F1 2021 Simulation Predicts 2021 FIA Formula One World Championship

[Steve_OS]

EA and Codemasters ran a simulation with F1 2021 to predict the winner of the Etihad...

Written By: Steve Noah

Click here to view the article.

[DarthRambo]

Are you able to just watch an entire race of full AI cars on the game?? I'd enjoy that tbh if possible.

Sent from my SM-G996U using Operation Sports mobile app

[Tovarich]

Did they predict that Latifi crashing with 5 laps left would put Masi in the position to circumvent the rules about lapped cars and inexplicably only get 5 through to give Max an easy pass with brand new tires and then calling it a 'motor race'?

[avantibram]

Like the other seemingly unexplainable calls the stewards made this year which up to today (only at the end, because lets not forget the start of the race) seemed to favour Lewis all year long... In my opinion, taking into account the whole year, the most deserving driver won the world championship.

[brandon27]

Quote: Originally Posted by Tovarich

Did they predict that Latifi crashing with 5 laps left would put Masi in the position to circumvent the rules about lapped cars and inexplicably only get 5 through to give Max an easy pass with brand new tires and then calling it a 'motor race'?

IMO Masi's call was the right one for the sport and for the race itself and the championship. Afterall; he's right. This is motor RACING. Not ride around behind the safety car or under a yellow flag. I want to see a race, and a title decided by the drivers and cars on the track and that's what we had today.

Under normal safety car conditions lapped cars are allowed to pass. Once the track was clear they OK'd the cars to pass. The only issue here is it wasn't all lapped cars in the interest of saving time so the race could finish under green; as an actual race. What's the problem? Lapped cars are ordered out of the way under green anyways in F1 so all they would have done was be an unnecessary obstacle when the race went back green, or it would have forced the race to end under the safety car if they didn't pass them through. They're all out of the race; they should have zero to do with deciding the outcome, and IMO they correctly allowed them to pass and went back to racing conditions.

I get that if you're a Hamilton fan you're upset with this decision; but I'm quite certain alot of folks on the other side are upset with the lap 1 decision where Lewis clearly gained an advantage off track under a safe/proper pass from Verstappen. The stewards were clearly content to let them race; and that's just what they did at the end of the race. Why would anyone want to see that season, that race, and that epic championship battle end either under a safety car, or with 5 lapped cars in the way.

Maybe it's easier for me to look at when neither driver is one I root for. However at the end of the day as a fan of RACING I got to see a race, and title decided on the track under racing conditions. What shocked me the most is that Mercedes didn't pit Hamilton. They chose to leave him out for "track position" which was always a gamble IMO because they always let lapped cars through. They gambled, it didn't work in their favor since they got the track cleared up faster than anticipated. Mercedes essentially had to decide do we pit, or do we keep the buffer of the lapped cars? They ASSUMED the race wouldn't restart and wanted the cushy soft ending. That didn't happen. The alternative choice was to pit for fresh tires and likely end up with Max behind them anyways; but it's likely max wouldn't have pitted if Lewis did so they could get him ahead if it restarted.

IMO I don't see the uproar here. Lapped cars are allowed to pass through. All of them didn't get that opportunity, but in the grand scheme of things what does it matter if they're already at the back of the pack anyways? It doesn't; there was no point to letting the lapped cars at the back already through. What they were trying to do was find a way to finish under green and let Max and Lewis decide it on track; and they did just that.

If F1 was smart; they're implementing a few big rule changes this year:
1. Procedure to stop changing of tyres or repairing cars under red flags
2. Procedure to finish races under green
3. Clearer definitions regarding overtakes/penalties.

4. Prevent teams from being able to directly contact the race director or stewards during the race. They're supposed to be unbiased judges/referee's. The fact the teams can contact them and lobby them to influence rules decisions during a race is ridiculous IMO. Eliminate that and all the other BS politics around this sport because it makes it unbearable at times.


The biggest problem with the decisions made today are the fans on either side bickering about it. It's a race; let the leaders race it out; especially with a championship on the line.

