Saudi Arabian GP Explained: What on EARTH went on in Jeddah? | The Chain Bear Take

The Saudi Arabian GP was a calamity! A clown show! A wild west rodeo! Here's my take on the many confusing and confounding events of the day
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[@chainbear]

Get 42% off CuriosityStream AND Nebula if you sign up with this link by 24th December 2021: curiositystream.com/chainbear (26% discount otherwise)

[@lolzlarkin3059]

Hey CB. What are your thoughts on: keeping rhe rule that you can change tyres under a red flag, BUT you have to drop a certain amount of places on the restart? Doesn't kill the idea of changing tyres, still probably better than under a yellow. And a shake up of grid order is usually a spicey turn of events, and potentially more overtakes on track...

[@SirGwl]

I would suggest that any car tyre change at the red flag should mean the driver needs to go through the put lane in the next 5 laps

[@kityhawk2000]

What about Max's practice start at the first restart?

[@alejandrosingson7366]

The only way we can see a clean race is that if the stewards agree to take away the one( 1 ) of Max in Spa which really wasn't a race at all, when no one was allowed to overtake under a safety car. That would make them even on points and actual race wins with 8 a piece. Then, this will be a clean race...hopefully!

[@jackson3190]

You forgot to mention for Abu Dhabi, Red Bull need both cars to finish in order to have a chance at getting the constructors. 1 driver can't make up 28 points.

[@satyrony]

You know there's been a really messed up race when even ChainBear has to start introducing paragraphs with hammerblow soundeffects.

[@henrik1743]

The FIA was a complete joke and will probably screw up the last race too... just watch

[@Firebolt1729]

I just hope the championship will be decided fairly on Sunday.

[@KasumiRINA]

I dunno, I stopped watching Formula years ago and this race was really fun to watch, both the street track looking like Gran Turismo's Special Stage Route 11 instead of boring grassy stadium, and the action with two restarts from zero instead of endless dragging behind the pace car. Was also fun to see Kimi, Nando, Seba still racing.., Michi Schumacher looks much younger than I remember him tho. xD

[@UNuklear]

@@henrik1743 WELP.

[@vladdobre7382]

@@henrik1743 this aged really well

[@rithwikraman188]

I can always count on Chain Bear for a proper, objective analysis on F1 drama. Great video as usual!

[@austinobambino1360]

This isn't objective at all tho. He doesn't even pretend to not give Max the benefit of the doubt constantly. This whole video is just defending everything Max does as just "racing hard".

[@sidarora88]

@@austinobambino1360 you are proper deluded.

[@austinobambino1360]

@@sidarora88 How? You can see how his language changes when he talks about Max's actions. He minimizes it. Re-watch the section on Max braking in front of Lewis and tell me Chainbear doesn't want to minimize the danger of the situation.

[@diegoleonardia5358]

@@austinobambino1360 The only time he gives Max any benefit of the doubt is towards the end. And even then I feel that's stretching the meaning of "giving benefit of the doubt".

[@austinobambino1360]

@@sidarora88 If they were racing F1 cars from just 20 years ago, Max would've killed someone by now. Look at Monza if you need a specific incident.

[@Azeria]

In NASCAR, after a red flag, they go back to yellow, behind the pace car, at which time, damaged cars in the pits can make repairs, and those on track can choose to pit and make repairs, change tyres etc. I wouldn’t hate seeing that here.

[@KillBillVaggeli13]

Another solution would be to close the pit lane if there is a barrier issue to see if it can be fixed quickly or not, and then open it for the pitstops

[@clansome]

@@KillBillVaggeli13 Personally I believe the pit lane should be closed as soon as a Safety Car or VSC is called, also a VSC must last at least one lap and end at the same point for the leader.

[@TheStockCarStig]

I don't like the NASCAR rule. Fans pay to see as many cars in track as possible. They should be able to repair under a red flag IMO

[@Mike23443]

wouldn't work at all. You pit far more often in nascar because the race is 300 laps. Cautions are thrown much more frequently and have a completely different strategic significance. Everybody gets bunched up every time, not that they aren't already even before the caution, and the pitstop is far more valuable since it is out of necessity and it doesn't cost that much. You can claw your way back from being last in a couple of laps if you have a car that could win the race. In formula 1 the only time you get to pit under a safety car is on the initial lap before the safety car queue assembles. You can't just nascar your way into fresh tires because pitting while in the queue drops you to the back of the field, and from there your chances of winning are drastically worse than if you did anything else. The initial solution that would make sense is if you closed the pitlane until the safety car queue bunches up. This is fair but it creates a problem whereby actually damaged cars cannot leave the track and this is dangerous. Theoretically you could mandate that if a car enters the pitlane under a safety car, the pitlane exit is closed until the queue passes it, that would be more fair. Then if you need to get to the pits, you can, but only do so when you absolutely have to, and noone can game the system. I would apply the same rule to VSC. If you pit under VSC, you automatically have to serve a 10 second penalty at the pitstop, just to offset the time saved from cars going slowly. In terms of red flag tire changes, I would simply give any car that wishes to change tires a drive through or a stop go penalty to be served at any time they wish after the restart. This means that any team that wants to change tires, still can, but it's no longer free. You can do it for strategic reasons or because you have a puncture or whatever, but you still have to take the time to drive through the pits during the actual race. Forcing it to take place within 3 laps I don't think is mandatory in this case because while these are given out as penalties, it makes sense that they be served when they are given, because a nature of a penalty is punishment, and letting the driver choose when to serve it can nullify the punishment aspect, but changing tires under a red flag isn't necessarily wrong or deserving of punishment, it simply needs to cost something to make it fair, hence why the driver could choose when to server it, so that his strategy remains somewhat uncompromised and he still has a say in the matter. It would essentially emulate a scenario where he would basically have to weave in a normal pitstop into the race like he should have done in the first place. It still isn't completely fair because he gets to basically loan fresh tires that he only needs to pay back for later and in a lot of cases this could be far more beneficial than staying on old ones, but it's a heck of a lot better than getting to do it for free altogether.

