SET Shootout China VS The USA

sns,

I can understand race control wanting the race and the season championship to be decided by actual racing, hence the bending of the rules and conventional practice.  What they should have done, to be fair to all the drivers, and to conclude the race with a lot of green flag racing to the end, is red flag the race and let everyone pit and get fresh tires.  Hamilton would have been in the lead, as he should be, and Verstappen, if he stayed close enough, would have DRS after two laps would have been able to attempt a pass.  I think Masi botched the call by not doing this.

 What they should have done, to be fair to all the drivers, and to conclude the race with a lot of green flag racing to the end, is red flag the race and let everyone pit and get fresh tires.  Hamilton would have been in the lead, as he should be, and Verstappen, if he stayed close enough, would have DRS after two laps would have been able to attempt a pass.  I think Masi botched the call by not doing this.

What he said...

Toto was wrong for asking Masi not to send out a safety car when Latifi crashed but Christian was screaming at Masi to let the lapped cars pass the safety car. The very same cars that Lewis had to pass to get that 12 second lead. Past races always finished in the order they were in prior to a crash with the lead driver put at a disadvantage from allowing all the trailing cars to close any gaps.

If the race ended on a safety car, so be it. Done all the time, until now. Look at Max winning that race in the pouring rain with only 2 laps completed and getting points for it. That was a joke.

Masi changed his decision after being screamed at by Red Bull to let the lapped cars pass out of the way letting Max drag race Lewis on much fresher tires without the 12 second lead Lewis had before the crash. 

Max's teammate, Perez, apologized to Hamilton. Russell said it was unacceptable. Riccardo said it was a f*cked up thing to do. Other drivers said it was done for TV to make it more exciting and likening it to NASCAR (which is the ultimate insult).

From now on, no one can talk directly to the Race Control but to an intermediary instead, who will relay the gist of the complaint to Masi, who's been doing some odd things all season. Not the way to run a race.

All the best,
Nonoise

Nonoise,

I agree.  Of all the possible alternatives, the one chosen by Masi made the least sense.  If there was not enough time for ALL the backmarkers to come around the leaders before the restart, he could have left them all in place, including the four between Verstappen and Hamilton.  That would have made for an interesting race because Verstappen would be able to clear them relatively quickly, which would have given him a chance to pass, but not given him such an easy path to a victory that was unearned. 

I still think red flag and either a standing restart or a safety car restart with more than one racing lap remaining would have made the most sense.

I still think red flag and either a standing restart or a safety car restart with more than one racing lap remaining would have made the most sense.

2022 F1 season will be fun!

Moto GP and WSBK will be even better...

I am a 2 wheel bot.