[Jody Barton]

Was flitting in and out of the race, as I had other things I needed to do. I have a few observations from this weekend:

1) Bottas won, but it was really Hamilton who lost it, not Bottas who won it. Hamilton's stupid mistake is what cost him the race win this weekend. Had he not had those penalties I think they'd have controlled the pace and pitted him later and he'd have pitted into clean air. Were the penalties justified? It's the rules. So yeah, but there's no leeway with Masi, unless it's someone he likes like Leclerc... he has some questions to answer about his uneven application of the rules that's for sure.

2) This is a "Bottas track" and Lewis was way quicker in qualifying, and would have comfortably got through Q2 had the red flags not come out, probably with a one second lead to Bottas. That's a sign of Lewis' dominance here. But let's talk about that red flag...

3) Firstly, there was a question as to whether or not it was needed, or whether Masi could've deployed waved double yellows in the sector and allowed all the drivers to complete their laps who were past the incident. Would have avoided the idiocy that happened at the end of Q2. However, given how close Leclerc was to smashing into Vettel despite the waved double yellows Masi had to shut it down with a red flag. However, it was another Masi mistake. Di Resta and Davidson had both pointed out during FP how dangerous that sausage curb was and how a slight mistake could put a car in the wall. Drivers also raised concerns, yet Masi ignored them. With concrete walls that close are those sausage curbs really necessary?

4) And onto the runoff area in turn 2, and that chicane to re-enter, it was far too extreme and far too close to the concrete wall. Again, the fact it was unsafe was raised with Masi, and again he ignored concerns, telling the drivers there concerns were without foundation. Just like he did in Monza and Mugello. It doesn't even filter the drivers back onto the track in a safe place or a safe way. 

5) After the last race in Mugello I'm really starting to question whether Masi is up to the job. In Monza he screwed up the listing of the marshal posts, yup, he'd miss marked the Marshall's posts on the race notes. Rookie error. He was told about the need to have pitlane lights in Monza at the pitlane entry too. But he thought his solution was fine. In Mugello he did turn the lights out on the Safety Car far too late, I think Bottas was still dangerous, but he was forced into that by Masi's mishandling of the situation. I agree with Vettel, I think Masi did it to spice the race up, and so the crash and chaos was on Masi. 

He is applying the rules in an uneven manner to different drivers, and it's looking questionable. Giving some drivers penalty points for minor things and giving others a slap on the wrist for far worse misdemeanors. Masi is starting to look like a showman rather than a race director of a serious sport. I think he needs to be gone.

[morini]

Was flitting in and out of the race, as I had other things I needed to do. I have a few observations from this weekend:

1) Bottas won, but it was really Hamilton who lost it, not Bottas who won it. Hamilton's stupid mistake is what cost him the race win this weekend. Had he not had those penalties I think they'd have controlled the pace and pitted him later and he'd have pitted into clean air. Were the penalties justified? It's the rules. So yeah, but there's no leeway with Masi, unless it's someone he likes like Leclerc... he has some questions to answer about his uneven application of the rules that's for sure.

2) This is a "Bottas track" and Lewis was way quicker in qualifying, and would have comfortably got through Q2 had the red flags not come out, probably with a one second lead to Bottas. That's a sign of Lewis' dominance here. But let's talk about that red flag...

3) Firstly, there was a question as to whether or not it was needed, or whether Masi could've deployed waved double yellows in the sector and allowed all the drivers to complete their laps who were past the incident. Would have avoided the idiocy that happened at the end of Q2. However, given how close Leclerc was to smashing into Vettel despite the waved double yellows Masi had to shut it down with a red flag. However, it was another Masi mistake. Di Resta and Davidson had both pointed out during FP how dangerous that sausage curb was and how a slight mistake could put a car in the wall. Drivers also raised concerns, yet Masi ignored them. With concrete walls that close are those sausage curbs really necessary?

