2021 Formula One Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

LMGiorni · Dec 14, 2021

eco2006 said:
@LMGiorni I don't say that the SC was the wrong decision, but letting some cars (those between Hamilton and Verstappen) unlap themselves and restarting the race that way was not "forced" by the circumstances. In my opinion a red flag, because of the fire extinguisher foam on the track, and a restart with fresh tires for Hamilton and Verstappen to let them fight it out for the last few laps would have been a better and even more media effective solution.

You just said it right there. You would think about the outcome and apply the rule you think would interfere less.
Well, you are not a good judge then, you have to apply the rule that must be applied on that circumstance. Red Flag would be a much more questionable decision as would not be justified enough. You could do a VSC but, the problem with that, is even the delta speed is slower than racing speed is way faster than the speed on formation lap behind SC so that would be safer for all the drivers as there was debris on the track.

Colt459 · Dec 14, 2021

Enthilzha said:
No they don't contradict themselves at all. The agreement is surely to end under a green flag wherever possible and whenever rules allow. To say that they are stating that rules can and should be broken in order to finish a race under green is absurd.

How could they try when at all possible to end under green if they were just to completely follow the rule book. The concept is not needed because it would just happen. To say you emphasize green flag finish would have to mean some possible deviation.

Scottt · Dec 14, 2021

Enthilzha said:
So you're suggesting it's okay to do this then?

As I have said before, in the short-term F1 will probably benefit from the extra publicity etc that they are getting right now. But in the longer term, if they continue to act as they have done in this instance, and, indeed throughout this season, the integrity of the sport will be completely undermined and those who want more 'engineered' drama will go to WWE who do it much better, and the rest will ultimately find a different Formula or sport which they trust has as fair competition as possible.

no, I’m suggesting that Formula 1 will be just fine.

Enthilzha · Dec 14, 2021

LMGiorni said:
Yeah, some rules are up to interpretation and some rules are there to be able to adjust to unpredicted situations.
In the case of unlaped cars, the rules don't specify all cars and don't say they must. And with that, you can conclude that what happened in the last race is based on the rules.
And the criteria was to avoid any interference in the last lap of the race of anyone that was not fighting for the championship. That's why he made it clear to allow at least only the drivers inbetween Lewis and Max. The other teams can later protest or whatever but will be managed out of the media.
But as F1 media is almost all British, you know! The robbery of century titles are going to explode in the media, and what can you do. Has always been the same.

For example, Coulthard with Schumacher in Spa 98, waayyyy harsher than the incident that happened between Max and Lewis in Saudi Arabia never got any media coverage and questioning as how the media went after Max that race. It's what it is, and sadly, Hamilton fans will have maybe a new opportunity next year.

You say:
"In the case of unlaped cars, the rules don't specify all cars and don't say they must. And with that, you can conclude that what happened in the last race is based on the rules."

but clearly Masi himself considered that ALL cars are to be unlapped as he said at last year's Eiffel GP, and that rule has not been altered in any way since he made that clear.

Enthilzha · Dec 14, 2021

Colt459 said:
How could they try when at all possible to end under green if they were just to completely follow the rule book. The concept is not needed because it would just happen. To say you emphasize green flag finish would have to mean some possible deviation.

Of course trying to finish under Green would never mean breaking the rules to do so - otherwise the rules are completely redundant and worthless.

Colt459 · Dec 14, 2021

jonelsorel said:
So what you're basically saying, for the sake of an entartaining non-argument, is that you have no problem with a race director putting the championship on a silver platter to whomever he chooses. Dictatorship in sport, with no explanation or logic, just so that it looks good on tv (?). Which, by the looks of it, it didn't, considering the avalanche of criticism on Jean Todt's twitter and pretty much everywhere. The thing is no one even denied that the regulations allowed Masi to dictate a race outcome, because they obciously do. The point is that the king of inconsistencies did that while pretending to do good for the race or for the sport, but was obviously pressured to. Whenever you abuse power "because you can", you get what you deserve.

The guy let through just the cars that were an obstacle to Verstappen, contradicting his own decision from Germany last year, then used his dictatorial power to restart the race one lap earlier than normal, so that mad max can win it on fresh tires. Tough luck for Lewis, who pointed this out in a few short words before radio silence.

What happened is simply a deplorable farce. It would be the exact same thing if it happened in karting. And it will happen again for the simple reason that people, myself included, let this sport become the playground of billionnaires with the backbones of worms.