[@sashingopaul3111]

@@clansome 2008 flashbacks

[@BleachKyzorynn]

As most folks have said, you gave a really well-balanced perspective with way more *useful* context than all the other pundits (The Race, WTF1, Chequered Flag, etc.). Great job chainbear!

[@ViciousDogAustria]

Agree, Chain Bear is usually giving a reasonable non-partisan explanation. Great stuff.

[@AdamB8791]

You should try Aidan Milward if you like chainbear. He does a great job of remaining neutral

[@SimplyV3rna]

I completely agree. His insights needs a bigger production to match.

[@FAT8893]

The Race is actually not that bad.

[@AlwinCrasto]

I think the rule that mandates drivers use 2 different tyre compounds in a race should be updated to say that this tyre change won't be allowed under red flag conditions. So anyone can still change tyres under a red flag (for safety reasons) but that tyre won't count as a new compound they switched to to meet the tyre usage rule, they would still have to do a pit stop and change to a compound different from the one they started the race on. I think this change can remove the unfairness but still maintain safety.

[@bsheaves]

I like this rule, but why not apply it to any safety car situation as well? Basically you have todo one mandatory green flag pit stop unless it’s a wet race. That doesn’t means that cars cannot take advantage of putting under the safety car, British GP 2018 comes to mind when thinking of this.

[@alexm9479]

How was there any unfairness? All teams had exactly the same information, some chose to pit and it backfired. That's not unfair, that's just a strategy call by the team that went wrong...

[@adamdickinson2894]

@@alexm9479 it's unfair because it gives some drivers an automatic 20-30s advantage over others and there's literally no upside

[@TheEmolano]

@@alexm9479 because it's pure lucky, worse than your rival having a mechanical failure, since that's kind of his team fault. The less random factors we have the better racing we have(in theory).

[@TheEmolano]

I like this, teams could pull riskier strats like 2 stops since the first one is free, or really long stints that become pointless today when there's a red flag.

[@jbnissa626]

The rules and regulations for the 2021 season state: "From the time at which all teams Competitors have been sent the “SAFETY CAR DEPLOYED” message via the official messaging system until the time that each car crosses the first safety car line for the second time, drivers must stay above the minimum time set by the FIA." Bottas' was at the low end of the delta, and Hamilton was at the high end of the delta allowing for this to happen. This was confirmed by Bottas' steering wheel and a radio message from the FIA. If Bottas was under his delta, then Red Bull would be protesting.

[@my2cents366]

Thanks for clarifying.

[@ChetanRao]

Exactly. Thank you for pointing this out.

[@lisasun2890]

Yup Bottas is a pretty fair driver in general, what he did was all within the rule.

[@petertr2000]

That's a great point, thanks.

[@JimTheFly]

Makes sense. If Lewis and Valtteri got the "We're double-stacking" message, they'd want to create as much space between them, just in case there was any problem with Lewis's stop.

[@yajurka]

MY question is, if at a red flag restart Hamilton didn't have to keep 10 car-lengths, how much does he have to keep? Can a 2nd place driver come 30 seconds after leader on the grid? If for example, Merc has 1-2 and Red Bull has 3-4, can one Red Bull hold 20 car lengths and another one another 20 car lengths? 30? It makes no sense to not have standard rule apply.

[@Bahamuttiamat]

No. Driving unnecessarily slow is also forbidden.

[@Pandamasque]

This is what happens when sections in the rules are changed or new ones are added without looking at the whole thing. Standing red flag restarts is a new rule. Instead of just saying, "normal standing start rules apply, except: a b c d", they just wrote a new rule that covers some of the same stuff from standing start rule, but misses some other points. They edit or add a rule to fix a problem and they create another one at the same time. The same crap approach happened in technical regulations, which brought us to this point where one needs DRS to overtake. 2022 is the first ground up rewriting of the chassis rules for decades.

[@yajurka]

@@Bahamuttiamat We can see, which is why it was penalized, right?

[@nm-1-m159]

There was no such regulation in this instance, the fia cleared it up

[@narancs5]

There is a rule about the formation lap which says you have to keep the formation "as tight as possible". Although it may not apply to the red flag restart as Pandamasque pointed out.

[@gvcallen]

Here after Abu Dhabi. Boy have you had your work cut out for you for 2 weeks! Can't wait to hear your take on that ;)

[@MsZeeZed]

F1 Barriers components are heavy and often need a truck to bring new components trackside, so a very heavy barrier impact in a breaking zone is going to cause red flag. It didn’t in the past as we didn’t use to scrupulously repair barriers to signed-off perfection during races. Just a weird thing to object to.

[@hkr667]

Hamilton's radio message made me chuckle. "The tire wall looks fiiiine!" As if he could judge that lying down in a car 20 meters away.

[@jaymulder7903]

I have always enjoyed your videos, and this one especially reminded me why. You do a fantastic job of looking at the facts and analyzing everything objectively while also showing all sides of a situation. Keep up the great work, here's to an exciting finale in Abu Dhabi!