4) And onto the runoff area in turn 2, and that chicane to re-enter, it was far too extreme and far too close to the concrete wall. Again, the fact it was unsafe was raised with Masi, and again he ignored concerns, telling the drivers there concerns were without foundation. Just like he did in Monza and Mugello. It doesn't even filter the drivers back onto the track in a safe place or a safe way. 

5) After the last race in Mugello I'm really starting to question whether Masi is up to the job. In Monza he screwed up the listing of the marshal posts, yup, he'd miss marked the Marshall's posts on the race notes. Rookie error. He was told about the need to have pitlane lights in Monza at the pitlane entry too. But he thought his solution was fine. In Mugello he did turn the lights out on the Safety Car far too late, I think Bottas was still dangerous, but he was forced into that by Masi's mishandling of the situation. I agree with Vettel, I think Masi did it to spice the race up, and so the crash and chaos was on Masi. 

He is applying the rules in an uneven manner to different drivers, and it's looking questionable. Giving some drivers penalty points for minor things and giving others a slap on the wrist for far worse misdemeanors. Masi is starting to look like a showman rather than a race director of a serious sport. I think he needs to be gone.

I agree with most of that, not so much point 1 as I think Bottas had that win covered from Q2 on Saturday afternoon. Even with no penalties Hamilton wouldn't have been able to do many more laps on the soft tyre. I don't have a crystal ball but once Ham pitted for the hard I believe Bot would be able to do better lap times on his mediums and would still have come out ahead after his own stop. Of course Ham would have been able to match Bot times but he also needed to make sure that hard tyre would get him home. VB had a massive advantage and there's no getting around that. Lewis lost second place (not the win) from the time penalties the way I see it. For what it's worth both Ian and I said in chatroom that he would get a penalty for doing that practice start where he did, but on reflection and knowing the facts about the event notes I'm not so sure it was justified now. Also, sporting race penalties are to compensate for a driver gaining a specific advantage in the race. Where was the advantage here? The race hadn't even started!

What did you make of the quote from Toto I posted in post 84 (think it was #84 anyway). I quote it again below for convenience. When has a driver ever taken an in race time penalty for something like that? Never, is probably the answer (but I'm not 100% sure on that so wouldn't be putting money on it). What is particularly ironic is Hamilton abided by the race directors notes. The notes said nothing about how far past the lights the practice starts have to be. Masi argument is the drivers "know" where they are allowed to do them, well I'd like some clarification of how they "know" when the race directors notes are not specific.

Thought this observation from TW was worth adding as well. The point in bold.

Asked about Hamilton's 'trying to stop me' comments, Wolff added: "I think Lewis has faced a lot of adversity in his life and for all of us, the penalty seems a little harsh. Never before has a pre-race or reconnaissance lap infringement been penalised with an in-race penalty. That's new.

[Jody Barton]

Honestly Morini? I mentioned Leclerc because he was given a naughty boy telling off after either the Austrian or Styrian GP, can't remember which, for essentially doing what Hamilton did. I'm not one for conspiracy theories, I'm really not, so I'll give Masi and the stewards the benefit of the doubt on this one, but the inconsistency is the problem. The penalty points Lewis took for his collision with Albon in Austria were harsh, yet others aren't even penalised for worse transgressions. I still think Albon and Lewis in Austria was a racing incident after an SC restart. Whether it's malice or incompetence only Masi truly knows, but he's been heavily criticised in recent weeks by Hamilton, Vettel, Räikkönnen, Alonso, Verstappen, Ricciardo, Button, Rosberg and a few other ex-drivers. They clearly don't have confidence in him or think he's not up to the task. I think he's on borrowed time, you can't take the criticism from so many world champions and come out of it unscathed. I don't think he's who they wanted to put in that post, I think they wanted other people before him, but they went elsewhere. As to whether Lewis would have won? It's all moot and hypothetical, and I can see your viewpoint too. What I do know is that they need to paint a box from now on for practice starts because footage shows other drivers doing starts from different places too. Some not far off from where Lewis was. Masi is running out of excuses for his poor management of races.

