Did you enjoy the race in Abu Dhabi? I think that apart from Max (who admittedly has enough ego for quite a few people) and the McLaren people, all the other Formula 1 people and fans, would have preferred the season to have already ended in Bahrain. It’s hard to even get excited about a sharp and smooth victory for Verstappen Wardball over Mercedes, when the chance of a fight during the race is almost the same as Monaco’s. Max won the race in the rankings and in the jump. This. From there, a mistake or mishap was required for him to lose. It’s clear to everyone that the money from Abu Dhabi is vital to Liberty, but heck, even when there is no crowd, do not try at least a different route, get rid of the chicane of 5-6 turns, and add a possible detour point into the pre-alignment hairpin?!?
Verstappen Wardbull’s constant threat to Mercedes at the end of the season, when in fact the championships were decided, was postponed this year to the final race. More than that, many would say that it also took a weakened Lewis Hamilton to achieve the result, but the bitter truth is that Mercedes has long been focused on next season, if not the 2022 planning revolution. Work hard towards the big bang. 2021 is a strange remnant of the current season as a result of the Corona and the only team forced to invest in development for it is Ferrari, but it happened because of the dismal decisions made with the car of 2019. Camillari’s retirement may be related to this, but any such upheaval in management shocks Ferrari more than any other team . Anyway, Red Bull must break this vicious circle against Mercedes and 2022 is designed just for that.
Max Verstappen is the race driver of course. The route in Abu Dhabi emphasizes acceleration and braking, but also the delicate and sophisticated aerodynamic adjustment that allows the tires to be properly maintained for a single stop. Once the cars are traveling in close proximity, the linkage is damaged and not only can it not be bypassed, but the wear increases. All of this of course was irrelevant to Max, who made no mistake and when Red Bull put him in the safety car (the virtual one that became real) in the tenth lap, the strategic mistake was also avoided (Ferrari got on that uncertain mine). In this respect, there may have been better driving displays, but all one has to do is compare Verstappen to an album to understand, that there is a reason why everything seems so easy for Max. It’s hard to love the man’s personality and he’s undoubtedly an aggressive driver (though there is an improvement), but I just can not understand those who claim that this is not a lift. It’s like claiming the earth is flat. Leaving the evidence in the races, the Red Bull management is one of the toughest and most professional. They are exposed to data we do not know, and their attitude (and that of the rest of the pedagogy) to Lurstafen is like the attitude that Senna or Schumacher had. Better attitude to Hamilton, because Max’s future is ahead of him, for many years and championships.
Flying forward
If we go back to Hamilton, I think there is a hit back to his stress, deep reasons and not just that he went crazy in his isolation. There is no simple pressure in Formula 1, even on such a dominant champion. Why do you ask? Well, the obvious reason is that Mercedes hold almost all the good cards and Toto made the move with Russell Basahir, who revealed Hamilton’s hand. The irreplaceable driver has not yet been born; Neither Hamilton, nor Verstappen, nor anyone in the modern era in which the driver’s contribution to performance has diminished so much. This is not the time of Panjio, not even of Clark / Stuart.
If Hamilton is falteringly finishing his most dominant championship season (and certainly not his most impressive – 2008, 2018), then Botas is finishing it tooth and nail. This is dead man walking. I do not know if its status can be restored in a Mercedes or even a Paddock. When a driver’s self-confidence is so broken, his abilities are damaged on a kind of slippery slope. I really think Butas drove better than he does today. This is the price paid by members of the Hamilton or Verstappen team. The need to constantly function at the top of the ability and take advantage of every quarter opportunity and not make any mistakes. I repeat that I completely believe in Rosberg that once he managed to scrape the championship away from Hamilton, he could not find the energy to continue at that level. This is the real difference between the biggest, the others, even if they have a championship. The ability to live for years, in the sacrifice and asceticism required for such a function. Look at Hamilton’s life. All the nonsense if the clothes and the jet set are meant to fill the fact that he has no life beyond Formula 1. He has no relationship and no children. If who is comforted at the time of the wolves at night? With Roscoe …
The most gratifying thing for me personally, was McLaren’s winning third place in the manufacturers’ championship. When a Ferrari fan says such a thing, it is a sign that something very serious is happening here. Of course, things are said “not from Haman’s love, but from Mordechai’s hatred” (although it is difficult not to develop warm feelings for McLaren after the difficult seasons and of course with Saines and Norris). The reference, of course, is to the required justice in that the Racing Point Group will earn as little as possible from the moral (and legal) offense of copying last year’s Mercedes (some would say: receiving it from Mercedes in a deal). In a revised season, the FIA and the rest of the teams would not have gone over it quietly, but under the existential threat that hovered over many teams last year (including McLaren even for example), all things worked out, including the secret deal with Ferrari. At the end of the day justice is done. Racing Point did not win third place and Ferrari suffered shame all season, including of course in Abu Dhabi.
If I’ve already referred to the Ferrari, then when Keller finally executes the right strategy in the rankings, a safety car arrives that destroys everything. Ferrari tried to go against everyone’s strategy, but were unsuccessful. I think Ferrari’s performance in Abu Dhabi explains a bit of what it takes for Meckler to get the podiums he brought this year. The Ferrari is the sixth fastest car (in fact, even Raikkonen beat them in Abu Dhabi – another driving that did not get the attention it deserved!). At least the wrong strategy and screwed-up track, allowed Raspberry to demonstrate beautiful defensive skills in the last race for the Scuderia.
A map will be vacated to summarize this season rule soon. A season that was one of the strangest in the history of the championship.