QUESTIONS ABOUT RACE CONTROL’S PRIORITIES OVERSHADOW MAIDEN TITLE FOR VERSTAPPEN
Monday 13th December by Tom Ball
A dramatic end to perhaps the most dramatic of F1 seasons. An incredible championship battle that ends with a decider that, unfortunately, will be argued about until the end of time. Max Verstappen, much like his rival, is a deserved winner. However, the flying dutchman’s first triumph is overshadowed by baffling and contradictory stewardship that raises question’s about Formula 1’s regulatory body’s priorities.
For the most part, the race had not lived up to the drama 2021 had to offer, Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes’ race pace seemed to have wrapped up the title in comfortable and perhaps, anti-climactic fashion. Mercedes had the better car, Lewis got the better start and as we all expected, the championship was to be won on the track.
A late tank-slapper from Nicolas Latifi forced a safety car, bunching up the field, reducing Hamilton’s 12-second lead and allowing his title rival to stop for a fresh set of soft compound tyres. Red Bull had nothing to lose and the stop was a no brainer.
FIA Race control originally informed the field that the lapped cars, including the five running between Hamilton and Verstappen, would not overtake the safety car to re-order the field but stay in their current on-track order. The second half of the penultimate lap saw that instruction changed, leaving Hamilton in the clutches of his title rival while being much less racy, just a few laps after holding a considerable lead.
Although a one-lap shootout on the final lap of the final race, with the two tied on points, seems like the ultimate winner takes all scenario, Lewis, was to many fans and everyone through the paddock, a sitting duck and was left out to dry by a confusing evening for race control.
Formula 1 is a team sport, Mercedes have dominated the hybrid era through their team own hard work and brilliance, Mercedes had, by all accounts, the better car and judging by the start, the better driver on the day.
Michael Masi and Race Control’s decision to only allow the cars between the two title rivals to un-lap themselves and no other lapped cars manufactures a brilliant climax to an incredible season but essentially rips a well-earned race win and in turn, championship away from Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes.
There is a lot of money involved in this sport and Michael Masi’s attempt to make the race about him and his team have diverted a lot of financial muscle into different areas by their decision to not align themselves with the rulebook they are employed to enforce.
This raises questions as to why were the rules so selectively enforced in perhaps the highest leverage moment in the history of the sport. The obvious answer is something that has been eluded to before. Race Control did not want the race to end under a safety car.
The safety car’s purpose is to dramatically decrease the speed of the field to clear any on-track hazards. Its service to the competition is to maximise safety in an incredibly dangerous sport. Therefore, saying that you will not let the safety car stop a racing finish to the race sets a dangerous precedent for the priorities of the FIA.
The FIA’s job is to regulate the sport just like they do with the support championships and Formula-E, there should not be any form of compromise between spectacle and competition. This stewardship was conducted to allow the two title rivals to battle on the last lap of the race. Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton had, by their merit, built up a lead and won this race on all fronts.
Many compromises are made throughout sports to increase entertainment while also remaining fair. However, as stated before, this is the highest leverage moment in the sport’s history. It was very obvious to many fans and certainly the FIA that Verstappen gained an advantage, through no merit of his own that ultimately won him the title and lost it for his competitor.
It is not Verstappen or Red Bull’s fault that the safety car happened, nor was it Hamilton or Mercedes’. On the other hand, this is exactly the issue. The FIA’s regulation of this race has very clearly decided its outcome. However, this isn’t a genuine mistake, Michael Masi and his team have very quickly manufactured the race’s ending and it has cost a driver and a team a World Championship.
Hamilton’s radio message after Verstappen completed the move on him described the situation as ‘manipulated’. With all the back and forth about agenda and biases this season, this is perhaps the most flagrant example of influenced decision making. By no means will anyone make accusations of corruption within the race’s decision making. However, the financial and commercial interests of the sport have got in the way of its competition.
This raises the debate about professional competition. The United States’ interest in creating spectacles for their sport’s fans sacrifices competition and the FIA seemed to have exercised this attitude at perhaps the worst time they could do so.
