Looking to ramp up the drama from the outset, the FIA pits Max against Lewis at the official Thursday press conference.

Ahead of what sections of the media will no doubt bill the 'Showdown of the Century', the 'Fight F1 has been waiting for', the sport is clearly not missing a single opportunity to stoke the flames.

While pundits are already predicting that things will get nasty at Yas Marina, the sport has seized the opportunity to ramp up the ill-feeling and drama by pitting Max Verstappen against Lewis Hamilton in Thursday's official press conference.

As if this isn't enough, just before the pair are seen face-to-face for the first time this weekend, their respective teammates go head-to-head shortly before.

While topping the bill on Friday, shortly after the opening session, Christian Horner and Toto Wolff share the stage as Formula One refuses to leave anything to chance, keen to ensure that long before the lights go out on Sunday the atmosphere is at fever pitch.

Of course, they've missed out on the opportunity of putting Helmut Marko alongside Michael Masi, Anthony Hamilton and Jos Verstappen or the two teams' respective sporting directors.

Indeed, one wonders why they haven't gone the whole hog and scrapped the press conference in favour of arm wrestling.

In the wake of last weekend's shenanigans, the powers that be should be playing down any animosity, instead, in true Drive to Survive style they are ramping it up to the hilt.

Ironically, Verstappen, who is refusing to take part in the Netflix series because it paints a false picture of the relationships within the paddock, has allowed himself to be placed centre stage - almost as the pantomime villain - without the opportunity for rebuttal.

Meanwhile, TV pundits are busy rehearsing their lines, expressing their hopes and fears, outwardly wanting it kept clean and the championship decided on track in the best racing traditions, all the while hoping that come Sunday it is the exact opposite and that the gloves are well and truly off.

And while officials should be looking to calm the situation, it appears they are actively, and purposely, fanning the flames.

And... action!

LATEST NEWS

more news >

LATEST IMAGES

galleries >

Click to go to the main galleries section

READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by Defiant, 08/12/2021 19:36

"ChickenFarmerF1 I agree with that.

Max is 100% correct and on point with his Netflix stance though. Gotta give him credit for that one at least.

This whole WWF-1 Vince Mcmahon hyped up staged nonsense is killing what tiny bit of a sport was left and finishing the transition into an entertainment spectacle."

Rating: Positive (3) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

2. Posted by ChickenFarmerF1, 08/12/2021 16:20

"@Motorsport-fan - Max has every motivation to do so. He wins on countbacks for wins, so if neither finish in Abu Dhabi he wins. Hamilton must finish in the points and outscoring Max by at least 1 point to win the WDC. So he cannot crash out.

Too bad the stewards didn't impose the 5sec penalty on Max in Brazil they should have. That would have put him 3 points down on Lewis, and would force him to be sure he finished the race to have a chance of winning. Lewis is certainly aggressive, but I don't think he'd deliberately crash like that to win the WDC. Max, I'm not so sure about on that."

Rating: Positive (2) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

3. Posted by Motorsport-fan, 08/12/2021 15:15

"Lets hope for a clean race @Hobgoblin but there is every chance of a Senna / Prost outcome and that is what the media / tv / Netflix wants and I think Max just might provide it."

Rating: Positive (5) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

4. Posted by Hobgoblin, 08/12/2021 13:23

"Let's just hope that for the sake of a clean race, all concerned are reminded of the following from Jerez 1997:

Following the incident where Schumacher turned in on Villeneuve in an attempt to prevent him passing [it didn't work, Schumacher was out, Villeneuve finished the race], "The World Council decided to exclude Michael Schumacher from the results of the 1997 FIA Formula One World Championship for drivers."

Mosley insisted the FIA would not have allowed Schumacher to win the championship by taking Villeneuve out. “Schumacher might well have won the title in 1997 and that would have been Ferrari’s dream after such a long spell without it but we would still have cancelled it out,” he said."

Rating: Positive (7) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

5. Posted by Redphyve, 08/12/2021 10:29

"@stitch431

You do need to send us the location of this alternate reality you inhabit."

Rating: Positive (1) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

6. Posted by Editor, 08/12/2021 10:22

"@ Stitch431

Wait, what?

You're suggesting they're adding alcohol to the situation?

Ye Gods!"

Rating: Positive (1) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

7. Posted by Cobra Driver, 08/12/2021 10:09

"One wonders if this "storm in a teacup" garbage is another attempt by F1 et al to deflect the fact that the so-called powerplant in these cars still sound like Singer sewing machines. Oh for a lovely V8! Please don't give my details to the environmental crowd.
"

Rating: Positive (2) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

8. Posted by Stitch431, 08/12/2021 10:09

"Well the FIA has done its best to get them both at the same level of pints, and now they show their true colors ..."

Rating: Positive (1) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

9. Posted by Spindoctor, 08/12/2021 10:01

"This kind of hype usually presages a death spiral. In the case of F1 I suspect they're looking to turn it into a new form of "Entertainment" in which the "on-track action" is merely the pretext for the assorted controversies, spin-offs & (they hope) punch-ups off track.

I read a great SciFi story many years ago in which someone was transported into the future from the 1950's. When he arrived, he was told that cars travelled at huge speeds, people were all brilliantly intelligent & humanity had "grown up". It transpired that in fact the "300mph" cars only went at 30 & intelligent AIs molly-coddled the near brain-dead citizens whose mental capacity had been eroded by hundreds of years of exposure to mindless Media pap.

This sounds familiar......"

Rating: Positive (2) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

10. Posted by Max Noble, 08/12/2021 9:19

"…it would appear Turk Thrust, and the scripting gurus, have not left the building. They have however been drinking the stuff that sent Van Gogh over the edge…!"

Rating: Positive (8) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

A predictably early clash at Abu Dhabi

LATEST NEWS

RELATED ARTICLES

LATEST IMAGES

POST A COMMENT

Post your comment

READERS COMMENTS

Share this page