5 laps to go. MV can't get past LH so attempts to take him out. He ends up totalling his own car and is a DNF, but LH somehow manages to nurse his damaged car back to the pits. It takes an age to fix, but he finally rejoins the race, in last place with 3 laps to go, but on the final lap, posts the fastest lap to time to take the extra point and win the Championship
You can only score a point for fastest lap if you are within the top 10
After multiple incidents throughout the race, there were only 9 other cars still running
I wouldn’t want to be relying on Bottas to do anything other than lose places at the start personally
I wouldn’t want to be relying on Bottas to do anything other than lose places at the start personally
He hasn't really helped Lewis much in the last 4 or 5 races, doesn't seem to have that bit between his teeth when it comes to race day. He went backwards in the last race and took an age to get back up the field again, leaving 3rd place right on the last 10 meters. If he pulled his finger out earlier and got back into P3 with at least 5 laps to go he could of got within the 15 seconds of MV to finish 2nd and take the Max's crash advantage away for the final race.
In hindsight, should Mercedes have put George in the number 2 seat for last 5 races?
Also didn't earlier in the season didn't VB allow Lewis pass to chase down the lead but he couldn't so Lewis handed the place back near end of race? how costly that could be and you know Red Ball would never of done that with Max.
I'd like to see the stewards announce that the penalty for causing a collision in this race is a 2-point deduction instead of the usual 5 or 10 second penalty.
Then, if MV deliberately runs into LH coz he knows if they both fail to finish he will be champ, this might not be an available strategy.
In the last few races where MV has been leading the champ his risk-taking appetite has been high as he knows a double DNF favoured him - need to redress this.
I'd like to see the stewards announce that the penalty for causing a collision in this race is a 2-point deduction instead of the usual 5 or 10 second penalty.
I'd like to see the stewards announce that the penalty for causing a collision in this race is a 2-point deduction instead of the usual 5 or 10 second penalty.
Then, if MV deliberately runs into LH coz he knows if they both fail to finish he will be champ, this might not be an available strategy.
In the last few races where MV has been leading the champ his risk-taking appetite has been high as he knows a double DNF favoured him - need to redress this.
It was done with Michael Schumacher in 1997 when he lost all his championship points for a deliberate crash to stop title rival in final race, however we have had the Prost & Senna championship crashes that didn't result in points deduction, so who knows
If Max does pull a stunt like this to stop Lewis by causing a crash and Max isn't deducted points, the Lewis fans will go into meltdown (that be me).
Not sure I’d want to leave it up to the stewards though - it’s worth noting that in the Schumacher incident the stewards didn’t issue any penalty at all - it was the FIA who retrospectively issued the points penalty.
Please let’s not have the situation where we don’t know who has won the Driver’s Championship when the race finishes.
So Masi has confirmed in the race notes that they can deduct points for unsportsmanlike behaviour? Seems like a pretty clear signal to Max.