[@hkr667]

Also note that he usually waits several days before uploading, so that emotions have calmed down and all information is out.

[@JimTheFly]

@@hkr667 Plus there's other videos about basic F1 and even automobile design that are brilliantly done and amazingly clear. I always like to reference his suspension video as a great example. I've been a NASCAR fan for over 15 years and kept hearing about push rods and pull rods and whatnot and I was just like "Ummm... yeah, whatever." I tried to figure out what they were by looking it up, but the wording just wouldn't click. Stuart did a description with animations and I just about immediately went "OH! THAT MAKES SENSE NOW!!!"

[@jelmereerland]

Stroll was instructed to swap positions with Russel for lap 1 where Stroll went off track to retain his position over Russel. Stroll slowed down on the straight before turn 27 on lap 3, Russel overtook him before the DRS detection line and Stroll overtook Russel again in turn 1 with DRS. There was no investigation or penalty…

[@ITFNBiteBayKon]

Difference was Russell wasn't braindead and ram another car.

[@puffstanley4442]

@@ITFNBiteBayKon cry

[@ITFNBiteBayKon]

@@puffstanley4442 Brilliant comment. You really add to the ongoing dialogue.

[@puffstanley4442]

@@ITFNBiteBayKon i mean you already torpedoed the dialogue with your first comment, what they point of even bothering to keep it afloat?

[@jordanglenn1956]

It's not everyday chainbear uploads, but when it happens ☺️☺️ oh boy it's worth the wait

[@sameermohideen4913]

Tyre changes under Red Flags are just part of the strategy that teams need to think about. Teams have some idea of when red flags come out. The only reason it was so “controversial” was because of the closeness of the title fight.

[@DBijl]

To add to that, without the possibility to benifit from the redflags, Hamilton would not even been a championship contender anymore this year. He would have DNF-ed in Silverstone and be a lap behind in Imola with a P7 instead of a P3. It is a matter of, "You gain some, you lose some".

[@Mina-qy6kx]

hehe I don’t know whether I was supposed to find this video or not yet but I’m very glad I did!! I’ve been eagerly awaiting your thoughts on the mess at the weekend! thanks for all the effort you put into both your analysis and your video editing - your passion for the sport is obvious!

[@thunderbolt_blitz]

You a Patreon or somethin?

[@kuttispielt7801]

I don’t think you were. How did you find this?

[@jakubmazur1240]

You a bit early?

[@jonaochako]

How did you comment 23hours earlier and it was uploaded a min ago... Gasp

[@duckrutt]

KZbin has done some dumb things with unlisted videos recently. Such as listing them on the channel homepage.

[@benhorne9327]

I don't believe that Max will crash deliberately, but he's the sort of driver to make a dive and just think "fuck it, whatever happens, happens"

[@MrKiseki24]

Something we enjoyed when Senna was doing it.

[@gregmason8150]

@@MrKiseki24 PERFECT ANSWER!.......

[@KevinWilliams-ki5wh]

Agreed!!!

[@kariolm2579]

@@MrKiseki24 Maybe, but Senna admitted that his infamous 1990 crash into Prost was on purpose.

[@iwccinc]

@@kariolm2579 Prost said it too. This case is like that all over again. The Professor Vs the Wonderkid. (Prost - Hamilton) (Senna - Verstappen) for people who have been watching f1 for years have seen all this before, the difference this time is the FIA President has not made rules up on the weekend. DQ for Senna not entering back on the same part of the track. People call it the Mafia now man back then it was a complete joke. This is history repeating and I can even put myself into this category, I though Senna was terrible until 1993 when he was magical in a car which was inferior to the Williams. Then he was gone and we knew he was special.

[@F1FanCanuck]

Brilliant analysis of the events in Jeddah. Best I’ve seen on KZbin or anywhere else for that matter. Keep up the excellent work.

[@bob5000001]

The non-investigation in Brazil was always going to cause an issue… BUT the drivers were told that it won’t be looked at as kindly anyway and may well incur penalties, so Max really can’t use the “It was fine before” excuse properly, as they were warned.

[@StratosTitan]

For the record, I think you're right. But looking at this from RB/Max POV: there is little precedent now because Brazil wasn't punished. A verbal warning, even if from Masi, holds way less weight than an actual precedent being set, so I can definitely see why they still went for it.

[@evinh111]

Formation Laps have become a massive farce in the last year or two. Drivers take an absolute age to file onto the grid because they're all trying to actively mess with everyone around them. I'd like to see some increased regulation in this regard, to ensure that everyone files onto the grid in a reasonable time.

[@junsengjs]

Introduce a mandatory wait time if the grid doesn't arrive within a listed time. If the grid arrives late, then everyone will wait a certain amount of time before it starts so whatever tire temp advantage is reduced. If they arrive on time, then there is no wait time.

[@trishitdas8569]

The perfect explanation video of all the curious events...was waiting for it!!!

[@YSQ_]

7:38 The strange thing for me with this whole bargaining of Masi was, that he "asked if they are OK" with P3 for the restart, instead of saying. "Hey. You start P3 or we investigate further". There was some lack of determination as it was heard on the FIA radio. But that's just my opinion.

[@sergioccs74]

Yeah I think on principle what happened is what should happen and happens everytime there's a situation like this on track. it's just Masi's wording that made it awkward to hear further examples are Checo at monza that didn't decide to give the place back and was given a penalty, or Sainz who gave the place back at COTA and didn't earn a penalty (this was also a bit like the Saudi situation, because Sainz first gave the place back to Ricciardo and then he needed to give it back to Lando)

[@timothystamm3200]

That might have just been Masi being overly polite.