Räikkönen

[morini]

Honestly Morini? I mentioned Leclerc because he was given a naughty boy telling off after either the Austrian or Styrian GP, can't remember which, for essentially doing what Hamilton did. I'm not one for conspiracy theories, I'm really not, so I'll give Masi and the stewards the benefit of the doubt on this one, but the inconsistency is the problem. The penalty points Lewis took for his collision with Albon in Austria were harsh, yet others aren't even penalised for worse transgressions. I still think Albon and Lewis in Austria was a racing incident after an SC restart. Whether it's malice or incompetence only Masi truly knows, but he's been heavily criticised in recent weeks by Hamilton, Vettel, Räikkönnen, Alonso, Verstappen, Ricciardo, Button, Rosberg and a few other ex-drivers. They clearly don't have confidence in him or think he's not up to the task. I think he's on borrowed time, you can't take the criticism from so many world champions and come out of it unscathed. I don't think he's who they wanted to put in that post, I think they wanted other people before him, but they went elsewhere. As to whether Lewis would have won? It's all moot and hypothetical, and I can see your viewpoint too. What I do know is that they need to paint a box from now on for practice starts because footage shows other drivers doing starts from different places too. Some not far off from where Lewis was. Masi is running out of excuses for his poor management of races.äikkönen

For what it's worth I don't think they are out to deliberately scupper Hamilton either. But, I can see why he might think they were showing some negative bias towards him. The whole thing on Sunday was covered under a "discretionary" penalty which is a complete contradiction in terms IMO. They very fact they backtracked on the licence points convinced me the time penalties were also unnecessary and unwarranted. The FIA need to get this under control quickly, be much more clear and concise not make rules up as they go along.

Regarding Masi, he is on the defensive far too often trying to justify himself and his decisions. That is not a good sign. The key thing is in a role like that you need to earn the respect of the drivers and I don't think this chap is anywhere near that. He is no Charlie Whiting, that is for sure.

Agree on the Austria Ham / Albon penalty, but in fairness that was the steward panel mistake rather than a Masi mistake.

[Jody Barton]

But the penalty points are at the race directors discretion. The stewards only advise on penalties.  However, there have been a good number of race day issues o Dr the last 2 or 3 years that can be placed at Masi's feet. I think he needs to step down from the role because he's not up to it, his CV so far confirms it for me.

[pennywise]

Can anyone explain why Leclerc was not given any penalty for taking out Stroll....or can we just assume he is void of punishment.

[forzaferrari]

Can anyone explain why Leclerc was not given any penalty for taking out Stroll....or can we just assume he is void of punishment.

I was only half watching Ian but thought it was pretty marginal (only seeing it the once) .....and being the opening lap I presume that why he got the by-ball?

Happy to be corrected

[pennywise]

Can anyone explain why Leclerc was not given any penalty for taking out Stroll....or can we just assume he is void of punishment.

I was only half watching Ian but thought it was pretty marginal (only seeing it the once) .....and being the opening lap I presume that why he got the by-ball?

Happy to be corrected

Yea agree if it's in the first or second corner but it was further into the lap....just seemed to be swept under the carpet at the time..imo....was hard on Stroll  boy needs some good performances...oh not wait...daddy owns his seat.

[forzaferrari]

I would need to see it again from a few different angles, like I said I was only half watching.......after a 15 hour day, tired and chilled to the bone I was paying more attention to a beautiful rib-eye & lashings of garlic cream than LeClerc & Strolls antics

[pennywise]

I would need to see it again from a few different angles, like I said I was only half watching.......after a 15 hour day, tired and chilled to the bone I was paying more attention to a beautiful rib-eye & lashings of garlic cream than LeClerc & Strolls antics

Ok now you've made me hungry.