***Official Formula 1 Discussion Thread***

[GotSpin]

Really? I know he's annoyed some folks with his support for BLM and related issues, but I see that as their problem, not his.

Just acts like a bit of a brat to me

 

[wpdavid]

Just acts like a bit of a brat to me

OK.

 

[wpdavid]

Isn’t he a huge tax evader?

Maybe, I just didn't get the impression that's what Gotspin was alluding to.

And if memory serves, tax evasion is the legal version, whereas tax avoidance isn't. Not that I know enough about Hamilton to state with any certainty which one he practises.

 

[Spikey]

i think it's required to be a dodgy tax **** if you want to drive a f1 car

 

[Uppercut]

Maybe, I just didn't get the impression that's what Gotspin was alluding to.

And if memory serves, tax evasion is the legal version, whereas tax avoidance isn't. Not that I know enough about Hamilton to state with any certainty which one he practises.

I'm sure there's a dull "where the left went wrong" article to be written around Hamilton. Something emblematic about a guy who speaks eloquently about social justice while using a tax loophole to avoid paying £4m tax on his private jet.

 

[Furball]

Maybe, I just didn't get the impression that's what Gotspin was alluding to.

And if memory serves, tax evasion is the legal version, whereas tax avoidance isn't. Not that I know enough about Hamilton to state with any certainty which one he practises.

Other way round. Evasion is illegal.

 

[Furball]

Yesterday's conclusion has to be one of the worst things I've seen in any sport, ever. The equivalent of deciding in a football game that next goals the winner when one team is 5-0 up.

 

[wpdavid]

Other way round. Evasion is illegal.

Cheers, you're dead right.

 

[Pothas]

Yesterday's conclusion has to be one of the worst things I've seen in any sport, ever. The equivalent of deciding in a football game that next goals the winner when one team is 5-0 up.

Have seen this a lot and it is not really a fair comparison. Sure there are huge issues with the decisions made but the actual basic thing of a safety car bunching a field up is just part of the sport and completely unavoidable. If it had happened in even a couple of laps earlier it would have been no issue at all.

 

[Furball]

Have seen this a lot and it is not really a fair comparison. Sure there are huge issues with the decisions made but the actual basic thing of a safety car bunching a field up is just part of the sport and completely unavoidable. If it had happened in even a couple of laps earlier it would have been no issue at all.

It's not the safety car that's the issue, it's the clearing away all the cars between Max and Lewis by ignoring the rules, while not affording anyone else the same opportunity (also ensures Max comes under no pressure from behind if he ****s the restart because the lapped cars between him and Sainz weren't moved.)

Masi's actions gave Max one last throw of dice which had been massively weighted in his favour.

 

[Pothas]

Yeah as it happens I totally agree with that but you could just as easily use the team is 5-0 up thing for a standard safety car. As I say that happens 2 laps earlier and we get exactly the same result without the controversy. Doubt Sainz would have been a factor.

 

[Pothas]

I can totally understand why people would think that is rubbish as well. F1 is in many ways really crap at being a sport. I just happen to think it does long running narrative and drama better than pretty much anything else.

 

[Furball]

Doubt Sainz would have been a factor.

He could plausibly have been if Max and Lewis run each other off the track, the same way Ocon nips in between the two of them when Max pushed Lewis off at Jeddah prior to the 2nd red flag.

I doubt he'd have been a factor, but he wasn't given the chance to be because Masi removed all the obstacles between Lewis and Max while not affording the same courtesy to anyone else.

 

[Uppercut]

Yeah as it happens I totally agree with that but you could just as easily use the team is 5-0 up thing for a standard safety car. As I say that happens 2 laps earlier and we get exactly the same result without the controversy. Doubt Sainz would have been a factor.

No I still think the goal-the-winner comparison is a good one. I don't think the details matter as much as the fact that the nominal referee is given lots of discretionary power and (unofficially) tasked with generating drama.

 

[Uppercut]

Maybe a better comparison is if VAR worked for Sky and started giving soft penalties on the last day of the season to make it more "exciting". Arguing over whether each actual incident was a penalty or not would be missing the point.

 

[Pothas]

They didn't put a safety car in for no reason though. The whole reason there is a controversy is because of the details.

 

[Furball]

They didn't put a safety car in for no reason though. The whole reason there is a controversy is because of the details.

The safety car isn't the issue, it's Masi ignoring the rules of the sport to set up a last lap dramatic finish. Either all lapped cars get to unlap themselves and the race finishes under the safety car, or no cars unlap themselves and Max has to get past them all and Lewis to win.

 

[Pothas]

Exactly. Which is why the detail matters. Otherwise it is just standard bad luck from the safety car but would still be like going from 5-0 up to last goal wins.

 

[Spikey]

Exactly. Which is why the detail matters. Otherwise it is just standard bad luck from the safety car but would still be like going from 5-0 up to last goal wins.

would it even be bad luck? Merc ran the race in such a way that left them incredibly exposed to a safety car.

 

[Howe_zat]

F1 is in many ways really crap at being a sport.

This was pretty much my untrained eye's impression of this season, which generated a lot of headlines but every time I read about what happened there seemed to be some controversy over penalty points/seconds, some people needing to obey rules and others not, places being given back except when they weren't etc etc