Why do you insist on calling me crazy or mental at the start of every post? I'll gladly repond to disagreeing arguments, and I'll try to make my counter-arguments in a civilized manner, but I don't understand why you have the need to discuss ad hominem. Like everything else you write is fine. Either I disagree with your post, or I learn something new. I've already been mistaken about something earlier in this thread, I'm better off for being proved wrong. But calling me mental... for me it undermines the rest of your post. I'm not offended or anything, I'm just saying, your post would be so much better without the name-calling.
My point wasn't that I wanted the controversy, but that I wanted the race to end in a race, even if that last lap was a race because of a controversial call. Reading it back, I worded that weirdly, I apologize for that. A fair race as the last lap would be much preferrable, on that we agree fully. What I mean about Azerbaijan is that too tires were destroyed in what I'd call an unnatural way. Both on the straights (Stroll & Verstappen), for me that's not 'tires fail occasionally'. Pirelli were under a lot of scrutiny after that race. It was probably provoked by the reheating after the red flag, but for me that's not any better than the controversial call. That would be a 25(!) point-swing if Lewis didn't make a mistake on the re-start. That 18 points more than the Abu Dhabi thing. The other examples I kind of agree with you. My point is that there have been a lot of situations this year that could've had a big impact, some of them were down to racing incidents, some of them were down to bad refereeing. As late as Qatar, Max let Lewis overtake him twice over the same incident as far as I could tell, and still got a 5-second penalty which was harsh. I could probably find a lot more examples. (Been a hell of a season, am I right?)
I think Masi would make the same call if Lewis pitted, and Max stayed out. Honestly, I do. I think the Horner call affected him, but I think the massive expectation of the race would play a factor in not wanting to end under safety car. I agree it was likely Max would be able to overtake, but Masi cannot let whether one car has pitted and the other haven't be a factor in his decision-making. Red Bull took a huge risk pitting in the first place, expecting the cars to be unlapped, and Lewis did not pit. He probably wanted to keep track position, but he would have soft vs hards. That decision to stay out is as much a part of racing as everything you mention in the first part of your post. At the time of the crash, Mercedes wouldn't know for certain the race would end under a safety car. They took a risk, like Red Bull did, and none of that should factor into the race director's decision-making. Considering the number of laps left, I'll agree that Mercedes' choice was the safer option in their situation. Red Bull could afford to take the risk they did, given the circumstances.
You see in the photo the last steward jumping over the fence. I can go back and snap another when he's over the fence if you'd like, because he's almost entirely over the fence when they change shots.
"""We have in the 57th lap Masi talking to Horner and saying ‘I’m just making sure the track is clear’""" -- This was played on air 20 seconds after the lead cars had passed the line, and the mesages to the FIA aren't played live, so it likely happened on 56. I assume right after the call that 'lapped cars will not overlap' message was issued, but yes it probably played in the back of the mind of Masi, which is why I think they should restrict team principals from speaking to the race director. I don't agree with how Toto spoke to Masi either. I'd say one person per team maximum, and they should have restrictions on what they can say. For Red Bull i.e. Wheatley is a lot more controlled in his messaging than Horner. I don't really like how some radio messages between drivers and engineers sometimes seemed to be made specifically to affect race stewards in case an incident is reviewed either.
Last comes to last, I think my main point here is that Verstappen was deserved champion, Hamilton would be as well. I wish it happened under different conditions, but I don't think FIA or Masi doctored the outcome. I've loved this season, nothing has gotten me as excited as race day, and it started all the way back in Bahrain. I hope the next season is just as entertaining to watch (in terms of racing, not controversy), and I hope even more teams get into the mix. Imagine this season, but McLaren and Ferrari could also mix with Verstappen and Hamilton.
