[F1 Algemeen] 2021 Formula1 GP's #808 zonder Mol & tandarts

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TRANSLATION part 1:
What you will read below are parts of a long conversation I had with the Mercedes Dude last Thursday. A lot of this I told on LIVE that we did on Thursday itself, but not all because there was no time...

Dude, let's start at the beginning. What was the plan for Sunday's race with Hamilton starting at P2?

The plan was for him to make the first turn at P1 and for that we configured the UP via software with a map, releasing maximum power already at low speed for the man to use until halfway through the first lap. The problem was that he had to go very smooth on the accelerator, otherwise the car would slip at the start and he was even capable of losing several positions, instead of winning Max's. And he would also have to be careful on the first straight, because with this map would not have the maximum possible there, only on the straight after the chicane.

Great, that explains why Max nearly hit the brakes between the two straights. But what if he hadn't managed to pass Max at the start?

Then the strategy would be completely different and would depend a lot on the moment Max's soft tires fell. We had a multitude of possibilities.

Explain this better, please.

Well, at the start we have all the data collected from all the cars, especially ours, everything from the track, weather, asphalt conditions, temperature of everything you can imagine, lap time of long stints from practice, differences between types tires, likely exchange ratio of other cars, differences for the rear and eventually the front, are thousands of data all stored in some computers that show us some strategic possibilities. And that changes every lap. At each turn, the systems present the most likely strategies of our opponents and what would be our best responses to that. When entering a VSC or SC the system immediately understands that everyone has taken their foot off and identifies where each car is on the lane at what speed. It takes about 2 seconds to do this, but we have two people who can insert every time something out of the ordinary happens on the floor. For each eventuality there is a type of insert that can be inserted before the system understands what happened, that is, before those 2 seconds.

is is every turn! Now, why did you change Hamilton's tire right after Verstappen if he had a tire that would last longer?

Because putting a hard tire at that moment with the time differences they were running on the track, it made sure the man didn't need to stop anymore, the tire would withstand whatever strategy the Bulls had for Max, in addition to protecting us from an SC in the 10 or 15 laps following.

But was that the system you showed or you the ones who decided?

It's always us. The system shows us the most likely possibilities and we decide which one to follow.

So that's why you didn't stop Hamilton or VSC?

Exactly, it wasn't necessary. Even with Max changing the tires he wouldn't have time to get to the man, as proved in the course of the race. His tires would fall out sooner and that's exactly what happened. We had 11.3 seconds until there were 5 laps to go and Max wasn't getting more than 2 tenths of a lap in the 2, 3 or 4 laps before, I don't remember exactly now.

And that fight with Perez, was it planned?

It was a strong possibility that the Bulls used Perez to rein in the man, which is legitimate. A few laps before that happened, we already knew it was going to happen, as did the man. But he couldn't ruin his tires fighting too much with Perez. That's where his intelligence comes in not being too aggressive in that fight, or he could screw up his tires and his racing strategy. He did exactly what he had to do, wasted seconds he could lose without compromising the tires.

TRANSLATION part 2:

Well Dude, now the question that won't shut up and that I didn't understand. Why didn't you call Hamilton as soon as the safety car came in at the end?

It's simple, my dear Adawtow. There were three possibilities foreseen in the regulation for the race not to end up on a yellow flag, as we all expected. The first was for the race director not to allow latecomers to overtake the man and the safety car. This would leave all those cars between the man and Max and the restart would only be on the last lap, as the regulations mandate that the track be totally free and free of debris for the SC to enter (in the box). Max couldn't pass every car between himself and the man, plus the man himself in a single lap, even considering the blue flags latecomers would receive.

The second possibility provided for in the regulation was for all latecomers to pass the SC and that would end the race with a yellow flag. This was the most likely, as the race director himself had said before at the Eifel GP that the “regulation required that if a latecomer can redeem a lap, everyone has to redeem a lap”. This is clear in the regulation, he said it himself and he followed the regulation every other time it happened. The race director cannot subvert the order of the drivers on the track at will, neither he nor anyone else. And by allowing only a few cars to cash back, he took away the possibility of those he didn't allow to compete for position with the cars that before SC were ahead of them. He manipulated not only the title between the man and Max, but also other positions that could change hands on that final lap.