The introduction of Sprint Race’s this season was a format change that only benefitted the excitement of the sport. However, the sprint race’s did not hold the sport back in terms of fair competition.
The success of Netflix’s ‘Formula 1: Drive To Survive’ series has somewhat catapulted the popularity. Liberty Media’s takeover of the sport has changed many of the commercial decision makings and for the better, the sport is no bigger than it is now and we have had a world title fight to match it.
Nevertheless, it feels like what happened at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was something that would not have happened before the era of Liberty Media.
If the race had ended behind a safety car, many would think of it as a shame but not question its effect on the result. Red Bull Chief, Christian Horner said to Sky Sports during the race that Verstappen would need a ‘miracle’ to win. He’d conceded defeat. If the stewards had red-flagged the race, allowed the two to race off the grid with fresh tyres then not many would have had a problem with that.
However, a ‘miracle’ did happen, besides a miracle possibly implying something out of everyone’s control. The FIA certainly had the opportunity to keep this race under control, it is still up in the air as to why they did not.
They threw out Mercedes’ appeal, unsurprising considering that a confession of mistakes would have further damaged the FIA’s reputation. However, many will not be shocked to hear rumours that Mercedes are not done with this on a legal level.
We are entering a new era for the sport which is meant to tighten the field, increase competition and provide better racing on the track. Regulation changes that are welcomed by the entire Formula 1 world. However, this race was an overreach of this goal. Michael Masi and race control are intelligent enough to have known that making that decision was going to lose one guy a championship and win it for another.
An enraged Toto Wolff asked for a countback of the laps and expressed his anger and despair at the last laps of the race over the FIA radio. Masi replied with ‘Toto, it’s a motor race’. A motor race that he had completely disregarded 57 out of 58 laps of. Masi is still yet to appear in front of any media or answer any questions despite his controversial decisions quite literally decided the outcome of the 2021 Formula 1 World Drivers Championship.
Neither Michael Masi nor any of the FIA's race control stewards appeared in front of media or fans to try and provide justification for the baffling conduct they deployed to control this race.
The FIA have to take into account audience enjoyment when decision making but what happened on Yas Island Sunday evening stepped outside the bounds of audience enjoyment. That 1 lap of immense adrenaline nobody has ever felt is followed by a sour taste. By attempting to create the ending they thought everyone wanted they have created an ending many did not want. Not because Verstappen emerged victorious, but that victory comes with a question mark that is yet to answered to the paying fans directly
That sour taste will cause Hamilton’s hardcore fanbase to try and wrongfully invalidate Verstappen’s title. On the other hand, Lewis has had a world title taken away from him in the most gut-wrenching and numbing circumstances.
A lot of the divide in the sport this season had gotten ugly, beyond that of sporting rivalry, this is only going to pour more fuel on that fire. This, alongside the uncertainty around what race control feel their job is to do, poses a political conundrum for the sport.
This and the inconsistency in the stewardship of this F1 season as a whole has opened Pandora’s box when it comes to the FIA’s manipulation of a race’s competitiveness.
To give a personal reaction, for all the magnificent, spellbinding driving Max has done this year, I can’t help but feel like something wasn’t right about the way this season ended. One of the most exhilarating seasons ever has had its final page turned through perhaps its most profound controversy. For all the adrenaline that final lap gave us, it was quickly forgotten and overshadowed by yet another spree of FIA inconsistencies that will surely cause a community inquest into what exactly is race control’s jurisdictions.
The inconsistencies involving Hamilton and Verstappen’s on-track battles throughout the year are on one level. The handling of the last-race safety car is a whole different kettle of fish that will call into question these jurisdictions.
I did not expect, nor do I feel it’s right, that I have to be glued to the TV until later into the evening to find out the results of post-race appeals after the final race of the season. Ironically, this subverts Masi's clear intention with the safety car debacle. Nevertheless, you cannot blame Mercedes in the slightest for contesting such confusing circumstances, therefore, the fault once again falls at the FIA’s door.