F1 Formula Sports Racing - Sportsbet.io promotions & discussion thread

[buwaytress]

The last time this happened was 47 years ago. If both riders leave the track (and this will be a legal incident) Verstappen will become champions as he has more victories. There is a great temptation on his part to make such an accident and become a champion, but the FIA has already warned that in this case (if the incident is deliberate), he will be penalized for points..

Yeah, my son (who's the one more interested in F1 than I am) keeps insisting this will be the outcome, but I've told him you can't do that in the sport. Even the other outcome (a teammate to take out the other car, or even another team to do so) would draw a huge investigation and any hint of deliberate intent will result in penalties -- essentially giving the title away.

I don't particularly like either guy but I'm sure they'd both like to win this fair and square.

Just please don't fail to live up to the hype because this race is getting so much coverage! Have a good race everyone!

[NeuroticFish]

For now:
* disappointing start for Max
* impressingly mature move from Lando
* awful double standards for F1 stewards

Let's see how it goes.

[Koal-84]

Crazy laps from Perez against Hamilton and that with the old tyres, so Verstappen was able to catch up again and even take advantage of Perez's DRS window. Now it will be interesting to see if Verstappen can take advantage of Perez driving like a lion, but it doesn't look like Verstappen can follow Hamilton.

[PawGo]

Yes!!
What a race! Incredible team work, another mistakes from Mercedes team!
Williams deserve a huge champagne from Max

[xzone]

We watched an incredible end of the race. The course of the race changed after the safety car left the track. The decisions taken will be discussed a lot, Hamilton deserved to win the race. He managed to stay ahead throughout the race, but lost the race on the last lap.
Max Verstappen is the champion!

[qwertyup23]

Can someone explain to me what happened ever since Latifi crashed? I think Lewis deserves this win so much. Mercedes took the risk of pitting once with those hard tyres and Lewis drove exceptionally throughout the entire race. After the crash at lap 54, what the hell happened after? I was so sure that Lewis got this in the bag with his consistent form and driving but what just happened after the safety car at lap 57?

Well nevertheless, congratulations for Max Verstappen for winning this race! The last lap was just the most nerve-wrecking lap that I have witnessed!

[KTChampions]

Historical race! I think I'll review it again tomorrow (when it appears on trackers in good quality).
In my opinion, in the first corner, the stewards were not mistaken and correctly not fined Hamilton because Verstapen did not leave him a place on the track.
It's good that Verstappen won, and now it doesn't matter.
(I did not monitor the odds, but I can assume that the one who bet on Verstappen during the race received at least x20).

[PawGo]

I have no idea what was Mercedes' plan - they had hope that safety car will stay until the end of race? Why did they leave the guy with an old tyres?
They looked like they were surprised that doubled cars were removed. On the other hand - perfect decision by RBR team gave MV new, fresh fast tyres and it was matter of seconds to do the final hit.
Perez - good work! His fight have MV few seconds. At the end it did not change a lot, but at that moment it was really important.
Not a good day for Kimi - sad farewell.

[Trofo]

Just please don't fail to live up to the hype because this race is getting so much coverage! Have a good race everyone!

Well the race certainly had it share of controversy, so you probably got what you wanted. Not gonna comment the decision to drive one last lap after the safety car or that stragglers can get it front of it since I am not watching F1 ever and can't judge if it was fair.

This is my first post here, and last 2 laps were the only laps I saw in F1 in last couple of years so I am happy with the drama
My father in low was gutted, he is big Hamilton supporter so that added a bit more of fun to family lunch.

[alegotardo]

I have no idea what was Mercedes' plan - they had hope that safety car will stay until the end of race? Why did they leave the guy with an old tyres?

Exactly, from the beginning to the end of the race Hamilton's tires were his big dilemma, I also can't understand why RedBull changed and Mercedes didn't.
Anyway, I was very happy with the end of this season, despite Mercedes being a great team, it's great to see the trophy leave her hands at least once and break this hegemony.

