[M5Rick]

[QUOTE=Artemis;28400662]I do not see Hamilton retiring for various reasons (resilience, pride, possibility to beat Verstappen and get WDC #8, contractual commitments with Mercedes, money/damages, etc.). IMHO 2021 was just 'Game Of Thrones' season #1 of 3.


*No one is greater than the team especially Merc and unless it's a safe gap as in previous years the Latifi shunt set in motion a cycle of communication at Merc ending with Bono? telling Ham there are no tyres to ensure Merc the constructors title giving Max his 20th win.
This could be a mortal blow taken personally with HAM seen from his perspective with regard to what I mentioned before about being 'dissed'.

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by M5Rick

As much as the excitement goes with Todt maybe going back to Maranello I don't see how it will actually help them a lot with that engine whatever he tells them about what Ham had under the engine covers and probably won't suit Ferrari PU with different config and too far in with it.
Having said that McLarens Seidl has said the Merc PU was nothing special in Hams car but I think he's just stirring after losing out to Ferrari in the points.

MAX is (already) ready to go again ...

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by ///M Power-Belgium

MAX is (already) ready to go again ...

Can't say I disagree with that

[Artemis]

Originally Posted by M5Rick

*No one is greater than the team especially Merc and unless it's a safe gap as in previous years the Latifi shunt set in motion a cycle of communication at Merc ending with Bono? telling Ham there are no tyres to ensure Merc the constructors title giving Max his 20th win.
This could be a mortal blow taken personally with HAM seen from his perspective with regard to what I mentioned before about being 'dissed'.

AFAIK Mercedes/Bono never said that no tyres were available. Mercedes/Bono only instructed Hamilton to stay out "to keep track position" / "not to lose track position". Too focused on keeping #1 track position. I recall that at some point in the final stage of the race the Mercedes pit crew rushed out with medium tyres (yellow C3) and subsequently rushed back in with those tyres. Either fitting Hamilton's car with mediums has been considered, or it was just strategy to fool the Red Bull pit wall.

Mercedes had enough points (28 points gap at the start) to win the Constructor's title. I cannot believe that it crossed their minds one second to 'sacrifice' WDC #8.

A race ain't over till it's over:

• Lap 46/51 in Baku - Azerbaijan: Verstappen leads the race and has already clocked the fastest lap of the race. Hamilton cannot keep up, but keeps pushing behind Perez (to no avail). Verstappen is on his way to win the race and get 25+1 points. Tyre failure for Verstappen: race over - victory chance gone - zero points - damaged car. Hamilton completely misses the restart ('brake magic' button issue) and fails to score any points. Perez wins the race.
• Lap 53/58 in Abu Dhabi: Hamilton leads the race. Verstappen cannot keep up, but keeps pushing. Hamilton is on his way to win the race and get WDC #8. Latifi crashes. The rest is history.

Mercedes got taught an expensive hubris lesson at Abu Dhabi. It was too confident that there was insufficient time to clear the track after the Latifi crash. Mercedes gambled that the race would end under the safety car. Wrong bet, although Mercedes should have remembered that, prior to the race, teams had expressed their preference to avoid as much as possible a scenario of the race ending under yellow flags.

All the loud Mercedes 'noise' after the race with bold statements, race results dispute and no show at the F1 Prize Giving event, was IMHO merely smoke and mirrors to shift the attention and blame away from their strategy mismanagement in the final stage of the Abu Dhabi race: Mercedes/Wolff should have either insisted with Michael Masi to immediately red flag the race as soon as they saw Verstappen pitting for soft tyres (lap 54/58) or to immediately pit Hamilton and insist on green lights as soon as possible (track clear).

Happy donuts on the circuit, "we did it !" cheers through the Mercedes onboard radio, champaign, Toto Wolff boldly swinging his fists, happy faces with tears of joy, party mood, victorious press releases, glorious social media frenzy, WDC #8 merchandise, WDC financial bonuses, "we kept believing - we never gave up" and "we thank Verstappen for the great challenge, he will still have chances in the future" victory speeches, etc.: Max Verstappen 'Godzilla'd' all that by surprising Hamilton in Turn 5 of the Abu Dhabi circuit in the final lap. A race ain't over till it's over.

