2025 Formula One Season Thread

[CWallace]

So how that factors into Abu Dhabi??

It factors into Abu Dhabi that Lewis and Max were on equal points at that event. If Max had held the car and not crashed out at Silverstone, Max likely would have been WDC prior to Abu Dhabi, so can't pin it all on Lewis, can we?

Abu Dhabi's stewarding ran directly against the F1 rulebook and may very well have been done to "spice up the show" to the benefit of the FOG, the FIA and important commercial partner Netflix.

 

[CWallace]

In Alpine news, it appears that Franco Colapinto will be signed for another year. Also, Otro Capital, who own 24% of the team and include celebrity investors, are considering selling their stake, which has appreciated some 60% in value. Maybe this would be a way for Christian Horner to buy his way into the team?

 

[JustinePaula]

It factors into Abu Dhabi that Lewis and Max were on equal points at that event. If Max had held the car and not crashed out at Silverstone, Max likely would have been WDC prior to Abu Dhabi, so can't pin it all on Lewis, can we?

Abu Dhabi's stewarding ran directly against the F1 rulebook and may very well have been done to "spice up the show" to the benefit of the FOG, the FIA and important commercial partner Netflix.

So then the solution is no points, NONE, then a court date is scheduled 7 yrs from 2025 , and evidence is led from 1 lap of 1 race to determine the winner?

2021 Lewis lost because of the following: Bottas coming 3rd in Spain Portugal, Bahrain, and Lewis's brakes in Baku..
2008, Massa's 3rd in Spain, and a couple of DNF's early in the season..

How anyone can point to the last race and a "bad" decision.. That is like pointing to the ref in the 95th minute [5 minutes of extra time] and you lose 1 nil..When you had 94 minutes to score.. Should that count? You had 3 penalties saved..Still lost 0-1...

Maybe that is the problem.. Games, seasons are too long.. Maybe F1 should be 1 lap, 1 venue, done.. Like Tennis, maybe who scores 1st wins, 15-0 winner of the title??

24 races count in 2025, how many points, is the point.. Who has the most.. Or maybe we start dropping races.. Lewis drops Baku, Max is forced to drop a race, or maybe "The Stewards" nominate in advance of the season, then at the last race, after the race is finished, it is revealed that 7 races are dropped, and a list is published of 7 events that have no points? Maybe that should stop the madness...

 

[CWallace]

So then the solution is no points, NONE, then a court date is scheduled 7 yrs from 2025 , and evidence is led from 1 lap of 1 race to determine the winner?

The solution is for the FIA Race Director to follow the existing and defined rules and not make them up on the fly, especially when doing so decides the WDC for that year.

If Michael Massi had followed said rules, Lewis would have had a number of lapped cars between him and Max at the final re-start.

Maybe Max would have passed them all and then hunted down and pass Lewis on his new tires and he would have secured his first WDC.

Maybe those lapped cars would have held Max up long enough for Lewis to build an insurmountable lead and secure his eighth WDC.

All I do know is nobody would still be litigating the darned thing in forums.

 

[JustinePaula]

Well there is a better solution, win every race, then it does not matter... In 2008, A couple of early DNF's and a 3rd cost Massa his title, and Lewis by his own admission stuffed up the button in Baku, so he lost the title, that and combined with the 3x 3rd places of Bottas, in those 3 events, Max finished 2nd, 3 times, 3 races Lewis won...

You see there is a reason we have a season full of points, so that who has the most, get the prize.. It is not that simple, to point to the last event, is madness, it basically says, nothing matters, then what you are saying is that we should only have 1 point, for 1st place, 2nd to 20th no points.. But we should only know who won, once the court decides on the last race..

You cannot have it both ways, you cannot say because of the last event, the race director changed the result that caused Lewis to lose the title, and at the same time disregard 20+ events and what happened..

That you are hoping for a title at the last event, is stupid, that is not trying for 89 minutes and pissed off that the other side scored in the 90th minute, ref blows time.. You cannot be angry if you wasted 89 minutes, you have a season to gain points, waiting until the last race, hoping for a duff decision, not sure, but that seems a bad idea..