[@Colochoide]

We should also consider F1 being a proper global sport, with many of the organizers and participants using English as a second language. Some expressions might make sense in one language but won't translate too well into others, and theres bound to be tricky nuances and miss-interpretations. I actually love it!

[@theoperrin9653]

I'm glad you know we just see these post-race videos as the Chain Bear take :)

[@RelappedF1]

13:41 oh hey it's me

[@sharpe3698]

One 'fix' for red flag tyre changes that I think could be reasonable is to say that you need to restart with the same tyre compound that you had one when the flag dropped. It would prevent people from being able to complete a race without a 'proper' pit stop and wouldn't require any sort of inspection/exception to allow changing damaged tyres

[@Thermalions]

Currently that wouldn't always be possible as the teams may not have a spare set in that compound, although Pirelli could bring extra tyres to the race which are only available for this purpose.

[@tylerhopkins7080]

i literally had a headache after this race and had to take a nap. anyway, thanks for the explanations, hands down the best f1 channel on youtube. thanks, bear.

[@toastehisback]

Eagerly waiting for a explanation video of what we saw today 😂

[@chriscampbell7776]

Possibly my first comment ever on KZbin. Thank you so much for a measured, rational, and factual explanation of these events. Intellectual honestly for the win!

[@greenbananarn]

Man, I can't wait for the final race video. Hope it is up soon

[@TSSaldao]

Man, the video I was waiting for. Thanks for your content as always!

[@Caribqueen23]

It’s simple: teams should be able to repair damage and change tires, but, critically, the new tire should not count for the second compound requirement for dry races. You know - safety first.

[@Chrisp_E]

I agree with this as well. Then for safety purposes/some strategy the teams can change the tire but they don’t get the free pit stop. Would make for some more exiting races as well if it means 2 tire changes.

[@robertofontiglia4148]

I.... really like this ...

[@DeletedScenes312]

Or just force anyone who has new tyres/front wing etc during a red flag to take a drive through, at a time of their choice, once the race resumes. It wouldn't exactly balance with the time gained, but it would be a lot closer than the current situation.

[@bananatree2527]

That wouldn't really be fair either. What if say, you start on Soft and only have 1 set of Hards left, you plan a soft-hard strategy, and a red flag happens. You can either change tyres like everybody else in the pits, but then get disqualified because you don't follow tyre regulations and don't have another set of hards left, or you don't pit, restart the race on old softs, fall back a bit, and then immediately pit and end up effectively last after the pit stop phase. It could really screw teams over depending on how many tyre sets they have left.

[@FayyaazAhmed]

Been watching you since the start and just want to commend you on your balanced opinion and insight. Your analysis and Jolyon Palmer's are the ones i look forward to most after a big talking point.

[@robertofontiglia4148]

been waiting for this take.

[@YourLoyalDeserter]

yaaay glad to see you included RelappedF1

[@raywei8472]

Because Max knows Mercedes has been faster and the season is coming to a close, Max had to explore all the gray areas as much as possible and fight tooth and nail against Hamilton. Can't really blame him for that, he had to try and can't just gift it away. But I agree with you on 13:31

[@RogerKeulen]

No, he got screwed by the second VSC. No questions asked how HAM got DRS in the first place on Max while he could not follow in the second sector. It's all fud and people brainwashed by the commentators.

[@connor1424]

Someone tell me how Chain bear never has a bad take. I hope you take some downtime as well this off season Chain Bear, you’ve been entertaining us all season and deserve it

[@pubmotorGP]

Absolutely excellent analysis, as always! Simple and clear!

[@magnusv5783]

Love the Relapped insert!

[@StevenC44]

When has Max demonstrated this season his willingness to race Lewis within the lines? It's always been I win or we crash.

[@DDGXMUSIC]

"but that doesn't mean he'll cheat" at 14:35 bothers me. Is leaving the track deliberately to gain or retain a position like in the last two races not cheating? There is precedence! We all know it, that's why we're all talking about it and Masi even felt compelled to come out and warn about points deductions. Let's not pretend that wasn't aimed at Max and Redbull.

[@Rattinzki]

8:08 tecnically the restart order should have been the same as the first red flag, because they didn't complete the lap; So the "Deal", even if it made the race much more engaging, it was ridiculus. Still happy with the result having a gran finale at Abu Dhabi.

[@jackw7714]

Yes I looked through the rules and this is what I thought too - there's just no power to do this. Surprisingly not even penalties can be applied here. I get it makes some sense but you have rules for a reason. It doesn't appear anything like this in fact ever has happened before either.

[@matthewvernon3774]

@@jackw7714 I thought when a red flag was thrown, the countback went to the last completed lap of racing, which would have been the order behind the Safety Car. Everything else is wiped out. Like a red flag on Lap 1, the grid reforms as it would have started, moves in the first lap are ignored. The countback rule was how Fisichella beat Raikkonen in Brazil 2003, but only got the trophy 2 weeks later in Imola.

[@danspa85]

Your videos are absolutely fantastic. I’m a big fan of your work and the way you communicate. Thank you

[@jacobdeangelis7702]

awesome work!!! great summary

[@turbokart3776]

The fact that Bottas holding up Verstappen ked to Max being in first on the restart is, in Fernando Alonso's immortal words, "Karma."