As for me; I hope the new 2022 cars bring even better fortunes for McLaren; and hopefully it gets Aston Martin relevant.

[brandon27]

Quote: Originally Posted by IrishSalsa

Are you able to just watch an entire race of full AI cars on the game?? I'd enjoy that tbh if possible. Sent from my SM-G996U using Operation Sports mobile app

No; not that I'm aware of anyways.

[Tovarich]

Can't stand either of them, it's just a terrible way to end things. If they want the race to end with a race, then they should have red-flagged it immediately and then Lewis and Max could duke it out for 5 laps on something more resembling level terms. Lewis had zero chance on those tires on the last lap and they knew that. Changing your mind after saying the lapped cars can't go through just because Red Bull whined about it is gutless though. Masi saying the race should end in a race is hardly consistent though, he didn't seem interested in Belgium ending in a race. If they were against a Monday race, then that's fine, but running 2 laps behind the safety car was a laughable excuse of a "motor race".

The rule allowing lapped cars to un-lap themselves has always been an incredibly stupid rule. There's no reason they should get a lap back just because someone else crashed. But that said, the rules don't say cherry pick which ones you want out of the way because there's a championship on the line and we want to make it dramatic. If Lewis had to navigate through them, then Max should have had to also.

Steward's decisions over the course of the year may not have been level between the two of them, but that can't be helped unless the stewards are the same every week. They let some things go in Brazil and they let some things go today. They're both highly inconsistent with everything in Saudi Arabia where no one got away with anything, but there are different people making decisions constantly, so the inconsistency comes with that. Another thing they can improve.

I'd be fine if safety cars just went away. There should be no guessing when they'll end, no guessing how long a VSC might last, no pitting under a safety car only for them to wait 3 laps and then go red-flag it later anyway. These things affecting the outcome doesn't make it a fair "motor race". I'd prefer if someone who built up an 11-second lead throughout the pure motor racing didn't lose it because some 17th or whatever place car crashed and everything that happened for 53 laps virtually starts all over just because. For a sport concerned about backmarkers affecting the outcome, it played far too significant or a role in deciding this one. I'd like to see all such luck taken out of it, and I'm aware that's unconventional and won't happen, but I find today's ending to be farcical.

[jr86]

Quote: Originally Posted by brandon27

IMO Masi's call was the right one for the sport and for the race itself and the championship. Afterall; he's right. This is motor RACING. Not ride around behind the safety car or under a yellow flag. I want to see a race, and a title decided by the drivers and cars on the track and that's what we had today. Under normal safety car conditions lapped cars are allowed to pass. Once the track was clear they OK'd the cars to pass. The only issue here is it wasn't all lapped cars in the interest of saving time so the race could finish under green; as an actual race. What's the problem? Lapped cars are ordered out of the way under green anyways in F1 so all they would have done was be an unnecessary obstacle when the race went back green, or it would have forced the race to end under the safety car if they didn't pass them through. They're all out of the race; they should have zero to do with deciding the outcome, and IMO they correctly allowed them to pass and went back to racing conditions. I get that if you're a Hamilton fan you're upset with this decision; but I'm quite certain alot of folks on the other side are upset with the lap 1 decision where Lewis clearly gained an advantage off track under a safe/proper pass from Verstappen. The stewards were clearly content to let them race; and that's just what they did at the end of the race. Why would anyone want to see that season, that race, and that epic championship battle end either under a safety car, or with 5 lapped cars in the way. Maybe it's easier for me to look at when neither driver is one I root for. However at the end of the day as a fan of RACING I got to see a race, and title decided on the track under racing conditions. What shocked me the most is that Mercedes didn't pit Hamilton. They chose to leave him out for "track position" which was always a gamble IMO because they always let lapped cars through. They gambled, it didn't work in their favor since they got the track cleared up faster than anticipated. Mercedes essentially had to decide do we pit, or do we keep the buffer of the lapped cars? They ASSUMED the race wouldn't restart and wanted the cushy soft ending. That didn't happen. The alternative choice was to pit for fresh tires and likely end up with Max behind them anyways; but it's likely max wouldn't have pitted if Lewis did so they could get him ahead if it restarted. IMO I don't see the uproar here. Lapped cars are allowed to pass through. All of them didn't get that opportunity, but in the grand scheme of things what does it matter if they're already at the back of the pack anyways? It doesn't; there was no point to letting the lapped cars at the back already through. What they were trying to do was find a way to finish under green and let Max and Lewis decide it on track; and they did just that. If F1 was smart; they're implementing a few big rule changes this year: 1. Procedure to stop changing of tyres or repairing cars under red flags 2. Procedure to finish races under green 3. Clearer definitions regarding overtakes/penalties. 4. Prevent teams from being able to directly contact the race director or stewards during the race. They're supposed to be unbiased judges/referee's. The fact the teams can contact them and lobby them to influence rules decisions during a race is ridiculous IMO. Eliminate that and all the other BS politics around this sport because it makes it unbearable at times. The biggest problem with the decisions made today are the fans on either side bickering about it. It's a race; let the leaders race it out; especially with a championship on the line. As for me; I hope the new 2022 cars bring even better fortunes for McLaren; and hopefully it gets Aston Martin relevant.