It was just absurd, there is no excuse and no precedent for what was done. His prevailing authority is over the stewards, marshals, assistants and anyone else who can make decisions about the entry and exit of the safety car and other items in practice and races, but never over the regulations. Nobody has the authority to circumvent what is clearly written in the regulation. How many times have you read the sporting regulations, Adawtow?

Many, Dude, you must have seen that I even translated it into Portuguese!

Did you have any questions about this?

No, because I used the logical principle that no one can prevail over regulation. But I think this policy should be rewritten to describe exactly what the race director is supposed to do in each situation.

But Adawtow, you can predict situations that have already happened. And the ones that didn't happen? Do you think a person can decide the fate of a title by playing tricks on what is written?

Of course not! And that's why I know what would be the third possibility for Masi to do and the most correct one. Red flag and they would go for a 3 or 4 lap shootout!

I don't know if it would have been the most correct, but yes, this would have been the third possibility, as he didn't want to end up on the yellow flag at all, even if he did not want to break the regulations.

Is this business of not ending up on a yellow flag at all a Liberty thing?

Not that I know. We all prefer not to finish any race under the yellow flag, PROVIDED (with a lot of emphasis) that it is possible to do so without violating the principles of regulation and sport!

I totally agree with that Dude, but now what?

You are not going to publish this today, right?

We agreed that no!

Ok, there was a meeting on Tuesday night between Lobo with some members of the team, Daimler, Ineos and the lawyers. It was very clear that we would have to go to the common court to win this fight, not the FIA Court of Appeal, which judges themselves. In the common court, the lawyers said that it would be a 'barbade' for us to win, but then there would be consequences...

Which was?

The championship decision would be suspended, there would be no proclamation, no celebration, there would be nothing, because everything would be embargoed, until a verdict was reached. And it could take months with the FIA trying to delay decisions with a fierce legal fight between the parties. It would be a total break with the FIA and with all motorsport governed by it. Therefore, if we went ahead we would have to leave all the championships, abandon FIA motorsport.

Was this decided on Tuesday itself?

No, at this point the team owners (Daimler, Wolff and Ineos with 33% each) ended the meeting and stayed to decide what to do. And of course, this (last Thursday) morning we already knew they wouldn't take it any further.

Did you fear the team would break up if they took the case to the common court?

Not really, I knew that the three (Daimler, Wolff and Ineos) wanted to continue, motorsport and especially Formula 1 is in the DNA of the three owners. Even more so now that it will certainly yield much higher operating profits than before this new Concordia Pact. I didn't fear.

Dude, tell me the atmosphere after the race in Abu Dhabi.

Felt like a funeral, man, funeral. Nobody who worked on the team in 2021 will ever forget what happened. It was very heavy, it was something that we all felt was taken away from us. Losing on the track is a game, anything in the car could have broken at any time, the tires could tear if the man kept running over those ridiculous zebras they did there, there could be a touch of racing, all that could happen, but it would be about the game. We would be very sad, but it would be ephemeral, it would pass soon. But not the way it happened. This is hard, very hard. The funeral atmosphere persists and I don't know when it will get better. Next week, or sometime soon, Lobo is going to have a meeting and he's going to try to play everybody up. But I don't know, man, for me and for many it's been really hard to digest. It's gonna take a while.

But you won the constructors' championship for the eighth time!

Ahhhhh Adawtow, it's not the same thing! Who was the champion of constructors in 1981, for example, do you know?

I don't remember now…

And what about pilots?

Nelson Piquet, of course!!

Yeah, my friend… I don't remember who was the 1981 constructor champion either!

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Op zondag 19 december 2021 23:03 schreef bedachtzaam het volgende:

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Grappig artikel, iemand heeft een manier gevonden voor een kwartiertje bekendheid.

Het gesprek tussen Lewis en zijn engineer tijdens de safetycar haalt dat hele stuk onderuit.