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F1 2021

FIA issues points deduction warning ahead of F1 title decider​

FIA Formula 1 race director Michael Masi has reminded Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton they could be hit with a points deduction if they drive unfairly in the title decider. Verstappen and Hamilton arrive in Abu Dhabi level on points at the end of an astonishing 2021 season. They have collided three times and had a spate of recent incidents, including several run-ins in last weekend’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix alone that resulted in three sanctions for Verstappen. If both drivers finish in the top 10 it is a winner-takes-all finale, which means any advantage gained by causing a collision, forcing another driver off the track, or performing an illegal overtake could decide the title.

Several penalties are specifically outlined in the sporting regulations but these are mainly in-race ones or specific event punishments, such as time penalties, disqualification, suspensions and grid penalties. But the stewards can also impose any penalty available in the FIA International Sporting Code and this includes the option of deducting points. In his usual pre-round event notes, Masi has opted to include references to key regulations relating to fair driving and the consequences drivers may face. It comes amid scrutiny over the FIA’s handling of various incidents and how that contributed to the contentious Saudi Arabian GP. Masi’s notes included the following regulation reminders: “Any infringement of the principles of fairness in competition, behaviour in an unsportsmanlike manner or attempt to influence the result of a competition in a way that is contrary to sporting ethics. “Any infringement of the principles of fairness in competition, behaviour in an unsportsmanlike manner or attempt to influence the result of a competition in a way that is contrary to sporting ethics. For all the FIA championships, cups, challenges, trophies or series, the stewards may also decide to impose the following penalties: Suspension for one or more competitions, withdrawal of points for the championship, cup, challenge, trophy, series. Points should not be deducted separately from Drivers and Competitors, save in exceptional circumstances.”


Red Bull driver Verstappen leads the championship on countback as he has nine wins to Hamilton’s eight. He will be champion if neither driver scores points this weekend, so an in-race penalty should he cause a collision that ends Hamilton’s race would not deny him the title. The advantage of Red Bull and Mercedes this season also means a small time penalty for either is unlikely to make much difference to their result, as they are often comfortably clear of the rest of the field. So if Hamilton is deemed responsible for a collision that ends Verstappen’s race, he would only need to finish in the top 10 to win the title which an in-race time penalty is unlikely to prevent.
 

Bottas received a rival offer after signing for Alfa​

Valtteri Bottas has revealed another team approached him after he had signed for Alfa Romeo – but offered him only half as much money! The Finn’s exit from Mercedes was announced in early September, between the Dutch and Italian Grands Prix, with George Russell confirmed as his successor the following day. It came as no surprise that coinciding with the statement of his departure after five years at Mercedes was news that Bottas was joining Alfa Romeo, with whom he had been strongly linked in the weeks beforehand. But if another team had their way, there could have been another twist in the tale – because the approach from the Swiss-based outfit was not the last one received by the 32-year-old.

Speaking in Supla.fi’s ‘Direct Talk About Me’ podcast, and quoted by Iltalehti.fi, Bottas would not say which team had contacted him but that it was one who had done slightly better than Alfa Romeo in recent years. Not that he was interested, especially given the salary that was on the table. “Like, two days after I signed with Alfa, I got a call saying ‘we want you and we can pay half what Alfa pays’,” revealed Bottas. “I said, you’re a bit late now. I’m still happy with this option. I think it will be a good one.” Bottas is likely to leave Mercedes having won five straight Constructors’ Championships, for they are 28 points ahead of Red Bull with one race of the 2021 season remaining.

However, he has missed out on his ultimate aim of beating his team-mate Lewis Hamilton to the Drivers’ title, and it will require a huge improvement from Alfa Romeo under the new F1 regulations for that goal to be fulfilled during the three-year contract he has signed. “Of course, my own main ambition didn’t come true,” said Bottas. “I tried my best. It was certainly not a stroke of luck, but it was also very difficult to beat a team-mate who is probably the best in the history of F1. There are things to be proud of here. Maybe in hindsight you appreciate them even more. It could have been worse.” But at least Bottas will be leaving what he described as “quite a pressure chamber” of an environment at Mercedes to take on the role of team leader at Alfa Romeo alongside rookie Guanyu Zhou. “I expect less pressure, even though I’m sure I’ll get more responsibility,” he added. “A lot of work has to be done to get the team to a higher level.”
 
