The Formula 1 championship round at Abu Dhabi seemed like a foregone conclusion with a handful of laps to go. Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes had been dominant all day, leading from the start and drawing out a few tenths a lap over rival Max Verstappen’s Red Bull. Verstappen, who had pitted for fresh tires during a virtual safety car, gained track position as teammate Sergio Perez held up Hamilton. Then Williams driver Nicholas Latifi crashed, bringing out the safety car.
As the laps wound down, Verstappen pitted again for fresh soft tires, re-entering behind several lapped cars. Race Director Michael Masi indicated that the lapped cars would not be allowed to pass the safety car, giving Hamilton the advantage in a one-lap shootout. But Masi changed his mind, allowing the cars between the championship contenders to pass Hamilton while the safety car pitted, and the race was on.
Verstappen restarted right on Hamilton’s tail, and his fresh rubber overpowered Hamilton’s old and fading hard tires by turn five, giving Verstappen his first world driving championship. But that championship will have an asterisk, as Mercedes immediately protested the finish. Those protests were disallowed, and Verstappen was confirmed champion four hours after the checkered flag flew. Mercedes then threatened court action and Red Bull threatened to pull out of F1 if Max’s championship was overturned. At last word, Hamilton had persuaded Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff to abort the legal appeal.
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So what exactly is the controversy? It revolves around FIA Formula 1 Regulations Articles 48.12 and 15.3. The first states that “Any cars lapped by the leader will be required to pass the cars on the lead lap,” and further states, “Once the last lapped car has passed the leader the safety car will return to the pits on the following lap.” The key words in that last sentence are “last” and “following.”
Only the cars between the leaders were allowed to pass, not the lapped cars behind Verstappen. And the safety car did not wait until the following lap to enter the pits. However, the stewards determined that Article 15.3, which allows the race director to control the use of the safety car, brought into play Article 48.13 which states that once the message “Safety car in this lap” has been displayed, it is mandatory to withdraw the safety car at the end of that lap.”
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It seems that Race Director Michael Masi was caught on the horns of a dilemma. He wanted the championship decided with a race, not behind the safety car. If he had left the lapped cars between the two contenders, Hamilton would likely have won. Removing the lapped cars effectively handed the victory to Verstappen with his new soft tires.
The better solution would have been to red-flag the race while the marshals cleaned up Latifi’s accident. This would have allowed Hamilton to mount fresh tires and all the lapped cars to line up after the lead-lap cars. This would have made it an even sprint to the finish for the championship contenders. But that’s not what Masi did, and now everybody has to live with it.
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Other drivers weighed in, including former F1 champions Jensen Button and Damon Hill, and none took anything away from either Max or Lewis. Both of them are amazing drivers, head and shoulders above the rest of the F1 field. The blame for the sour taste of a tainted championship lies firmly on the shoulders of the race director and race control. As recently-crowned NASCAR champion Kyle Larson, attending his first F1 race, noted, “It seems like they bent the rules a little bit.” Amen, Champ.
