[OutsiderFan]

Exactly what happened yesterday? Did Hamilton not realize that Max was letting him by or was Max playing cat and mouse and hoping Hamilton would hit the wall?

As I understand it...

The stewards told Mercedes Verstappen was ordered to give Lewis the (first) place back for passing him outside the lines (which seemed like the right call to me), but Mercedes didn't clearly hear that and was distracted by other channels so never passed it on to Lewis. Hamilton wasn't expecting Max to slow down where he did, and he probably thought Max was going to accelerate, but he didn't, and Lewis hit him from behind. That said, who knows what Max was trying to create there. It was very odd and to me a classic "accident" in the sense a series of things happened in a certain way that led to a failure of some sort when they combined.

Max was penalized 5 seconds for one unsafe pass and after the race was over he got an additional 10 seconds for another illegal pass. But no matter, he still finished second. 

After thinking through it all, at the time Lewis hit Max it was controversial, but when you see how the race finished, with Hamilton winning by like 8 seconds even without the penalties to Max factored in, it seemed like much ado about nothing.  The fact is Verstappen was on Medium tires and they were worn out and Hamilton was on Hard tires that lasted longer.  Even IF Max wasn't told to give the place back and Lewis didn't hit him, Hamilton was going to win that race because of the tire situation. If Max was on Hard tires like Hamilton maybe it would have been different?

The crazy thing is that Hamilton was able to win even with the right wing damage. Literally, the championship could have been decided if Hamilton's wing was so damaged he would have had to pit for a new nose.  The fact he was the fastest car after the damage was remarkable.

Anyway, the result was perfect. The World Driving Championship is now tied and the order Hamilton and Verstappen finish in the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi decides it. Couldn't ask for anything more than that if you are F1 or a fan of it!

[OutsiderFan]

Exactly what happened yesterday? Did Hamilton not realize that Max was letting him by or was Max playing cat and mouse and hoping Hamilton would hit the wall?

As I understand it...

The stewards told Mercedes Verstappen was ordered to give Lewis the (first) place back for passing him outside the lines (which seemed like the right call to me), but Mercedes didn't clearly hear that and was distracted by other channels so never passed it on to Lewis. Hamilton wasn't expecting Max to slow down where he did, and he probably thought Max was going to accelerate, but he didn't, and Lewis hit him from behind. That said, who knows what Max was trying to create there. It was very odd and to me a classic "accident" in the sense a series of things happened in a certain way that led to a failure of some sort when they combined.

Max was penalized 5 seconds for one unsafe pass and after the race was over he got an additional 10 seconds for another illegal pass. But no matter, he still finished second. 

After thinking through it all, at the time Lewis hit Max it was controversial, but when you see how the race finished, with Hamilton winning by like 8 seconds even without the penalties to Max factored in, it seemed like much ado about nothing.  The fact is Verstappen was on Medium tires and they were worn out and Hamilton was on Hard tires that lasted longer.  Even IF Max wasn't told to give the place back and Lewis didn't hit him, Hamilton was going to win that race because of the tire situation. If Max was on Hard tires like Hamilton maybe it would have been different?

The crazy thing is that Hamilton was able to win even with the right wing damage. Literally, the championship could have been decided if Hamilton's wing was so damaged he would have had to pit for a new nose.  The fact he was the fastest car after the damage was remarkable.

Anyway, the result was perfect. The World Driving Championship is now tied and the order Hamilton and Verstappen finish in the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi decides it. Couldn't ask for anything more than that if you are F1 or a fan of it!