The "History Awaits" campaign which was an all or nothing for Liberty Media (F1 owners) trying to win over a younger audience. All for Verstappen and nothing if Hamilton won so everything was on the line with the aim of tapping into the US market.
The 2021 Formula One season is still being talked about for all the wrong reasons and will continue to do so until the final race result is over turned. I am sure most of you know what happened as let us just say racing protocol was not followed and the race result was manipulated resulting in Max Verstappen wining the drivers Championship.
Recently a number of videos have emerged highlighting how the manipulation unfolded which showed how many people were involved. Lewis Hamilton was leading the race on lap 53 with 5 laps remaining and the first clue that something was not right was when Nicholas Latifi the Williams driver was told by his race engineer "it has to be this lap" which made no sense until he crashed on that lap at corner 14. Looking back this means that certain people in the Williams team were in the know and something had been planned.
This triggered the safety car and with only 4 laps remaining now this would have guaranteed that the race would finish under the safety car. The protocol that the FIA have as their rules and regulations is that lapped cars have to unlap themselves once the track is safe to race before racing can then get underway. The average lost laps to a safety car is 5.5 laps plus the one lap for any cars moving past unlapping themselves.
Fernando Alonso who was racing for Alpine Renault was heard over the radio talking to his engineer that they are running out of time to make this work. What was he implying as it is now obvious he was in on the manipulation and there were multiple teams and not just Red Bull.
The commentators who have been doing this job for years with Martin Brundle being involved behind the microphone for over 28 years knowing the racing regulations and protocol like the back of his hand. He mentioned that they should get two laps of racing after the safety car which should not have been the case as there was no time unless you broke the rules.
The amount of people involved is what raises eye brows and this will eventually all come out because humans keeping secrets always let something slip. There are just too many moving parts and suggest there must be other drivers and team members in the know.
Perez who is Verstappen's team mate was not part of this as he was called in to retire the car which he replied "really". The race was going to finish behind a safety car and at the time Perez was in 3rd position. No team would retire their car behind a safety car knowing they are throwing away points and prize money.
Michael Masi the race director was just the conductor who made things happen and the others in the know were the orchestra. It would be nice to know how many of the drivers and team personnel were in on this and were they paid or threatened? I say threatened as if they did not comply it could affect their career negatively.
I am not a Lewis Hamilton fan and I am simply a sports fan who enjoys many sports including Formula One. When something is not right and there is something crooked happening like in this particular race then those involved need to be removed and legal proceedings should follow. Unfortunately so much money is at stake and this was the year before Liberty Media were targeting the US market. What better way to market the sport than to have a new champion in an edge of your seat final race of the season that is reminiscent of a Hollywood movie.