As much as the F1 management tried to interfere by keeping the lagging cars between Hammilton and Verstappen after the saffety-car left, in the end it was a fair race.

[delfastTions]

Verstappen first! 
All the same, I was right !!! 
But in the constructors' cup Mercedes definitely holds the first place.  This further convinces that Max is the best this season.

[marbet85]

I hope the two official protests will not change anything.

[Kakmakr]

I hope the two official protests will not change anything.

Well I hope this does not happen, because Verstappen earned his win.!   ........My nerves was shot in that last lap.... exhilarating stuff, right to the checkered flag.    (It is a pity that the Safety cars were brought on.. it would have been a whole other story)

I think the Hamilton supporters must be gutted.... but there are always another season for them to try again! Well done once again to the King of the podium.... Verstappen!!!

[Cnut237]

Verstappen earned his win.!

You think? Mercedes was the faster car, Hamilton was never under any threat throughout the whole race. Then there is a safety car. Obviously unexpected events like this can change things and advtange one driver more than another, but the issue here is them changing the rules in order to contrive a specific outcome. The officials have three choices really:

a) red flag it, send everyone back to the pits, everyone can change tyres if they like, or
b) continue behind safety car, and all lapped cars get to unlap themselves, or
c) continue behind safety car, no lapped cars get to unlap themselves.

That's it, that's the choices. Under option a) Lewis still has the advantage but has Max right behind him, both on new softs, under option b) there isn't time for everyone to unlap themselves, race finishes under safety car, Lewis wins, under option c) there isn't time for Max to overtake all the lapped cars, Lewis wins.

But instead, the FIA decide to ignore the rules, and let only the lapped cars between Max and Lewis overtake, so that Lewis and Max are together, and there is still time for a final lap race... but of course under those conditions, one driver on really old hard tyres, the other driver on clean softs... there is only ever one outcome.

Basically the FIA decided to ignoe the rules in order to give Max the title. I can't see how they can defend themselves really. But equally once the decision is made, I can't see how it can be reversed. Ludicrous, and the FIA have brought it on themselves. No wonder lawyers are involved.

So currently Max has the title, but it's tainted as everyone knows Lewis should have won it. If they reverse the decision (which I don't think they will), then people will think that Max had it taken away unfairly. Weirdly, after all the noise about Max bending the rules during this season, this time he is innocent and finds himself caught up in something that isn't his fault!

[buwaytress]

Just please don't fail to live up to the hype because this race is getting so much coverage! Have a good race everyone!

Well the race certainly had it share of controversy, so you probably got what you wanted. Not gonna comment the decision to drive one last lap after the safety car or that stragglers can get it front of it since I am not watching F1 ever and can't judge if it was fair.

This is my first post here, and last 2 laps were the only laps I saw in F1 in last couple of years so I am happy with the drama
My father in low was gutted, he is big Hamilton supporter so that added a bit more of fun to family lunch.

No idea if that's fair also, but every decision is controversial at this point, and generally from what I'm reading and hearing, there's no way this decision could be overturned (even if apparently this is the first time it has happened in so-and-so number of years). Mercedes sending complaints is just formality, I doubt Hamilton will even want to take this away from the Dutchman.

I'm like you. I don't really do F1 at all but because my son does (and he likes Verstappen but that's kinda duh for me haha) I occasionally see it on TV. I find a lot of similarities with the rulings and decisions actually, kinda like football. Accidents and "weird things" like today's safety car drama are not regular, but their occurrence is regular, and results stand no matter how unlucky it seems to be for drivers affected. I always quote to people: if a beach ball caused a goal in football to be scored, it still stands. And that's how I explain sporting rules.

Nice game, F1. Nice game.

[Cnut237]

As much as the F1 management tried to interfere by keeping the lagging cars between Hammilton and Verstappen after the saffety-car left, in the end it was a fair race.