1%er said:

Bottas received a rival offer after signing for Alfa​

Valtteri Bottas has revealed another team approached him after he had signed for Alfa Romeo – but offered him only half as much money! The Finn’s exit from Mercedes was announced in early September, between the Dutch and Italian Grands Prix, with George Russell confirmed as his successor the following day. It came as no surprise that coinciding with the statement of his departure after five years at Mercedes was news that Bottas was joining Alfa Romeo, with whom he had been strongly linked in the weeks beforehand. But if another team had their way, there could have been another twist in the tale – because the approach from the Swiss-based outfit was not the last one received by the 32-year-old.

Speaking in Supla.fi’s ‘Direct Talk About Me’ podcast, and quoted by Iltalehti.fi, Bottas would not say which team had contacted him but that it was one who had done slightly better than Alfa Romeo in recent years. Not that he was interested, especially given the salary that was on the table. “Like, two days after I signed with Alfa, I got a call saying ‘we want you and we can pay half what Alfa pays’,” revealed Bottas. “I said, you’re a bit late now. I’m still happy with this option. I think it will be a good one.” Bottas is likely to leave Mercedes having won five straight Constructors’ Championships, for they are 28 points ahead of Red Bull with one race of the 2021 season remaining.

However, he has missed out on his ultimate aim of beating his team-mate Lewis Hamilton to the Drivers’ title, and it will require a huge improvement from Alfa Romeo under the new F1 regulations for that goal to be fulfilled during the three-year contract he has signed. “Of course, my own main ambition didn’t come true,” said Bottas. “I tried my best. It was certainly not a stroke of luck, but it was also very difficult to beat a team-mate who is probably the best in the history of F1. There are things to be proud of here. Maybe in hindsight you appreciate them even more. It could have been worse.” But at least Bottas will be leaving what he described as “quite a pressure chamber” of an environment at Mercedes to take on the role of team leader at Alfa Romeo alongside rookie Guanyu Zhou. “I expect less pressure, even though I’m sure I’ll get more responsibility,” he added. “A lot of work has to be done to get the team to a higher level.”
Click to expand...
I wonder which team he won’t mention, who were “slightly better than Alfa” in recent years and who might have had a 2022 vacancy?

Alpha tauri? They don’t normally look outside the red bull driver pool.
Haas maybe have beaten Alfa in some previous years, Williams not.

So who does that leave? Alpine...? But surely they had confirmed Alonso and Ocon at that stage.

Aston Martin unhappy with vettel?? They didn’t confirm him for 2022 until quite late, so I guess that makes most sense.
 
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souljacker said:
That is great news. My stream for the last race hiccuped at the first restart. It's normally been pretty good to till then.

I'm going to miss the last bit of the race anyway. Daughters birthday party. Really hard to get out of...
Click to expand...
I never forgave the mother of my child for insisting that I attend my son’s second birthday party and meant that I missed Craig Bellamy’s debut for Cardiff City.
 

The Other F1 Championship Battles (looking for different things to bet on ;) )​

For fifth place in the Drivers’ Championship. Charles Leclerc currently holds the position with 158 points, but Lando Norris is just four points behind, and Carlos Sainz Jr. is just 4.5 points behind Norris. With these drivers making up “the best of the rest” after Red Bull and Mercedes, we’re likely to see a spicy fight between these three drivers.

The battle for 10th place in the Drivers’ Championship lies between Alpine teammates Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon. Alonso currently has 77 points to Ocon’s 72, and there’s still a chance that either driver could nab that final place in the top 10.

The drivers who are currently ranked 11th or lower, since they’re all within a few points of one another. Whether or not that actually happens, though, remains to be seen; these are the drivers who often struggle to score points, so it would take a very good day for one of these drivers to overtake the competition. But at this point in the championship, I’ll go ahead and say that anything can happen.

There’s just one team that has yet to score a single point this year: Haas. At this point, only grid-wide disaster would enable them to overtake Alfa Romeo for ninth in the championship, but the team will likely be desperate for any points at all to end the year on a high.

A close title battle between drivers from two different teams generally means that the Constructors’ Championship will also be close, and this year, it is. Mercedes currently holds 587.5 points, and Red Bull Racing sits just 28 points back. One one-two finish for Red Bull and a truly awful day for Mercedes, and Red Bull could easily nab the crown.

