F1 and fans up in arms over Italian Grand Prix anti-climax
Sep.12 - The world in Formula 1 is up in arms about the manner in which Sunday's Italian GP at Monza ended.
Race winner, reigning world champion and runaway championship leader Max Verstappen admitted he didn't particularly enjoy standing on the famous podium for the first time.
"The atmosphere for me was not amazing," said the Dutchman after receiving a cavalcade of boos and jeers. "But it is what it is."
2022 Italian F1 GP podium: 1. Verstappen, 2. Leclerc & 3. Russell
His Red Bull boss Dr Helmut Marko, however, doesn't think the Tifosi was specifically booing Verstappen.
"The whistling fans behaved honestly," the Austrian said. "They were indignant because they were unhappy with the management of the race - and they were right.
"We might have been at a disadvantage as Red Bull, but the sport has to be at the forefront."
Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto agreed: "I think the behaviour of our Tifosi was more towards the FIA."
The Italian was scathing of the governing body's race director for letting the race finish behind the safety car because of Daniel Ricciardo's broken-down McLaren.
"The FIA has been caught sleeping. Maybe they are not ready to deal with these situations yet," Binotto insisted. "I think there was plenty of time for the FIA to act differently today."
The situation was basically the inverse of the highly-contentious climax to the 2021 world championship in Abu Dhabi, which ultimately cost Michael Masi his job as race director.
"This is the rule they should have followed then, right?" Lewis Hamilton, whose fans still believe the seven time world champion was robbed of his eighth title, said after Sunday's race.
"There was only one time in the history of the sport that they didn't follow the rule."
Defenders of the ousted Masi's handling of the Abu Dhabi situation, however, insist that the Australian was simply trying to avoid a Monza-like anti-climax.
"This is exactly what Michael Masi tried to prevent in Abu Dhabi and he succeeded quite well," Dutch F1 GP boss Jan Lammers told NOS. "Not everyone was happy back then either, of course."
Binotto said: "After Abu Dhabi, we had long discussions over how to improve because the aim is to restart the race as soon as possible in a safe manner."
The FIA immediately responded to the new Monza controversy by insisting that the Ricciardo failure was "not significant enough to require a red flag".
"The timing of the safety car period within a race has no bearing on this procedure," a spokesperson added. "Safety during the recovery process is our only priority."
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff agrees that the rules were simply followed correctly on Sunday, meaning that a re-think would involve looking again at the rules.
"It has to start with the question - do we definitely want the race to end under a green flag?" he said.
Ultimately, Verstappen's fifth win on the trot means his 116 point lead is basically now unassailable.
"Now we only have to win one more time to secure the title," Marko admitted.
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If nothing else this shows how LH was robbed, still congrats to MV on getting WDC title number 1.5
Oh please, get over Abu Dhabi. Childish and unnecessary. Lewis lost, Mercedes made mistakes in that race as well. Vertapoen won, he did not cheat. You may have noticed, except for LH and Toto, , the world has not stopped revolving on it's axis and the sun still rises and sets. Love F1 racing but all the childishness has got to stop.
Bit sensitive, no one accused MV of cheating by the way.
Did not accuse him )MV) but definitely hint on it. Mercedes lost because of their decision not to pit when Red Bull did. It’s as simple as that. Stop accusing everyone else but the decision the team made. Same as Zandvoort 2022. By the way, I respect Lewis as much as Max.
Neutralized conclusions are extremely rare, so people shouldn't make a fuss when one happens every now & then.
Why can't they just change the rules to say no matter what there will 3 flying laps at the end of the safety car period if the safety car period ends within 3 laps of the end of the race. Job done?
You can’t just change rules because you don’t like the outcome. Or turn f1 into demolltion derby to please all the fans. This has become a real problem. Drivers and team principles complain if they don’t like the results, fans now want a say in how the race is performed, the media fuels everybody's discontentment.
People need to grow up and act like mature human beings.
You really have to be more open minded Susan. We should have different rules for each country, that Ferrari would have a better chance ay home!
I can't believe what people are saying just to favour their preferred drivers. On Sunday Max drove a stellar race, Charles would never had caught up with him.
The way I see it is the Italians just have to do a better job on clearing up the track! It took ages to recover that broken down McLaren! Just put one of those big cranes, like they had at Zandvoort down there.
As bitter as Toto and his daughter, TickTock TickTock
I thought safety was everything in F1? Riccardo’s car was stuck on the track and couldn’t be moved without a cherry picker. His car trouble came at a bad time but come on! The VSC and SC should be called for in this case. Sure it was unfortunate, but MV was going to win, Ferrari had a decent race without major screw ups and Russell proved again that he is better than her majesty. Stop with all this complaining and whining. F1 is becoming more of a soap opera then a great sporting event. All the former greats in this sport have to be cringing with embarrassment with these girlie like behaviors.
susan you are the voice of reason!!
This is surely about the spectacle and shouldn't be about people being bitter with petty feuds and name calling.
Did you see the cars driving past the reversing crane? Thoughts of Jules Bianchi came to my mind and I was extremely thankful that nothing like that happened. A red flag would have been best.
However, you are probably right that Max was going to win anyway, he's driven superbly this year and has finally matured in his driving. He's taken the leap to the next level. Charles is still a couple of seasons behind in his maturity I think.
I still think that a Grand Prix should never-ever finish behind a safety car or VSC, ruins the entire spectacle no matter who wins.
Mind you I also think they should bring back the spectacle of making the lead drivers actually overtake back markers instead of making back markers jump out of the way all the time.
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