An apology from the FIA for Abu Dhabi? Hamilton said he never expected it, but the automobile federation has admitted its mistake and is changing the rules

Echoes of last season – perhaps this is how Lewis Hamilton’s words and the FIA’s rule changes could be interpreted. Although the fact remains that the FIA’s actions in this regard were somewhat strange. Is the automobile federation admitting a mistake with its decision?

The events in Abu Dhabi have undoubtedly provoked a number of conflicting opinions, both from the media and various experts, not least in the fan camps. During the post-season, not much has happened on the subject.

Lewis Hamilton and Toto Wolff did not attend the FIA gala, the automobile federation itself then promised to investigate the events in Abu Dhabi, following which they issued several statements as they debated amongst themselves what actually happened at the last round of the 2021 season and that is far from all.

Last December, Jean Todt was replaced as FIA president by Mohammed Ben Sulayem, who also joined the investigation. And it was he who subsequently dismissed the incumbent race director Michael Masi, who left behind a series of highly controversial decisions, particularly in the 2021 season.

So from the 2022 season, Formula 1 will have two such directors, plus there will be a VRC (Virtual Race Control) to oversee F1 races in addition to their directors, which is intended to perform a similar function to that of a video assistant referee in football.

The rule on the deployment of the safety car has undergone a special modification. For example, as mentioned by F1 Sport, the current sporting regulations, specifically Article 55.13, state the following.

If the race director deems it safe to do so, and the message “cars a lap back can now overtake” has been sent to all competitors via the official messaging system, all cars that have been passed by the leader for a lap must overtake the leading cars and the safety car.

However, the only change is that the FIA has replaced the word “any”, which was originally in the above interpretation of the rules, with “all”, which is in fact indicated in bold in the text.

Hamilton also demanded that the FIA publish an official report on its decision so that fans can fully understand what happened in Abu Dhabi.

The FIA did indeed publish this at Hamilton’s request, with Wolff saying in his statement that they can finally close this chapter as he believes the FIA is moving in the right direction. He said it is crucial that the automobile federation acknowledged the human factor and the associated error in the final decision of the season.

“I never expected an apology from the FIA and it’s not something I really focused on. The fact is that at least there is transparency and if I admit that it was a human error, it is a positive step forward. Unfortunately we can’t go back and change the past,” Hamilton said on the subject, quoted by Motorsport.

The seven-time world champion then goes on to mention that the entire team is currently focusing on this season and the further development of the car.

It should be noted that the FIA meeting was somewhat strange in the sense that its representatives probably hesitated for a long time what decision to actually make public. That is to say, from an objective point of view, admitting human error probably shouldn’t have taken about two and a half months.

Now, however, that chapter is finally closed, and from a fan perspective, hopefully no one will have to revisit it.

Sources