Balancing justice?
12/19/2021
Max Verstappen won the world championship a week ago, last Sunday, on the very last lap, just a few kilometers before the finish line against Lewis Hamilton. The media, especially in England, screamed 'injustice'.
But let's remember 2008, when Felipe Massa, who could not have done anything better, brilliantly won the last race in a Ferrari and was world champion for around 21 seconds. But it was precisely in those few seconds, just a few hundred meters before the finish line, that Timo Glock lost his fifth place to a certain Lewis Hamilton, who was able to snatch the title from the Brazilian, who had already thought it was safe.
For me, the events of last Sunday are somehow equalizing justice.
Mercedes made too many mistakes, so Toto Wolff and Lewis Hamilton have to bite their own butts. First of all, I wonder why they didn't put the exceptional talent George Russell in the Mercedes this year. It's impossible to win a close race with Valtteri Bottas, and he's usually not where he should be at the decisive moment. His colleague in eighth place was unable to offer his team-mate a protective shield in the same way that Sergio Perez did for Verstappen. Hats off, that was absolutely brilliant.
Secondly, Mercedes were too sure that there would be no restart and didn't bring Hamilton into the pits for a tire change. With the completely worn tires, he didn't stand the slightest chance against the wild Dutchman. Mercedes still wanted to appeal, but thankfully they decided not to contest the missed championship, which can only be good for the sport.
A thought that came from Fernando Alonso could perhaps be pursued further: Why don't you crown two world champions in exceptional situations like this? This situation would probably only be used once every hundred cold winters. Both opponents really deserved the title in 2021, perhaps the Dutchman a little more, as he was more successful in terms of numbers (race wins 10:8, pole positions 10:5 and fastest race laps 6:6).
In the end, however, we were able to experience an absolutely brilliant season with many highs and lows between the two rivals. On the whole, however, they behaved very fairly, in contrast to their team bosses, who always had to intervene and became a real nuisance even for TV viewers.
We are already looking forward to the big fight in 2022, where hopefully two more candidates, George Russell and Lando Norris, will move into the spotlight.