Even a 5 year old senses by now that those articles - especially 48.13 - are bound to change and Masi's head is bound to fall. As if that ever fixes something.

I think he used the following logic: we want the race to finish in green flag conditions. There is a safety car and I want to rush up the typical (essentially standard) unlapping procedures to make sure we get a finish that comports with those post-SC expectations.

you can see that if you watch some of the broadcasts as the announcers were confused. Like the BBC radio call or the second F1 TV broadcast. They all felt it was too unfair to not let the cars unlap.

if anything, he should have done it sooner, at the end of lap 56 as Jolyon Palmer points out in his video. Perhaps he felt like he released them too late (which he did).

you may not agree with it, but that’s how Masi interpreted his subjective authority to complete the race

Durge Driven · Dec 14, 2021

LeSunTzu said:
That's the worst of social media. Fwiw the rather cute original: https://www.reddit.com/user/alera_/

That's him ! package with pins every Lewis fan will buy one ! p

Colt459 · Dec 14, 2021

Enthilzha said:
You say:
"In the case of unlaped cars, the rules don't specify all cars and don't say they must. And with that, you can conclude that what happened in the last race is based on the rules."

but clearly Masi himself considered that ALL cars are to be unlapped as he said at last year's Eiffel GP, and that rule has not been altered in any way since he made that clear.

And as has been pointed out, 15.3 allows him to override that rule in his discretion. Masi has never said 48.12 should be interpreted differently, just that he had overriding authority and used it to ensure a green flag finish

LMGiorni · Dec 14, 2021

Enthilzha said:
You say:
"In the case of unlaped cars, the rules don't specify all cars and don't say they must. And with that, you can conclude that what happened in the last race is based on the rules."

but clearly Masi himself considered that ALL cars are to be unlapped as he said at last year's Eiffel GP, and that rule has not been altered in any way since he made that clear.

The context of what he said matters.
As in many other races where the SC was deployed in the beginning or some other part near the middle of the race distance would be the case that the "all" interpretation he said will be the directive he will follow. This was a special circumstance in a very specific moment as it was the last race, having 6 laps to clear the track. So he did what was expected to avoid any other driver interfering between the ones that were fighting the championship. For me is the right call, and was so unexpected the Latifi accident that not me, neither you nor any other human being watching the race would have expected.
The title goes with Max and that is how it should stay.

Colt459 · Dec 14, 2021

eco2006 said:
To me it's not luck or bad luck, because Masi exactly knew what the outcome will be with that decision.

Do you think Masi decides differently if Max is in 1st and Lewis 2nd and 5 cars behind?

Enthilzha · Dec 14, 2021

Scottt said:
no, I’m suggesting that Formula 1 will be just fine.

Ok, but asking you honestly and ignoring the particular situation on Sunday; do you think it is healthy for a sport to have it's rules and regulations but choose to ignore those at any moment (even though the competitors are competing to those rules) simply to engineer artificial excitement at the expense of fair competition?

For example: would football ultimately benefit if at the World Cup Final, Brazil are winning 5-0 with one minute to go against Argentina, and FIFA steps in and says 'next goal wins' and hands Argentina a penalty, simply because it is more exciting that way?

Colt459 · Dec 14, 2021

swinny said:
Well said,and really does sum up why people are left bemused confused about all the inconsistency.

Yes, just as Max was forced to give a position back in Jeddah when he was pushed wide and took the lead off track. And suddenly in Abu Dhabi Lewis did the same and did not only give the position back, but was allowed to speed off into the distance.

inconsistency is a part of the process when you allow so much subjectivity in the rules.

Enthilzha · Dec 14, 2021

Colt459 said:
And as has been pointed out, 15.3 allows him to override that rule in his discretion. Masi has never said 48.12 should be interpreted differently, just that he had overriding authority and used it to ensure a green flag finish

Actually 15.3 was being used by the stewards to justify bringing in the Safety Car a lap early and not used to justify the unlapping of some but not all cars. 15.3 relates to the safety car usage and not the issue of the unlapped cars.

Colt459 · Dec 14, 2021

Enthilzha said:
Of course trying to finish under Green would never mean breaking the rules to do so - otherwise the rules are completely redundant and worthless.

No, because as 15.3 states, the RD has “overriding authority“ over the safety car. He has authority to override those rules, as confirmed by Masi, and as confirmed by the FIA.

15.3 is a rule-breaking rule.

