis season has allready been run allowing cars to close
up under the pace car then it follows that the final race should
also follow that rule !!
The cars stuck behind the pace car had been lapped allready so
to allow them to pass would mean causing an overlap at
the finish ??
Perhaps moving the position of the transition point where
racing resumes whilst behind the pace car would alter things
next year ?
Donkeyman!
Why do you think it’s a conspiracy theory Donkeyman? Because you don’t believe they could do such a thing…We’re talking big bucks here Donkey…
Hamilton didn’t need to come in for fresh tyres he was beating Verstappen easily but neither him or Toto could foresee the dirty deed that was about to unfold…Whatever happened, Hamilton was NOT going to win that race. Bloody obvious to me!
Well foxy, the thought of latifi deliberately crashing his car is a non starter, who supplies engines to Williams?, Mercedes of course, if it was the other way round then it might have some merit although it’s been done before, ( nelson piquet jnr did it causing a safety car to allow his teammate, alonso, to win) the penalties would be so severe, as I’ve said in my earlier post, liberty media want formula one to be a showcase sport, that’s why they tried sprint races, as this final race had such media coverage, imagine what a let down it would’ve been if it had finished behind a safety car, or lapped cars weren’t allowed to overtake, as was initially said by massi, instead, we had a exciting last lap finish which will be talked about for years to come
@, OGF, Christ,you’ve got it bad OG !
Just who is arranging all this malarky IYO??
If Lewis was so fast as you have just said , why did he allow
Max to pass him at finish ??
Do you think the FIA dreamed up a plot with Red Bull ??
If so they would have penalised Lewis when he took the short cut
at the beginning ??
Donkeyman!
As a none F1 fan, this season seems to have been finely balanced for a change, and the monopoly broken, that has to be good for the sport (?). Merc and Red Bull went into this race as “Equals” so, this race aside, a welcome change was in the air.
After an 11 second lead with only 8 laps to go, was wiped out by the ‘unfortunate’ Latifi incident, his tyres were not good enough to race Verstappen until the end…But you know that Don’t you Donkeyman…
The FIA punished Hamilton at the end, there was no need to penalise him at the start…They knew he was never going to win. He’s shaken too many trees and was getting too big for his boots, he had to be slapped down.
This is true and the powers at the top were just waiting for a chance to do this; Latiffi handed the opportunity to them just at the right time so they gleefully accepted it. This is what always happens when big money rules sport.
@LongDriver , All that you and OGF say is possible ?
But in this instance highly unlikely ?
For this “conspiracy” to work it would need race control to
contact Latifi via the team radio as to when to deliberately
crashmhis car?
If they did that everybody would know about it wouldn’t they ??
I find the whole idea laughable
Donkeyman!
Stranger things have happened at sea Donkey…At it certainly isn’t beyond the realms of possibility, even if your mind can’t stretch to thinking outside the box…
Any car crashing and causing yellow flags would cause this F1 governing body hoped for incident. It could have been any car crashing to do so and Latiffi just happened to be the driver. No crash was planned, but I do believe the action taken WAS preplanned IF a crash did take place. To repel any flack, the two new options were offered to Red Bull alone and of course they took the most damaging option against Mercedes.
No, this is definitely bad for F1 as a so called sport but not for the big money behind F1, which with all the sponsorship, is what F1 is really about and the drivers are merely a necessary encumbrance as Bernie Ecclestone was once heard muttering when he thought the mics were off.
Whatever happened last Sunday, I believe the race was deliberately meddled with for optimum excitement from what has been a procession over the last few years. The best races I’ve watched were those when the top drivers either crashed out, or some other catastrophe shuffled the usual driving order and made for exciting and unexpected finishes.
It’s a bit disappointing when only two drivers dominate F1.