That's not really the issue, there is some nuance to this. They have to let all of the lapped cars overtake (or in certain circumstances, generally in the wet, then none of them). The issue is that in either of these situations, Lewis would have won without question. What they did was let some cars overtake, in contravention of the rules.

There is also the issue that after the cars unlapped themselves, the race should restart on the following lap, not the current lap... which in this case would have meant the race finishing behind safety car.

The FIA have got themselves into a legal mess with this.

Mercedes’ protest is based on two regulations: Article 48.12 and Article 48.8 of the F1 Sporting Regulations.

Article 48.12 deals with the situation of having backmarkers unlap themselves.

Initially, Masi had been within his rights to state that ‘Lapped Cars will not be allowed to overtake’ - which meant Verstappen would be trapped behind five backmarkers before he could get a run on Hamilton.

However, on the penultimate lap, on the run down to Turn 9, Masi sent a message saying that five cars – Lando Norris, Fernando Alonso, Esteban Ocon, Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel could unlap themselves.

The decision to only allow some lapped cars to unlap themselves is unusual as Article 48.12 suggests that the message ‘LAPPED CARS MAY NOW OVERTAKE’ should be sent to all competitors.

The regulation is then explicit about when the race can be restarted.

It states: “Unless the clerk of the course considers the presence of the safety car is still necessary, once the last lapped car has passed the leader the safety car will return to the pits at the end of the following lap.

“If the clerk of the course considers track conditions are unsuitable for overtaking the message "OVERTAKING WILL NOT BE PERMITTED" will be sent to all Competitors via the official messaging system “

This clause suggests that with the lapped car message having come out on lap 57, then the restart could only come at the end of the ‘following lap’- so lap 58, which was the end of the race.

[PawGo]

That’s true that Max had a bad start (0.35 delay vs 0.25 Ham) and that’s true that was slower for majority of laps. BUT rules were the same for everyone, having soft tyres I believe he would be able to do it anyway, with others cars before him or not. And noone forbid Mercedes to change tyres (RBR did it extra twice…).
I may imagine that finishing the race with safety car was the worst option- many people would say that it was again another sign of “protecting” Hamilton. But he is not a child anymore, and as Mercedes seems to base on him and engineers, they should spend some time on thinking how to manage race better.
There was of course a lot of luck for RBR, but already their 2nd decision about pit stop showed they think how to win the race as a team - VER gained a lot on his new tyres. The difference was not as small as they expected on 7 laps to end - but then crash happened.

[Pulsar77]

It was just a perfect race! Hamilton had a great start and got past Verstappen. And Verstappen tried to get his place back but he pushed Hamilton off. Hamilton got past him from outside the track limits and Verstappen is really lucky that he didn't get any penalty for that. And Perez's defending Hamilton was simply great. It was so great that Verstappen closed the gap by around 8 minutes with Hamilton. I think Perez deserved to be the driver of the day. And Red Bull's good strategies brought the victory and the championship to Verstappen also. But if it weren't for Latifi's accident, Verstappen wouldn't have become the champion. Hamilton absolutely had a great race.

By the way, Mercedes complained to FIA about the last incident after SC entered. But I don't think that this can change the champion from now on. But obviously, there was a big mistake according to the rules.

[boltz]

Ohh I could talk about this race for hours.

For me, the trophy should be cut in half and give each half to Max and Lewis so the internet will calm down on this matter. However, FIA screwed some great racing this year and I hope that they won't repeat what we saw today ever again.

Anyway, today we celebrating a new world champion and another one that just left the Formula 1. Kimi will always be the president!

[STT]

Its unfortunate there is any safety car as its not a pure race but its not uncommon for accidents I guess.  

but I've told him you can't do that in the sport.

Im pretty sure I remember Michael Schumacher trying as much on Damon Hill, was quite a famous clip I wont forget how ruthless Schumacher was very often.  Its a different race nowadays, they dont allow that kind of thing so much I agree