Quote:
Originally Posted by M5Rick
Double champ Mika Haakinen says it was the correct decision from Masi to let them fight it out with the back markers out of the way and it's tough luck for Ham he was on the tyres he was.
The telling words from Masi were that it's a motor race and ready to go with the pace car not needed any more, time just ran out for Ham.
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It's not necessarily a problem to make the decision to allow Max and Ham to fight it out, it's just there wasn't enough time and Masi didn't choose to red flag the race which would have allowed at least some sort of fair competition. Was Masi not allowed to drop the red flag? If not, why not? It seems he had the power to override all rules and do whatever he pleased. If the goal was for a "motor racing" finish, the red flag was the proper way to set up that finish given the circumstances.
Changing the way safety cars are handled without notifying teams exactly what change was taking place to allow them at least some time to react and make a decision was terrible because that prevented Mercedes from believing they had an option to pit without forfeiting the race. That's not a matter of getting lucky or unlucky, that's a race official making a direct decision to provide a team with a huge advantage and influence the outcome of the race.
Had Mercedes gave up track position and pitted only for the race to end behind the safety car, it would suck but that outcome would be 100% legitimate under the rulebook and Masi couldn't be blamed for anything.