Hamilton & Mercedes snub FIA prize-giving event?
Dec.16 - Mercedes is on the cusp of accepting defeat in the 2021 world championship by dropping its intention to appeal the outcome of the Abu Dhabi finale.
That is the current strong rumour on the grapevine as the Thursday deadline looms large - but Red Bull chief Christian Horner isn't locking it in yet.
"I don't think it's official until it's official," he said. "But Max is world champion until someone says otherwise."
It comes as the FIA determined at its Paris meeting of the World Motor Sport Council on Wednesday that the controversy surrounding Sunday's race is "tarnishing the image of the championship" as well as Max Verstappen's celebrations.
FIA president Jean Todt proposed that a "detailed analysis and clarification exercise for the future" will now take place.
The outcome is likely to be that team bosses are no longer allowed to lobby under-fire F1 race director Michael Masi during races, with those discussions then broadcast live.
Verstappen does not deny that Nicholas Latifi's crash, which triggered the late safety car, his pitstop for fresh tyres, and Masi's last-lap decision to clear the lapped cars and re-start the race, was "lucky".
"Absolutely, the win was very lucky," said the Dutchman as he celebrated with his team at Red Bull's Milton Keynes base.
"But we also have been very unlucky throughout the season, otherwise the championship would have been decided way earlier.
"It was very painful for Lewis - and I would also be hurt in the way he lost it," Verstappen added.
Lewis Hamilton is reportedly so unhappy that he may risk a hefty fine by snubbing the official FIA prize-giving gala on Thursday.
And De Telegraaf newspaper also claims Mercedes is refusing to make its Formula 1 and Formula E cars available for an official FIA photo session at the event at Le Louvre.
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The FIA needs to get it's act together and prevent the likes of Maxi taking the law into his own hands and bend the FIA regs to meet his own ends. What with the farcical so called race in Belgium whereby the drivers had to follow the safety car for so many laps without being able to overtake or race and then declare half points can be awarded then with the debacle at Abu Dhabi. The sport is being brought into disrepute with no-one other than the FIA to blame. After over 40 years of following the sport I am so disgusted that I shall no longer be following it and I am sure that there are plenty of other serious fans that feel the same way. So come on FIA get your act together, you cannot in all fairness take the championship from max, but you could admit to your faults and declare joint world champions.
Said it before and I'll say it again, Toto (whose name is a brand of toilet in Japan!) is a whiny little bitch and Baby Lewie is disgusting - the way he treats his little dogsbody Angela - she struggles to carry his helmet and other gear as she runs behind him while he zips thru the pits on his children's razor scooter - how ungentlemanly - one wonders if the Queen saw any of that footage before making the whiner a "sir?"
Tired of Mercedes whiny and complaining when things don’t go their way. This has been the first F1 season that has been fun to watch instead of the usual precession of Mercedes and everybody else. If Lewis doesn’t show, it will speak volumes as to who really is and it won’t play well with fans. Lewis is a great driver, driving a great car but at the end of the character and sportsmanship is the most admired qualities. Use Vettel as an example.
Well, Sir Spamalot and Toto ditched the Suare in Paris. I'm hoping that the new Pres of the FIA smack's Hammy with a big 'ol fine - say, $100,000. Not that it makes much difference when you're worth $285,000,000. He might even tone down his LGBTQ+/BLM snivels - especially in countries that don't give a gnat's ass about that kind of thing.
I have witnessed Hammy diving for the corner and pushing a multitude of drivers off the course - does he get spanked? Nope. He egregious lack of sportsmanship cost Max three races, and does Hammy get a penalty - nope.
Maxo-mundo goes deep on a corner, Hammy goes wide and cuts the corner and drives away out front, and David Croft and Brundle loose their sh_t, Toto's bellowing at Masi and the orange-clad Max fans are about to lynch ANYBODY supporting the Merc's.
I hate to be like this, but it may be time for FIA to shut down the oh-so-inclusive bullsh_t allowing teams to communicate with race management. Shut-up and race. Quit complaining. You traded paint on overtaking? Boo-hoo. Make room as you're supposed to, oh and give the position back when you take the hypotenuse, ya dope.
And all the radio chatter - I thought that was supposed to be limited this year - apparently not. Take away the radios. or at least throttle it back. Gawd almighty.
BUT - after all the gnashing of teeth - it was an exciting season. Got to see some genuine racing in the middle of the pack. Look at the talent pool, at least three WDC driving second-string cars and giving it everything they have. Fantastic stuff.
With the 2022 rule changes, there will be a whole lot more overtaking in corners and closer racing overall with the huge aero changes.
There won't be a whole lot of room, or time, for prima donna's like Sir Spamalot to blurt out "he pushed me off the track" every time he gets overtaken or someone gets too close. I reckon (hope) that that ship has sailed, but we'll see.
Tired of Mercedes whiny and complaining when things don’t go their way. This has been the first F1 season that has been fun to watch instead of the usual precession of Mercedes and everybody else. If Lewis doesn’t show, it will speak volumes as to who really is and it won’t play well with fans. Lewis is a great driver, driving a great car but at the end of the day character and sportsmanship is the most admired qualities. Use Vettel as an example.
The only certainty in this is that every team bar non would be losing their minds if what happened to Mercedes’ happened to their team. It is simply staged entertainment. Plenty of people love wrestling but t least they know it’s managed. F1 fans must have a lower IQ. Probably something to do with all the energy drinks. It’s been ruined and half of you love it.
It’s a good thing she is paid well. The optics are sooooo bad. I’m sure Lewis doesn’t intentionally mean to demean this woman but …
Like a spoilt brat he snubs the ceremony BUT
Todt refused to be drawn on whether Hamilton and Wolff would be penalised for not attending the prize giving ceremony, as is required of them in the sporting regulations.
Now who doesn't care about the regulations?
The reason for Toto's exaggerated reaction is clear. They have simply failed with the strategy, they failed to take in LH and lose track position and then easily have been able to carry out an overtaking of MV. Now he is trying to focus all the attention on the incident itself instead of their tactical mistakes.
Correct, and no bonus for Toto or Lewis year either
Deflection -i think its called as some poster mentioned months ago
Good for them.
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