[@ColHanko]

I’m shocked this video isn’t 20 hours long after Jeddah

[@rjfaber1991]

Or 3 seconds long. If I was an F1 content creator I doubt I'd be able to churn out any content until the exasperation had worn off, which probably wouldn't be before the Abu Dhabi GP...

[@bongocat5223]

Honestly if this video was Chainbear screaming for 20 hours i would understand

[@taslimahmed4996]

amazing video as usual. keep going !

[@borisssman]

Good analysis! also I cant wait for the f1 predictions again!

[@harris741]

This is the best, most objective analysis I've come across so far. Great job as always

[@martindamyanov5824]

UPDATE: Masi warned the drivers for of points deduction, if one deliberately crashes into the other for the sake of championship position.

[@Le.K]

He does not have the balls to apply any sanction like that (even though, it should not be up to him but the stewards).

[@martindamyanov5824]

@@Le.K He said it to the media. I hope we don't get to the situation, where we have to actually check, if he has the balls to imply such a penalty

[@GloomGaiGar]

@@Le.K He is the link between the media and teh stewards. Notice how we never hear the stewards.

[@philspencelayh5464]

I would hope if the race ended with one of them taking the other off (or trying to) the culprit would be excluded from the championship as has happened once before in exactly this situation.

[@JimTheFly]

@@philspencelayh5464 I've been saying that with the way things have been and how aggressive we've seen the racing get, if there's a move that the stewards feel is overly aggressive enough that it basically causes the other driver to crash out, the offending driver will be hit with a 10 place grid drop post-race and a penalty of 1 point, with the team being hit with a penalty of 100 points and a major fine. This will ensure that if someone crashes the other driver out, the offending driver cannot win the Drivers' championship, and their team cannot win the Constructors' Championship. And when teams are dealing with the a 7- or maybe even 8-digit hit to their finance... that should make it VERY clear that the FIA are not putting up with any shit.

[@pratikchavan2719]

How i was waiting for this!!!

[@jaysuneakle]

Excellent as always! Thank you C Bear!

[@_RobertS]

Two thoughts here. - I think during a Red Flag drivers should be allowed to change tires but only if they change to a set of the same compound (unless it's wet). That way safety is maintained, as per reasons pointed out in this video, but crucially no one can forgo their mandatory pit-stop to use two different compounds. - A big part of the problem in Jeddah when Ver and Ham collided was that RedBull got the information to give the position back before Mercedes. I think when a car is obliged to let another car pass on track they should use the same system as when someone gets an official penalty. As in, it should show up in the system that all teams and broadcasters have access to instead of it being communicated via radio to the teams involved. It doesn't necessarily have to go through the stewards for a full official investigation and penalty, just like now it can be down to the race director, but the communication of it should reach everyone at the same time which it would if sent out through that system. It would then be purely down to the teams to tell or not to tell their drivers.

[@ashwinbhat95]

My only question is - if Ham didn't know Max was giving up places, why did he not just overtake when Max slowed down? Surely, Max could have slowed down for any reason, including engine failure or something.

[@driesvanoosten4417]

Indeed. Lewis first claimed he thought there might be an sc situation that Max was aware of and he wasn't. I don't buy that at all, allthough there had been some confusing stuff with yellow flags being or not being on the dashes this and the previous race.

[@Jovi_97]

Lewis knew the DRS detection zone. Under no circumstance would he want to be right infront of Max in that area. He was setting up for the lunge himself.

[@massivebass2088]

You do have proper good analysis and explanatory skills, compliments

[@lucasnogueira498]

awesome vid!

[@soserious4738]

The red flag bit was made for situations like “Bowling with Bottas” earlier this year where basically everyone had damage.

[@stefandebeer9375]

With regards to the red flag rule, are we forgetting what happened at Baku this year? Rather a red flag and changing their tires than more cars' tires blowing up and hitting the walls at dangerous speed in Baku. I'm a Lando fan, but his comments on the red flag is kinda 1-sided. He hasn't benifited from it so far unlike Max and Lewis, just bc he hasn't benifited doesn't mean its a stupid rule.

[@I_AM_HYDRAA]

maybe something different for stuff where tires explode or where their is actual damage but not free reign also for wets

[@stefandebeer9375]

Also many people say Max shouldn't have benifited him in the first red flag so some toxic Lewis fans moaned abt it, but if it was Lewis benifiting and Max losing out, then the toxic Max fans would have moand abt it as well.

[@stefandebeer9375]

@@I_AM_HYDRAA Like chainbear said it would take too long for the FIA to inspect all the cars to see if they can change tires or repair dmg and we would rather see racing then. I understand the sentiment, but there hasn't been red flags since after Baku 2017 until before Monza 2020 which means its usually rare for red flags to happen. Its only happend so often the last 2 year for some odd reason(with Max and Lewis crashing contributing to that tally).

[@clansome]

@@stefandebeer9375 tbh toxic fans on both sides have pissed me off this year, but that's the internet for you. That said I was cross initially, but there again shit happens. James Vowles in the Merc Debrief on KZbin admitted that it was a risk, they rolled the dice and loss. You just have to take the rough with the smooth.

[@I_AM_HYDRAA]

@@stefandebeer9375 no I mean obvious damage only a missing wing or maybe by repair just to remove debris that only has a bit hanging on. I mean only repairs you would do during a pitstip

[@fortijr]

Excellent review!

[@johnrupesh4535]

Oh man.. can't thank you enough for this. I don't know what I'd do without you.

