MUST WATCH: Unbelievable drama as Max Verstappen wins F1 title on last lap

Red Bull have undoubtedly closed the gap to Mercedes with their car. On their day, anyone can win, Ocon, Ricciardo and Perez all proved that. How many races would Russell, LeClerc, Sainz or Lando have won in the Red Bull? Max is clearly a great racer, noone on the grid disputes that but in that race he was nowhere and was gifted the win. There was a lot of talk, even by Alonso, about his qualifying lap in Jeddah being incredible….until he hit the wall. That seems to have been forgotten in all of this, he pushes too far, again and again. Had that been Lewis, it’s likely he would have pulled it off because he has more control.

Weren’t they equal on points prior to the race.

Max is the better racer, for him to be challenging the Mercedes at all proves that. Mercedes has by far the best car on the grid. Dont believe me? Bottas isnt the most gifted driver on the grid but still manages to pull off 10 wins in the car. How many would Russell, LeClerc, Sainz, Norris, Ricciardo, Kimi, Seb, Fernando have won in that same car? No, Hamilton's not sooking. Much. He just didnt want to go to the annual drivers dinner for a change and the big Austrian (who also didnt go - # istandbyLewis - also indulged him by saying he hope he doesnt quit F1 now. Seriously? If he quits now, it will be because he sees the writing on the wall with Russell next year. Nah, Im no huge Verstappen fan and Im hopeful there will be more even racing next year between more teams, but Hamilton had a chance to shine after that race and let the team deal with the ugly protests et al. He didn't.

If they had no time they should've finished the race under SC. That's what the rules say. It's not just about luck. Masi blatantly manipulated the rules. That's the issue

I’ve not seen Lando Norris say that letting 5 cars through was not unprecedented; I’ve seen him say that letting cars unlap themselves or not changes from race to race (it is at the discretion of the race director), but I can’t recall only some lapped cars being allowed to unlap themselves in an F1 race before. But who is the race director to say that the battle between 1st and 2nd is more important than the battle between 2nd and 3rd? Surely Sainz should have been given the same chance to fight for the place ahead of him as Verstappen had?

You're a bit out of your depth Son. FIA runs F1, not the other way around. We saw how Wolff and Horner were continually trying to interfere, eg Wolff going "No Safety car Michael, whatever, no safety car". If that's not trying to influence a decision what is. On the lapped cars, Masi stated when quizzed that firstly he is dealing with the Latifi accident and getting the track clear for racing. It was common sense to make the decisions he did. No Christmas hampers for Latifi from Mercedes this year. Hamilton got incredibly lucky several times during the season, and this time he got unlucky. He'll carry on. They're both fantastic drivers and we saw Perez not afraid to have a go either. It was interesting before the race that the majority of drivers interviewed wanted Max to win the Championship. He is obviously liked and respected on the grid. Some did add that really it was for something different.

According to Lando Norris letting 5 cars through is not unprecedented. It happens, changes most every race. The drivers are all used to it. It wasn't a big deal and most obviously it was to let the title contenders fight it out without the riff raff to get in the way.

Am I correct that the race official said no cars are to uncap, and then after Verstappen pitted & got new tyres, changed his mind and said all those cars between HAMILTON & Verstappen are to unlap themselves. And when Mercedes complained his repsonse was “let’s go racing”. Contrived the finish. Now let’s just forget the rest of the year and just go to the last lap.

Because the world champion was decided by an official. Verstappen was given the race therefore the title. The series of events is ridiculous……..it gave Verstappen the race. And I watch a lot of different sports. Most if not all actually trying to make their game results correct & accurate through technology. All sports have controversy, but when it’s an official that creates the controversy & the result then it’s clearly wrong.

What was questionable about his last engine swap?

There is also the small matter that even if no cars had been released, Lewis wasn't 100% certain to win anyway as they were still racing.

Why? Because there was a controversial and exciting end to a controversial and exciting season? You mustn’t watch any sports then, because every sport has its own controversies.