I'll tell you what the uproar is.
We all want to see races finishing under Green but today's events were pretty scandalous even by Masi's poor standards throughout the season, Charlie Whiting must be turning in his grave with the lack of competence shown this year.
The flip flopping done by him today based on who was shouting the loudest ( Toto or Christian was rediculous and unfortunately has been a theme all year). I totally agree that this level of interaction between the teams and race director needs to be seriously looked into.
Anyway to the race:
First thing Lewis should have had to concede position on the first lap after going off track but seemingly slowed down enough whereby he didn't increase his lead....err what, they were level going into the corner and then he's over 1 sec ahead when they go down the straight and increasing...wtf?
Later on VSC comes out for when Gio brakes down and Toto gets on the blower to tell Masi not to bring out the SC...
Then we get to the SC incident which is where the real problem is.
1. Red Bull pit, they have nothing to lose and hope they get at least a lap to fight.
2. Masi then announces that the lapped cars won't be unlapping themselves.
3. This then shapes Mercedes decision not to pit, no reason to as they would give up track position and also because as they've just been told the lapped cars can't unlap themselves thereby Verstappen would have to pass all of them and then Hamilton himself over the course of 1 lap which pretty much would be impossible.
4. Christian Horner's turn to shout loudest and question why the lapped cars can't unlap themselves and also add that all Max needs is 1 lap..hint hint.
5. Masi realizes the error he's made in not letting the lapped cars unlap themselves and decides to backtrack so they can but it's too late as the rules state that the SC must run 1 more lap after this is done which would bring about the end of the race.....what to do!!
6. Masi uses his 'discretion' as race director to then pull in the SC about 10 seconds after all these shenanigans and restart the race thereby making Lewis a sitting duck on 40 lap old tyres and Max on new shiny soft ones....!

Mercedes didn't have to gamble as you put it, their strategy was based on what they were being told was going to happen.... either there would be at least 5 cars between Lewis and Max if there was a restart or it would finish under a SC... neither of which happened because Masi decided to play by his own rules and contrive a result in the name of motor racing... only problem is they weren't on a level playing field......

Big changes need to happen here, either someone else needs to come in to be a buffer to talk to the teams during the race and let the race director make the (correct) decisions in peace without being squaked to by the various teams or just drop all communication between all parties and come what may.
No doubt this has been a very entertaining season but too many lines have been crossed by all parties with very little repurcussions and for me today was the final straw...I really hope we see a change for the better next season.

Edit: FWIW I wanted MV to win this year from day one, like many others I'm sure was sick of seeing a Mercedes procession year after year. What he did this year in a car clearly inferior and against the best driver of this generation (possibly ever) was something I m not sure we'll see again for a very long time if ever...hats off to him a very worthy champion and once the dust settles and we look back in years to come I think we will all appreciate what a spectacular achievement this really was....