[@Huntracony]

Maybe if a yellow turns into a red the race should restart in the order when the yellow came out, thus undoing the advantage of not pitting? And to be clear, I'm advocating a rule change here, not saying the rules shouldn't have been followed.

[@e_scrogg7346]

This is the comment I’ve been looking for lol. That makes the most sense

[@e_scrogg7346]

Just adding on: the current red flag rule is obviously designed for immediate red flag situations. With an immediate red flag, everyone can change tires/repair, but everyone is given the same track position that they had at the time of the incident. If you are moving from a yellow to red, the same idea should apply, everyone should restart in the position they were in at the time of the incident.

[@exterrestris]

It wasn't just the race that had questionable elements - yet again we had drivers pissing about driving dangerously slowly during qualifying, and instances of dangerously slow running during free practice - none of which was really penalised. Every single driver who was running ridiculously slowly should have had a penalty - one which had actual consequences. Monetary penalities for either the team or driver don't ever satisfy that - given team budgets, and driver salaries (or 'Daddy's money where applicable), any financial penalty is meaningless (e.g. Mercedes were given a $25000 fine, but honestly does anyone believe that actually has any impact for a team spending $140m?). Given the number of drivers who keep doing this, grid penalties and time penalties wouldn't work either - after penalising half the grid, you'd just end up with the status quo. Therefore penalties should be applied in terms of championship point deductions - possibly combined with much harsher license point penalties. Start causing material damage to the constructors and drivers championship hopes, and I think everyone involved will quickly get their act together

[@zlm001]

Best overall explanation I've watched so far.

[@AJCC]

waited all week for this

[@EugeneChangEC]

I 100% agree with you that Max wouldn't deliberately cause a double DNF. However, I wonder what the odds are that this is the outcome of the race given what you mention in the video.

[@marshallc6215]

It all depends on where they sit after quali. Lewis knows that Max is willing to defend to the death because he cannot lose the position. If he defends hard and they lose equally, Max still wins. That's sort of the problem for Lewis. Once Lewis is in the lead, the race is over, because he'll pull away in the clean air, and Max can't cleanly pass Lewis back, bar some tire shenanigans. Lewis will have to pass on a straight and not in a turn, but with the faster car, that's where he'll want to do it anyway. Alternatively, Lewis can intentionally take a bad pass attempt, force Max to penalty to defend it, then just camp in second and win with a 5 second time penalty. It's the shady way of doing it, but it's way easier and safer to bait Max into a penalty than to pass him clean.

[@EugeneChangEC]

@@marshallc6215 Given the race order, this is going to be an interesting one!!

[@sksturm95]

I hate how this season has turned from a good racing season to only being focused on fucking penalties off or on track.

[@EmptyBallsOfSteel]

I absolutely agree, but we know why this situation is here......

[@GloomGaiGar]

That's what happens when the title fight is close.

[@JoshHales]

Best video I’ve seen on the whole race. Well done.

[@touringband]

The voice of reason. Chain bear should be the only voice on social media

[@alecjones4135]

Totally correct on the "Masi deal or no deal". Take the offer or receive 5 second penalty. Seems like Micheal Masi did nothing wrong

[@my2cents366]

Masi didn't do anything wrong, but wording was too cheese. He could have said, you give position back or stewards will decided.

[@TheEmolano]

I really liked "the deal", I even jocked about my friends that they would do it before Masi actually did. It was fair, Ocon overtook Lewis fairly while Max would have to give position back anyway, better than a 5 seconds for begin unlucky that a red flag was activated.

[@jackw7714]

It's not really unlucky - you have no right to give the position back without a penalty.

[@andrewdieffenbach5043]

@@jackw7714 His penalty was giving the position back.

[@AndrewFrink]

@@andrewdieffenbach5043 though Ocon wouldn't have passed Lewis except for Max rejoining. I'd argue that Max could have been hit with the "not rejoining the track safely" penalty as well, as it was pretty clear that Lewis had to avoid him.

[@tonTeufel]

@@andrewdieffenbach5043 Giving a position back that you illegally gained is not a penalty at all. It's just restoring the status quo

[@TheBrass18]

Yeah, ppl were making a bigger deal than it actually was, maybe it was the words that masi used, but I didn’t see anything wrong what he requesting RB to do. If it wasn’t for the red flag and they continued racing, max surely would have told to give the places back to Ocon and Lewis. It’s just that, he didn’t have opportunity as the race was red flagged.

[@nilsalb]

Great video

[@RyanStaudmyer]

You are a true gem in context of the polarizing world of F1 media. Thank you Chain Bear.

[@mediocre-motorcycle-modifi6818]

I'm looking forward to your Abu Dhabi take!

[@Glegh]

Tldr version of the race 🟡🔴 vsc sc

[@gemberkoekje]

I don't believe Max would deliberately cause a crash. But Max is also the kind of guy that if push comes to shove, he won't back down. So I definetly also wouldn't be surprised if an accident does happen, even if not deliberately.

[@I_AM_HYDRAA]

I think he is aggressive but not malicious it that makes sense

[@rjfaber1991]

The impression I get with Verstappen is that he has véry clear definitions in his head of how racing is done (definitions that his father Jos clearly taught him), and that inflexibility works both ways; just as he passed Leclerc in a way that he thought was right but contravened the rules in Austria in 2019, I'm pretty sure that deliberately crashing himself and his title rival out would likewise fall outside of his definitions of racing, just on the other side of it.