Most of the rest of the teams are currently sitting where they’re likely to finish, since it would be a big ask for these teams to score enough points to move forward. Theoretically, AlphaTauri could score the 29 points it needs to jump ahead of Alpine, but it isn’t likely to happen. Similarly, Alfa Romeo could make up the 10 points it needs to overtake Williams, but it would be pretty damn difficult.
 
Ted Kravitz has a brain fart

Mercedes may consider a calculated gamble for Lewis Hamilton to avoid an Abu Dhabi collision with Max Verstappen, says Sky F1’s Ted Kravitz. Hamilton and Verstappen go into the final scene of a captivating World Championship battle level on points, but with the Dutchman ahead on countback thanks to one more race win than his rival this season. Several pundits have expressed fears that rather than being won cleanly, the title race may end up as previous clashes between these protagonists did at Silverstone and Monza with one or both of them crashing out. If Hamilton did not finish the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Verstappen would be champion unless the stewards adjudged something to be unfair and took the decision to dock points. However, there could be a way for Mercedes to circumnavigate the potential of a collision, by trying to ensure Hamilton prevails purely through pace and does not even necessarily find himself alongside his Red Bull rival at any stage.

That would be by fitting a new engine in Hamilton’s W12, incurring a five-place grid penalty but potentially having a car that was easily the class of the field as it was at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix where the reigning champion came through to win comfortably from 10th on the grid. The 36-year-old Briton then followed up with further victories in Qatar and Saudi Arabia. “What do Mercedes fear most? Max Verstappen taking out Lewis Hamilton and winning the championship that way,” said Kravitz on Sky Sports. “I don’t really see there are any other things they have to fear. They have the package that seems to be quickest at the moment, they have done the hat-trick in the last three races and they always have the option of putting a new power unit in. [An engine change] is possible because then what do Red Bull fear most? A Mercedes the like of which Lewis Hamilton had in Brazil, which was nigh-on unbeatable. Not my words – the words of Christian Horner, the Red Bull team principal.”

However, it was then put to Kravitz that track position has tended to be king at Yas Marina at least until the changes to the circuit that have been made this year. “That is risk No 1, if you take a fresh power unit with the attendant five-place grid penalty,” added Kravitz. “Risk No 2 is that you start in sixth or seventh at best if you’re Lewis Hamilton and that’s the middle of the midfield carbon-fibre zone anything can happen in that wave. But mitigating that, the benefits are that obviously it gives Mercedes a fresh power unit, and that Mercedes engine when it is fresh is absolutely mega-powerful, more than it would be now it has done two-and-a-half races. And secondly, it separates out any possibility of Lewis and Max coming together at the first corner and potentially for the rest of the race as well. Lewis could get to second or third, pit in or out of sequence, undercut or overcut, and they might not ever meet if they were to separate them out like that. Hamilton, with the pace advantage from that fresh engine…it might be in the back of Mercedes’ head. I don’t think it is, it’s a possibility, but I think they will see what happens in free practice on Friday. If it looks like Verstappen’s got an advantage, they might just think about that fresh power unit.”
 

Abu Dhabi changes ‘will help Mercedes’ Horner​

Max Verstappen deserves to win his first drivers’ title on Sunday, according to two-time world champion Fernando Alonso. The 40-year-old Spaniard was asked about his preferred picks for the two 2021 world championships, which will be decided in Abu Dhabi at the very end of one of the closest and most intense contests in Formula 1 history. “Mercedes has had the better car lately,” said the Alpine driver. “That is why they deserve the constructors’ title. But Max should become world champion of drivers,” Alonso added. “He is currently one step ahead of all of us. The qualifying lap in Jeddah was really something very special. It wasn’t Red Bull, it was Max.”

However, most in the paddock agree that both Verstappen, 24, and seven time world champion Hamilton both deserve to take home the big 2021 trophy. “Whoever has the most points after the race deserves it,” retiring 2007 world champion Kimi Raikkonen said on Thursday. "But if I could choose, I would go for Red Bull because it would be something different.”

All eyes are also on the newly-modified Abu Dhabi layout, with the changes intended to make it easier for drivers to race wheel-to-wheel. However, as it is now generally faster, “That will help Mercedes” according to Red Bull team boss Christian Horner. Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz just wants the contest to be fair, as he hit out at the raging and highly polarised debate on social media following the controversial head-to-head in Saudi Arabia last weekend. “I watched the whole race again on Sunday evening in Saudi Arabia because I wanted to see what people were so upset about,” said the Spaniard. “What it showed me is how much is at stake but also how good they both are. So I don’t think it’s nice that the fight on social media is so polarising. We are seeing a duel at the highest level,” Sainz insists.
 