I have looked at the jurisdiction of the CAS. You’ll note I didn’t say that Mercedes can’t appeal to CAS (although there are a couple of appeals to be made first), but that they won’t win at CAS. The reason nearly all CAS appeals are about doping, or eligibility, or disciplinary matters is because cases about in game decisions (ie refereeing or umpiring or match official decisions, such as the one last night), simply don’t get appealed. Most people involved in sport understand that those kind of judgement calls are not going to be overruled in court. And I have also looked at the FIA Regs. IMO there is enough vagueness and allowance for the discretion of the race director in relation to the operation of the safety car to mean this appeal will not succeed.

I think you need to review the remit of CAS, Mark. Look at the end of the day, CAS can void the race result...however it would still favour Verstappen because he was the championship leader prior to the race. Last night was stone cold wrong.

One of the reasons I don’t watch motor racing & F1.

Well, there were two issues with the releasing of some lapped cars: 1) There is nothing in the regulations which says you can only release some cars. It is all lapped cars or none. The Maclaren between Verstappen and Sainz wasn't allowed to unlap itself, and so Sainz was prevented from racing for 2nd place. 2) The regulations clearly state that after the last lapped car goes past the safety car the safety car may pull in at the end of the following lap. The release of the 5 lapped cars between Hamilton and Verstappen and the safety car pulling in all happened on lap 57 of 58. The safety car should have stayed out for the last lap and then pulled into the pits at the last corner. But people would say the stewards were favouring Hamilton, then! What I think the stewards should have done, which would have been allowable under the regulations, is pulled the safety car in at the end of lap 56 with the lapped cars still between Hamilton and Verstappen. There would then be 2 laps of racing where Verstappen (on new tyres) would have to get past the 5 lapped cars (being shown blue flags) and get after Hamilton.

"As it was when Maradona scored a goal with his hand. Or Italy dived in the penalty box and knocked Australia out of the World Cup. No, that's cheating and getting away with it. Or Craig McDermott was caught behind off his helmet in Adelaide 93 with 1 run to win. That's the rules. This was a weird combination of rules and incorrect interpretation/implementation. Not letting the cars unlap themselves would have by far been the best outcome. Max, on new tyres, would have had a lap to overtake the cars that Lewis overtook during the race, and then have a crack at Lewis on his old tyres. Letting the lapped cars go but only between Lewis and Max is unprecedented I believe, and not in accordance with the procedure which is to allow all cars to unlap themselves under the safety car. That would have meant there would not have been one last racing lap. It should have been all or nothing. Ending the race under the safety car would have been a fair outcome also because that's what the rules say! Let's be honest, Lewis was superior on the medium and hard compounds throughout the race, racking up umpteen fastest laps, he was a man on a mission and out of sight. That another drivers' crash in an unrelated part of the circuit caused him to lose the WC is inexplicable. This was ultimately a dubious outcome which will generate a lot of press and scrutiny for years to come but more importantly for F1 and Liberty, provide unbelievable hype and interest in the 2022 season.

"Buying a seat in F1 is indicative of what the sport has become." To be fair, F1 has had paid seats back to when I started watching in the 70s. Many teams had a top driver and a pay driver who's sponsorship helped pay for the team. Even Senna was, to some extents, a pay driver as Banca National in Brazil sponsored him so that his team didn't have to bear all the costs of his wages.

I don't think Mercedes win at the CAS. This was a judgement call made by a race official on the day. CAS doesn't (and shouldn't) overturn refereeing or umpiring calls - and this was the equivalent of such a call. CAS cases are nearly all about doping cases, or disciplinary matters (player suspensions), or about eligibility to compete (eg Caster Semenya) etc.

Yes, true. But If they’d made the call to let them all through earlier, we wouldn’t have ended up with only a handful of cars getting through. Well, they are the rules aren't they. If it meant the season was going to end under a safety car then that is the fairest result, because it is the one that followed the rules. Making up rules to contrive a final lap race is fundamentally unfair. Honestly, the best solution is for the pair to share the championship. Verstappen was a worthy winner and it's not his fault. Hamilton would have been the winner if not for incompetent stewardship. Share it.