[@I_AM_HYDRAA]

@@rjfaber1991 yeah he would see that as cowardly probably

[@craigwillgoose6996]

Just watched this. Lovely analysis. I have eager anticipation for your video into the unsatisfactory season finale haha

[@TruenoG7]

Apparently hearing from people at the race, they never actually repaired the barrier at turn 22. Has anyone heard the same thing?

[@alexstrait4826]

Thanks for the video. On Bottas' slow entry into the pits, I think we do have a precedent established from the 2017 Bahrain GP, in which Lewis was penalized for holding up Danny Ric after Sainz collided with Stroll. Hamilton's stalling there seems less severe than Valterri's here, yet he was punished and Valterri was not. Consistency is not the FIA's strong point and it presumably cost Ocon a nice podium bonus. FIA needs to get its act together on both issues of safety and governance of on track action.

[@DeletedScenes312]

Not penalising Bottas is the exact point the stewards lost control of this race, for me. It sent out the message that it was acceptable to race dirty, which no doubt encouraged Lewis to play games on that formation lap, and then Max to retaliate in frustration by cutting turn 2. Hand Bottas a penalty (even just 5 seconds), and none of those other incidents happen.

[@my2cents366]

There is no similarity in these two incidents. When safety car comes out, you have time delta to follow until you catch up the safety car train. Once you catch safety car, you are not allowed to be 10 car length behind the next car. Bottas has not caught up to safety car so can follow the delta. Lewis was going the fastest allowed by delta and Bottas was going the slowest allowed by delta. RB knew what the rules were and didn't protest. Max was just either confused about the rules or stirring the pot. Bahrain 2017 - Lewis was driving slowly approaching the speed limit line and after the speed limit line where you are not allowed to drive unnecessarily slowly entering or in the pit lane. Hamilton was slow to get to the grid for the restart but again, we don't have the rules for restart. I think they need to fix that but as of know, Lewis can drive slower than Max unless it is deemed unnecessarily slow. (again grey are, need some clarification).

[@mariomambo]

Great job 👏🏽

[@manuelbarreto9093]

Enjoyed this analysis. Thank you.

[@rationalgazer]

No weekend complete until you've weighed in. Ted and Driver61 are 2nd tier, and you and JP are 1st tier. I absolutely believe he would intentionally collide if given the opportunity for it to appear unintended.

[@gemberkoekje]

My suggestion for red flag stoppages would be that you are allowed to change tires, but only to the same compound (or intermediate/rain tires).

[@ColHanko]

OR you could change to whatever tyres, but they won’t count as a mandatory stop, therefore they will still need to box again but have the strategic leeway to decide. I think that would be best

[@markus0056]

@@ColHanko best solution possible for this scenario

[@I_AM_HYDRAA]

@@ColHanko intresting

[@Hirosjimma]

@@ColHanko I've seen this mistake a lot. The pitstop isn't mandatory. It's mandatory to drive on 2 compounds unless it's a wet race. Pit stops have never been mandatory

[@rjfaber1991]

@@ColHanko There's no such thing as a mandatory stop though. Not unless you get the so-called 'meatball flag' and the race director ushers you into the pits, that is, but that's a whole different kind of pit stop we'd be talking about.

[@winglee6644]

Chain you are the very best at analyzing each important points of every race

[@alecjones4135]

I'm sad this season is coming to an end but it was pleasure watching it.

[@lfc-europe]

In the famous words of Seb Vettel; He braketested me!

[@Jason-gq8fo]

Funny how Lewis has been involved in that line twice now, and both times he was the victim lol

[@NickzAndMikz]

Jason How was he the victim for both? With Vettel he was the car in front.

[@Jason-gq8fo]

@@NickzAndMikzbecause he didn't brake check and then vettel rammed him? That's why vettel got a major penalty

[@rjfaber1991]

@@Jason-gq8fo Vettel got the penalty for the sideswipe, not for "ramming" Hamilton, because while the telemetry showed Hamilton didn't apply actual braking force, he did nonetheless let the car slow down unnaturally immediately after a blind corner. While I think it is entirely consistent with Hamilton's MO that he did it deliberately, unfortunately there's no such thing as telemetry when it comes to drivers' thought processes, so we'll never know. General point being that Vettel, or indeed any other driver without superhuman reaction times, was always going to hit Hamilton from behind because of Hamilton's slowdown, and Vettel (rightly) got the penalty for taking his very understandable frustrations out on Hamilton in an unsportsmanlike manner.

[@kerembengu9945]

Finally someone actually explained why Micheal Massi was “making a deal” with rb Thank you

[@jakewilliams8328]

I thought it was blatantly obvious.. until i looked at social media and saw the tears lol

[@Ikcatcher]

The 2021 season review is gonna be a very wild one

[@stephanwerner19]

Man, I love your videos and I @practicalengineering. Props for giving him a shoutout! Wish I could give you a double thumbs up on your video!

[@rajatmagotra7291]

Great video Chain Bear. Thank you for highlighting the 'dodgy' tactics used by the Mercs in the race too. I was appalled when the F1 post race show didn't even mention them, much less have a discussion on them. I guess they just wanted to paint Max as the villain.

[@MissAmynae]

If you're watching Sky, Not British/Hamilton is pretty much always the villain.

[@TheProkonover]

Half of this shenanigans between HAM and VER could have been avoided if Stewards issued penalties more often when they push each other out of the track. On the restart where Ocon got 2nd place, Lewis should have received a 5-second penalty too for forcing a driver out of the track. The same penalty that should have been issued against Verstappen in Brazil or Hamilton in Monza.