Abu Dhabi FP1
Max Verstappen drew first blood in his F1 title-deciding weekend with Lewis Hamilton around a revamped Abu Dhabi Grand Prix track. Since last year's visit, and the constant complaints about its sterile nature and the lack of overtaking opportunities, the Yas Marina Circuit has undergone a major reprofiling. What was once turn seven, that was approached by a slow chicane at turns five and six, has been replaced by a wide, fast hairpin that leads on to the long back straight. The major change has seen the removal of four 90-degree corners, with a sweeping, 'parabolica-esque' corner in its place that also has a five per cent positive camber. The final changes have been made around the hotel section, often criticised due to the slow nature of the corners. The radius of the corners under the hotel, and the penultimate corner, have all been opened up to create a much faster and flowing section of track.

To appreciate the difference the changes have made, last year's leading FP1 time from Verstappen was a one minute 37.378s lap, meaning the circuit is now over 12 seconds faster as the Red Bull driver set the front-running pace again with a lap of 1:25.009s. Hamilton, who is level on points with Verstappen following an epic, see-saw season, had to settle for third quickest, with Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas splitting the duo. As the drivers quickly acclimatised to the track changes, it was Verstappen who set the initial benchmark time of 1:25.300s on the soft tyres. Hamilton followed up soon after with the fastest first sector and a personal best in the middle section, but a slow final sector saw him finish 0.055s down. Verstappen then set what proved to be the fastest lap of the hour-long session, and although Hamilton managed to close to just 0.033s down, the time was deleted for exceeding track limits in turn 16. That left Hamilton 0.346s behind Verstappen, with Bottas sandwiching the pair, just under two-tenths of a second down, with Sergio Perez in close attendance to the seven-time F1 champion.

The AlphaTauris of Yuki Tsunoda and Pierre Gasly, who are ending the campaign strongly given the pace of their cars, were fifth and seventh quickest, with Alpine's Fernando Alonso splitting the pair. Ferrari duo Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, along with Aston Martin's Sebastian Vettel, completed the top 10, with the latter just under a second behind Verstappen. McLaren pair Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo were off the pace in 12th and 16th, the latter ahead of Jack Aitken, the young Briton being given an FP1 outing with Williams in place of the departing George Russell who will be joining Mercedes next season.

Aitken finished 2.472s behind Verstappen, and almost eight-tenths off Ricciardo. At the rear, as to be expected, was Haas driver Nikita Mazepin, 3.296s down.

Practice 1 Results​

PosNameCarBest TimeGap Leader
1Max VerstappenRed Bull-Honda1m25.009s
2Valtteri BottasMercedes1m25.205s+0.196s
3Lewis HamiltonMercedes1m25.355s+0.346s
4Sergio PérezRed Bull-Honda1m25.363s+0.354s
5Yuki TsunodaAlphaTauri-Honda1m25.378s+0.369s
6Fernando AlonsoAlpine-Renault1m25.625s+0.616s
7Pierre GaslyAlphaTauri-Honda1m25.822s+0.813s
8Charles LeclercFerrari1m25.846s+0.837s
9Carlos Sainz Jr.Ferrari1m25.886s+0.877s
10Sebastian VettelAston Martin-Mercedes1m26.007s+0.998s
11Esteban OconAlpine-Renault1m26.025s+1.016s
12Lando NorrisMcLaren-Mercedes1m26.123s+1.114s
13Kimi RäikkönenAlfa Romeo-Ferrari1m26.189s+1.18s
14Antonio GiovinazziAlfa Romeo-Ferrari1m26.409s+1.4s
15Lance StrollAston Martin-Mercedes1m26.608s+1.599s
16Daniel RicciardoMcLaren-Mercedes1m26.676s+1.667s
17Jack AitkenWilliams-Mercedes1m27.481s+2.472s
18Nicholas LatifiWilliams-Mercedes1m27.487s+2.478s
19Mick SchumacherHaas-Ferrari1m27.698s+2.689s
20Nikita MazepinHaas-Ferrari1m28.305s+3.296s
 
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