Hamilton onboard radio - safety car stage (01:19: "oh f**k, is he right behind me ?" - "he will be" - "with new tyres ?!"):

Bottas onboard radio (00:10: "well f**k, s**t !" - "I knew, you know, we needed new tyres, 'cause"):

[M5Rick]

[QUOTE=Artemis;28404440]AFAIK Mercedes/Bono never said that no tyres were available. Mercedes/Bono only instructed Hamilton to stay out "to keep track position" / "not to lose track position". Too focused on keeping #1 track position. I recall that at some point in the final stage of the race the Mercedes pit crew rushed out with medium tyres (yellow C3) and subsequently rushed back in with those tyres. Either fitting Hamilton's car with mediums has been considered, or it was just strategy to fool the Red Bull pit wall.

Mercedes had enough points (28 points gap at the start) to win the Constructor's title. I cannot believe that it crossed their minds one second to 'sacrifice' WDC #8.

A race ain't over till it's over:

• Lap 46/51 in Baku - Azerbaijan: Verstappen leads the race and has already clocked the fastest lap of the race. Hamilton cannot keep up, but keeps pushing behind Perez (to no avail). Verstappen is on his way to win the race and get 25+1 points. Tyre failure for Verstappen: race over - victory chance gone - zero points - damaged car. Hamilton completely misses the restart ('brake magic' button issue) and fails to score any points. Perez wins the race.
• Lap 53/58 in Abu Dhabi: Hamilton leads the race. Verstappen cannot keep up, but keeps pushing. Hamilton is on his way to win the race and get WDC #8. Latifi crashes. The rest is history.

Mercedes got taught an expensive hubris lesson at Abu Dhabi. It was too confident that there was insufficient time to clear the track after the Latifi crash. Mercedes gambled that the race would end under the safety car. Wrong bet, although Mercedes should have remembered that, prior to the race, teams had expressed their preference to avoid as much as possible a scenario of the race ending under yellow flags.

All the loud Mercedes 'noise' after the race with bold statements, race results dispute and no show at the F1 Prize Giving event, was IMHO merely smoke and mirrors to shift the attention and blame away from their strategy mismanagement in the final stage of the Abu Dhabi race: Mercedes/Wolff should have either insisted with Michael Masi to immediately red flag the race as soon as they saw Verstappen pitting for soft tyres (lap 54/58) or to immediately pit Hamilton and insist on green lights as soon as possible (track clear).

Happy donuts on the circuit, "we did it !" cheers through the Mercedes onboard radio, champaign, Toto Wolff boldly swinging his fists, happy faces with tears of joy, party mood, victorious press releases, glorious social media frenzy, WDC #8 merchandise, WDC financial bonuses, "we kept believing - we never gave up" and "we thank Verstappen for the great challenge, he will still have chances in the future" victory speeches, etc.: Max Verstappen 'Godzilla'd' all that by surprising Hamilton in Turn 5 of the Abu Dhabi circuit in the final lap. A race ain't over till it's over.


Bottas onboard radio (00:10: "well f**k, s**t !" - "I knew, you know, we needed new tyres, 'cause"):

*Whichever way it's put there was no option for tyres for HAM,I'm surprised HAM didn't push Bono more for fresh softs even if it would put him out of track position.
But Merc fearing a clash with Lew out and Max winning with Checo moving up kept it as it was for safety and to hell with the drivers championship.

[E90SLAM]

Normally Mercs will have a "race debrief" for the fans on youtube the Tuesday/Wednesday after the race weekend. They had it every weekend, and of course except the final race in Abu Dhabi.

I know its painful, but still, there's lots of learn from the race. Right? Right?

[M5Rick]

^ Perfectly understandable why with Wolff fuming and HAM making himself scarce with no happy faces there, still strange in a way with them getting the biggest constructors money prize.

[///M Power-Belgium]

The situation is still interesting ..

[Killed by Death]

[M5Rick]

^ Mikey what was that?

Toto,that was a new World Champion.

[M5Rick]

[M5Rick]

Hot news:The new number 1 single

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by M5Rick

LMFAO !

[M5Rick]

Here's another, they are coming in thick and fast looool

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by ///M Power-Belgium

The situation is still interesting ..

BOT: ''Constructors, oh right...what's that?''

[///M Power-Belgium]

*****

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by ///M Power-Belgium

*****

'In the moment

[M5Rick]

HAM's latest record ''Going Underground''

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by M5Rick

HAM's latest record ''Going Underground''

Formule MAX => https://www.bol.com/be/nl/p/formule-...tm_content=txl

[M5Rick]

.

[Killed by Death]

[Robin_NL]

Originally Posted by M5Rick

You might say he's stuffING it into the wall, too much welly there or he had a driveshaft broke.

You had a few bank holidays didn't you?

ING the Dutch treat..

Cheers
Robin