[@floorschade]

Best analysis ever!

[@rahulraman8934]

Best channel for f1 to analysis in fair and integrity way .

[@alexfirefly1956]

4:16 Also Hamilton benefited massively from this rule in Silverstone after he crashed out Max, with him having time to repair the damages to his car and not losing time having to pit early the penalty he received later didn’t damage his race as much as it should have and he was able to win the race

[@javiazar]

Ohh I'm ready for this super calm and collected, and totally not toxic comments section 😂 Edit: 13:16 ohhh that's where you're wrong ChainBear... that's EXACTLY what I wanna see.

[@penusliski]

Let's see if Lewis returns the favor and land on top of Max' head this time 😂

[@javiazar]

@@penusliski Spicy

[@Laspatoadv]

Great analysis.

[@JainZar1]

I am looking forward to the end-of-year gameshow. :D

[@DavideBorsatto]

You did miss the part where Max let Lewis though again, and Hamilton slowed down and 100% intentionally ran Verstappen out at the last corner. Ok, Max was trying to pull the same move of letting Lewis go right before the DRS detection, but Hamilton deliberately went wide to push Verstappen out of the track. How is that any different from what Max did in T1? I believe they also need to fix the missing rule of having no maximum distance between two cars during formation laps. Now that Hamilton showed everyone they can do this, what's preventing anyone from going insanely slow and having the cars on front wait forever before they start? It's silly.

[@fernandoscheibler7004]

When we had the restart, meaning end of first red flag, and within a few corners, another red flag.. shouldn't all the positions had remained the same? There wasn't a lap completed from one red flag to the other, I always thought they used the positions of the last completed lap before the red flag was flown. (taking an example from Monaco '84) Can someone enlighten me?

[@vsm1456]

oh, that's a good point

[@Gladzooks]

I think that applies only if the race is ended prematurely with a red flag? But if it’s restarted then the order is decided from the point the red flag was waved? I thought the same thing as you when I watched the race but looking at previous red flag incidents this seems to be the rule? I haven’t looked at the rule lol though so I may be wrong

[@scooooter]

i don't need title battle this weekend. all i want for christmas is naked chain bear in the 2021 season video lmao

[@ChrisCore97]

Im so Hyped for this years prediction Challenge 😂

[@Metis1337]

I've got a quick question - I was rewatching some older seasons and noticed during safety car restarts the field were a lot closer together, often we could get the entire grid in one camera shot, with cars -nearly- side by side, now its more linear and one at a time with the grid often spread dow an entire straight. Was there a major rule change brought in to stop/change this at some point?

[@dimm__]

.

[@LennyMarcusNY]

No rule changes on the safety car but cars used be a lot lighter, narrower and shorter. There wasn't as much of an issue with following closely either.

[@ian323183]

A lot of the reaction to this race has really pissed me off. For example people who probably have an IQ lower than 20 claiming that it’s all a fix! Yours is the first that I agree with on almost all points however I don’t agree that it was a “farce”. For me it was the most exciting, dramatic and incident packed race I have seen in over 30 years of watching F1. I was on edge the whole race! The track is unique, provides something completely different and is as far removed from a Sochi bore fest as is possible. As you have pointed out in the video, there was absolutely no issue with the safety car and then red flag. The teams who did bring their drivers in should have considered that a red flag was a strong possibility before bringing their drivers in and as you pointed out, watching a third of the race behind the safety car is rubbish! As for the red flag rules around new tyres etc, keep it as is. You potentially get an advantage with a safety car, same here, it’s part of the mix and the rules are there for good reason. Bottas slowing down, as you said, grey area but nothing too extreme went on. They should perhaps change this rule to a maximum distance behind the car in front under a safety car (once you have caught up) to prevent a repeat. Hamilton slowing down behind Max on the way to the second start. Well Hamilton knew the rules, Verstappen did not. It pays to study the rules in any game you play. The rule should be tightened however to ten cars to prevent a repeat. Masi did absolutely nothing wrong in adjusting the grid. People really need to get a grip about this one. It was clear that Verstappen’s overtake was not legal and he would ultimately have been penalised by the stewards. Masi also had the authority to do this and was not making it up as he went along. He did make a mistake with Ocon, yes however that was quickly sorted. Max break tested Hamilton, disgraceful. Should he have faced more severe penalty, perhaps but I don’t really have an issue with how it ended up. Totally agree that there needs to be a better procedure when cars are told to swap places back. I for one can’t wait for the next race at Jedda in March!

I didn't know mind reading has already been invented. Neat. Thanks for typing it out so I don't have to. Cheers!

[@jackw7714]

Out of interest, why do you say Masi had the authority to do this and wasn't making it up. I can't see anything in the rules which allow this, but I do see things which contradict it

[@ian323183]

@@jackw7714 I should have made it clearer, he could make the offer but not command them to change position. If the offer was not taken then Masi, as race director could and would have referred it to the stewards (result would have been a foregone conclusion). As pointed out in the video this would have taken even longer and would have resulted in a time penalty or in Max having to give the position back anyway.

[@ian323183]

@@seb9940 I’m neutral when it comes to Lewis and Max. You are clearly not. Lewis didn’t pass because of the DRS zone and he thought that Max was up to something. Max break tested him, fact. The data is there, its as simple as that. What on earth would Lewis have to gain from hitting him? Nothing!

[@Anushkumar-lq6hv]

This was the best video examining what happened in Jeddah