and gained an advantage by not being passed. I do think that Max forced him off by a late move but at least Max stayed on the track. Max earned the corner and Lewis should have been required to give the place back to him.

Strategy-wise, yes, Lewis should have pitted under the VSC even if it meant giving up track position. There were plenty of laps left to overtake Max on what would have been lousy tires by that point. Not pitting Lewis on the final Safety Car was the right call. There were only 5 laps remaining and it was going to take a while to recover Latifi's car. Very strong possibility of ending the race under caution, in which case Lewis would have given up the championship by pitting.

My complaint isn't so much who won the race or the championship, just that a single individual, Masi, had so big a hand in it by ignoring the rule book. If they're aren't going to use the rule book then why have it? Why was Lewis DQ'd from qualifying in Brazil for an extra half-millimeter of DRS opening? Rule Book. Why was Max told to give back a place (and essentially the win) at Saudi for overtaking off the track? Rule Book.

The only thing consistent from the race director this year was inconsistency.