 

[CWallace]

You see there is a reason we have a season full of points, so that who has the most, get the prize.. It is not that simple, to point to the last event, is madness, it basically says, nothing matters, then what you are saying is that we should only have 1 point, for 1st place, 2nd to 20th no points.. But we should only know who won, once the court decides on the last race..

The issue is not that Max finished first at Abu Dhabi and Lewis finished second.

The issue is how the FIA Race Director made it much easier for Max to finish first at Abu Dhabi then it should have been if they had followed the rules. And that decision directly influenced how each team acted under that final Safety Car.

Mercedes did not pit Lewis for new tires because they did not want to lose track position for the final lap and Lewis had been able to keep Max behind him the entire race when both were on tires of similar age. Even when Max came in for fresh tires, Mercedes expected that lapped cars would be between Lewis and Max as there was insufficient time to let them circulate past.

Red Bull pitted Max for new tires because they were pushing the FIA Race Director to disregard the rules and allow the lapped cars to get out of the way to allow Max a clear shot at Lewis at the restart on said new tires. Red Bull could have had Max stay out on used tires behind Lewis and try to run him down, but Max had already shown he didn't have the car to do so and therefore he was almost assured to finish behind Lewis.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

The issue is not that Max finished first at Abu Dhabi and Lewis finished second.

The issue is how the FIA Race Director made it much easier for Max to finish first at Abu Dhabi then it should have been if they had followed the rules. And that decision directly influenced how each team acted under that final Safety Car.

Mercedes did not pit Lewis for new tires because they did not want to lose track position for the final lap and Lewis had been able to keep Max behind him the entire race when both were on tires of similar age. Even when Max came in for fresh tires, Mercedes expected that lapped cars would be between Lewis and Max as there was insufficient time to let them circulate past.

Red Bull pitted Max for new tires because they were pushing the FIA Race Director to disregard the rules and allow the lapped cars to get out of the way to allow Max a clear shot at Lewis at the restart on said new tires. Red Bull could have had Max stay out on used tires behind Lewis and try to run him down, but Max had already shown he didn't have the car to do so and therefore he was almost assured to finish behind Lewis.

It’ll be discussed for decades to come and always overshadow that season. The race directors decision to allow the race to restart the way it did, literally decided the championship as you said. We had a messy but exciting season decided off the race track and it was an injustice to just about everyone who took part and watched it unfold.

Contrast it to 2008 where McLaren found themselves on the wrong end of every decision going that season and how lenient Felipe was treated at Spa, Valencia and Fuji, and you have the consequences of a team boss and an FIA President at war. I remember that Spa win being taken off Lewis 2 hours after that race and the weak justification the FIA claimed with a ‘spirit of the rules’ interpretation. Lewis had obeyed and followed the rules, but it came down to a stewards personal opinion. Then Valencia where Ferrari released Massa into the path of a car driving down the pit lane, nearly causing a collision. The stewards investigated the incident for 25 laps, whereas other drivers had received a penalty within 3 laps for identical offences. Felipe walked away keeping his win and received a small fine.

Massa was a lot closer than he deserved to be in Brazil, and the court are hearing that Lewis lost out in Singapore too. Not to mention Ferrari made a hash of the pit stop, along with Felipes own driving errors in that race. I very much doubt he’ll get the compensation he feels he deserves, whilst the championship is not in question.

 

[CWallace]

Contrast it to 2008 where McLaren found themselves on the wrong end of every decision going that season and how lenient Felipe was treated at Spa, Valencia and Fuji, and you have the consequences of a team boss and an FIA President at war.

And this was not the first time McLaren found themselves in that situation (witness the 1989 season).

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

And this was not the first time McLaren found themselves in that situation (witness the 1989 season).

The feud between Dennis and Mosley ran much earlier than that too, and Max was yet another FIA President that hated Dennis and McLaren. Ron had fallen out with Max during the March F1 era and in the years after 1989, he helped force Mosley to sell his stake in Simtek Ford as it was a clear conflict of interest. I always found it fascinating seeing them together smiling for the cameras when it was commonly known how much they depised each other lol. Its often pondered whether that News of The World scandal was aided by Ron but it will never be known. Perhaps the best revenge for SpyGate if it was lol.

Mosley: "$5 million was for the offence and $95 million was for Ron being a ****....."