What did the end of the Abu Dhabi VC show? Conflicting opinions, Masi bent the rules and protests didn’t help

Lewis Hamilton’s reign is over, Max Verstappen wins the world title. But the end of the season carries with it a certain aftertaste, sickeningly bitter for Mercedes and Hamilton fans. What actually happened at the end of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix?

Let’s start with the events of the 54th round of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. It was on this circuit, at turn 14, that Nicholas Latifi crashed his Williams. As the Canadian driver later explained, after a fight with Mick Schumacher’s Haas, he went off the track and found himself in a dirt track.

He subsequently fails to negotiate turn 14 due to the dirt on his tyres and crashes hard into the barrier.

It was a moment that, a few minutes later, would significantly affect the rest of the race and almost win the championship for Max Verstappen. The person responsible is clearly Michael Masi, as race director.

But if it hadn’t been for Latifi’s accident, Hamilton would very likely have won the overall victory. The seven-time world champion clearly had the upper hand in terms of pace during Sunday’s performance. With just a few laps to go in the last race of the season, he had a lead of almost eleven seconds over second-placed Verstappen.

Of course, yellow flags were waved after the crash at the Yas Marina circuit. Masi also had no choice but to call the safety car. For the moment, everything is still in order, at least as far as the regulations are concerned.

However, the damage to Latifi Williams was too extensive and consequently there was a lot of debris and clutter in the area of the incriminated turn 14 that needed to be removed with the help of the track marshals.

After some time, I observe with admiration how much can happen in Formula 1 in three or four laps. During the debris clearing, all the cars lined up behind the safety car, but not in the right order.

And in this case, the rules are quite clear – the safety car then instructs all the drivers who are a lap back to pass it and line up behind the safety car in their respective positions.

Once they have completed the entire lap and are in the correct order, the safety car can pit at the end of that lap and only then can the race be restarted according to the rules.

It should be noted that at the time of circling the safety car, Hamilton was still in first place, chased by Verstappen. But there were five drivers between them who were one lap behind the race leader. And here comes a decision that no one seemed to understand.

Masi announced two and a half laps before the end of the race that exactly those monoblocs that were between Hamilton and Verstappen would not be able to overtake the safety car, and if the race was restarted, it would be in this form.

However, after pressure from Christian Horner, the Red Bull boss, Masi reversed his decision. All cars going for a lap for a short while have been given permission to overtake the safety car. Less than 30 seconds later, however, he changes his verdict again and instructs that only those between Hamilton and Verstappen can overtake the safety car.

It should be noted here that if that standardised procedure had been followed at this point, with less than two laps to go in the last race of the season, the race would have been finished behind the safety car and the title would have been decided. In this configuration, Hamilton would be celebrating his eighth title.

The race director, however, proceeded to do something that is not even well described in the regulations. He simply dropped the drivers who were “tied” for the championship, and although they didn’t manage to complete the one lap required, the race was restarted on lap 58.

Personally, I can understand that Masi didn’t want the title to be decided under yellow flags, so he wanted to let both players race. It’s just that here we have a number of arguments and conflicting opinions as to why this was all wrong in the first place.

What I think we all perceive is that Masi has interpreted the rules in different ways at certain points. That needs to be openly acknowledged. We don’t have to go far for an illustrative example. Just think of the offer he made to Red Bull at the penultimate Saudi Grand Prix.

I would like to take this opportunity to mention one aspect of it. Former CEO Charlie Whiting may have been criticised for many things in the past, but what he said was true. It is just that the current directorate, headed by Masi, has let it get to the point that we have seen in the last two major awards.

“Trading” with positions or pushing some ideas that actually don’t even have a proper support in the rules, that’s already a strong coffee even in Formula 1. Yes, objectively, we can admit that Mercedes and Red Bull put Masi under a lot of pressure throughout the season. But again – how can a race director actually allow that to happen?

After all, this is something that Masi has been criticised for all season long by various experts and especially fans. And what is perhaps even sadder, nothing has changed about it. Mercedes then wasted no time in lodging two protests, one concerning this very issue.

Their statement said that if the rules had actually been followed, Hamilton would be celebrating his eighth and record-breaking world championship title.

Masi, however, argued before the sporting commissaires that the purpose of the rule in question was to remove cars that interfered with the race leaders. He then also added that the teams had previously agreed to finish the race under green flags if the condition of the race allowed it.

The stewards then argued that the posting and withdrawal of the safety car is the prerogative of the race director and that this prerogative and the posting of the “safety car on this lap” message is superior to the procedure of allowing drivers a lap back in front of the safety car.

According to the sports commissioners, Masi’s decision is therefore supported by the regulations. However, it is hard to find a race in the past where something similar happened. However, the chaos that has been caused is spoiling the feeling of the season.

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