Abu Dhabi live.

I will make a point of thanking them regardless.

What a farcical ending, I don't think I'll ever watch another F1 race again in my lifetime. Change the rules on the spur of the moment to let only a few lapped cars unlap themselves and undo all the work that Hamilton put in throughout the race

I enjoyed it.
Surprised by the end but did like the shootout on the last lap for the win.
Unconventional and like nothing I’ve seen in 40 years of watching F1 but glad to see a new champion.
Hamilton is a great driver and the result today doesn’t change that.

Farcical ending. A sport that has results decided like that is not a sport.

Can you imagine your team being 4-0 up in a match with 7 mins to go, a player goes off injured, and the ref says; “next goal wins!”.

Brilliant result but the stewards seemed to not want to get involved in anything controversial so ended up making a daft decision. But just like inmost sports the ref made a call that decided the result.

Merc had the opportunity to pit twice and took the risk not to do so Sometimes shit happens.

I’d have penalised Merc repeatedly for all there irritating messages to Masi. Telling him it’s not acceptable to put out a safety car in the race was just daft. Irritate the ref and expect to get shit decision that go against you.

What a championship it’s been. Can’t wait for drive to survive to go behind the scenes.

All this “I’m never watching another race as long as I live”, what cobblers. Ever since F1, motor racing even, has existed it’s always been like today. Dont like it watch tiddlywinks. Though it might be a bit too exciting for you.

There's lots of comments to that effect across social media. I see your sentiment Ed but Massi isn't the ref he's the race controller and he was determining how the race should restart and decided to go the route of doing something that hasn't been done before and isn't in the rules. It was an incredibly clumsy way to handle the situation given the ramifications. If it had been earlier in the season or had Max passing not changed the result of the championship then he might get away with it but making a call that was so skewed in Max's favour so late in the championship has put the result into disrepute and leaves the FIA looking frankly stupid. I can't be annoyed with Max because you know damn well that Lewis would have done the same.

There's not even any way they can really resolve this without getting egg on their face. Penalise Max and Lewis wins the title but let it go and Max keeps it. Either way the driver in question is now left with a tainted drivers title and its completely unfair on the losing team which will cause an almighty row that will go on for months. What a mess.

^
me.
I've been somewhat disillusioned with F1 due to various rules/politics over the years but today was an absolute farce. It would have been really great to see Max battle through the backmarkers on the last lap and if he had then won, fantastic. But with worn tyres on Hamilton's car, what was done was to effectively fix the result as it was obvious Max would get past with little effort

I think Verstappen's overtake on Hamilton on the opening lap was a fair move. Verstappen deserved the lead. Mercedes protest about overtaking over safety car was not valid, good to see that thrown out. However, the fact that only those five specific cars got allowed to unlap themselves was ridiculous. I'm not sure what should happen in this situation. I have never watched a motor race where unlapping is like pick n' mix at a sweet shop. You either unlap them all, or none at all. I fully understand that people didn't want the race to finish under Safety Car, and there to be a last-lap shootout between the title contenders. But you can't just manufacture a scenario because it might be exciting. 

I can't disagree with any of that. Abu Dhabi is usually a snoozer where people sleep through it. Not today! 

The issue here is that Mercedes would have been counting on it taking a long time for all the cars to unlap themselves, which was precisely what should have happened according to the regulations.

At Abu Dhabi they need to ditch the hotel section. It kills the racing. 

It does seem that Mercedes protests have both been thrown out but you can bet your ass this won't be the last we hear of it and we'll probably now see a legal battle that could take months to resolve because whatever the stewards make of it the fact is that the race director decided to make up a new rule on the spin for the sake of trying to make good telly. When the result was to change the outcome of the world title it was foolish and incredibly irresponsible.

You can muck around like that halfway through a mid season race when two midfield drivers are out in front but not on the last lap of the seasons last race with the two tied championship contenders out front.

No one wins from this. If Max never wins another title people will forever say he only only beat Lewis because of the race director and if Lewis gets the title and doesn't win another he'll forever be known for only beating Schumachers record because Toto complained to the stewards.

The trouble is there is nothing they can do to make it right. They can't penalise Max because he did nothing wrong. They can't shorten the race because there was no reason to stop it early. They can't penalise themselves and at the end of the day the real loser is Lewis who had the race win pulled from his grasp through no fault of his own. Its left us in a position where RB are smugly grinning away not being able to believe their luck and Mercedes are looking like sore losers, neither of which is pleasant to see and is a sad way to end what has been one of the greatest F1 season I've ever watched.

Not even close.  The business side of the equation won out today pure and simple.

I agree.  Mercedes made the decision not to put Lewis for tyres based in the rules, as there was next to no chance they would clear the car/debris, let all the lapped cars past and be able to release the safety car before the end of the race.  I bet Max / Red Bull wouldn’t have been as gracious as Lewis if they hadn’t won today and it’s their attitude and behaviour that annoys me, I’ve always been a big Max fan but really struggle with than now….

The best man didn’t win today, but it’s been a great championship, I’ve really enjoyed it and look forward to next year.