LMGiorni · Dec 14, 2021

Enthilzha said:
Ok, but asking you honestly and ignoring the particular situation on Sunday; do you think it is healthy for a sport to have it's rules and regulations but choose to ignore those at any moment (even though the competitors are competing to those rules) simply to engineer artificial excitement at the expense of fair competition?

For example: would football ultimately benefit if at the World Cup Final, Brazil are winning 5-0 with one minute to go against Argentina, and FIFA steps in and says 'next goal wins' and hands Argentina a penalty, simply because it is more exciting that way?

Comparing Football with this just is not understanding the sport.
This is much more similar than Tennis games, you can fight each game almost to your opponents' Advantage but the board will say 6-0 / 6-0 / 6-0.
The result doesn´t do justice some times and in Motor Racing, this happened a lot of times, if not a SC is an engine Failure, is a Blown tire as happened with Max in Azerbaijan almost at the end of the race, where before was Stroll incident and there was expecting a Red FLag as the incident involved a Blown tire but only happened after Max tire exploded giving a chance to Hamilton to reduce the distance to Checo and fight for the win. Sadly he made a stupid mistake and lost it.

Enthilzha · Dec 14, 2021

LMGiorni said:
The context of what he said matters.
As in many other races where the SC was deployed in the beginning or some other part near the middle of the race distance would be the case that the "all" interpretation he said will be the directive he will follow. This was a special circumstance in a very specific moment as it was the last race, having 6 laps to clear the track. So he did what was expected to avoid any other driver interfering between the ones that were fighting the championship. For me is the right call, and was so unexpected the Latifi accident that not me, neither you nor any other human being watching the race would have expected.
The title goes with Max and that is how it should stay.

But Masi didn't say that the 'all' interpretation was only valid in certain situations. What he said made it clear that in the context of 48.12, he considers that 'any' does mean 'all' and 48.12 lays out this rule for all SC situations and not just some.

Colt459 · Dec 14, 2021

Enthilzha said:
Actually 15.3 was being used by the stewards to justify bringing in the Safety Car a lap early and not used to justify the unlapping of some but not all cars. 15.3 relates to the safety car usage and not the issue of the unlapped cars.

He told the clerk to bring in the safety car under 15.3, which introduces 14.13, which overrides 14.12.

WiisardNic · Dec 14, 2021

Taj Johal said:
Yep I've read the same regs my self. It says the use of the safety car, I would presume according to the procedures.

Actually, here is where things get iffy, and that's why I've decided to put these two posts together:
Not necessarily in accordance to the rules, if you read below.

Taj Johal said:
Form the regs:

15.3
The clerk of the course shall work in permanent consultation with the Race Director. The Race Director shall have overriding authority in the following matters and the clerk of the course may give orders in respect of them only with his express agreement:

a) The control of practice and the race, adherence to the timetable and, if he deems it necessary, the making of any proposal to the stewards to modify the timetable in accordance with the Code or Sporting Regulations.

b) The stopping of any car in accordance with the Code or Sporting Regulations

. c) The stopping of practice or suspension of the race in accordance with the Sporting Regulations if he deems it unsafe to continue and ensuring that the correct restart procedure is carried out.

d) The starting procedure.

e) The use of the safety car.

Still doesn't say he can change the rules.

A, B and C all specifically say "in accordance" with the Code of Sporting Regulations. D and E do not.

Enthilzha said:
Not Max's fault as you say, but certainly Masi's fault that Hamilton was left out on tyres that he could not possibly compete with. Both teams (Red Bull and Merc) made their decisions (and both correctly I think) based upon the official regulations as written down. It is fair on neither team (although it benefitted RB here) to suddenly invoke a further rule claiming that you can ignore all of your own rules on a whim. Put simply, if this is the case it means that no team or driver can actually plan their season, develop their car or drive a certain way with regard to the rules, as they know that these are liable to change at any moment.

That's Merc's fault. They had the option to pit, and Masi's decision to lap/unlap/release came after their opportunity. If you're trying to say that Hamilton would have pitted if Masi had initially said on Lap 56 that ALL lapped cars would be release, well.. The final lap would have began with Max in 1st, and Lewis in 6th. Not just 6th in the queue. But 6th place. Possibly with lapped cars in between, because there is no requirement to release the lapped cars again.

Colt459 said:
Do you think Masi decides differently if Max is in 1st and Lewis 2nd and 5 cars behind?

No.

Durge Driven · Dec 14, 2021

A lot of what ifs .... what if schu never had rare engine failure at Suzuka or had a tyre failure at Silverstone he might have had 9 titles easy
Lewis would still need another 3 lol

Scottt · Dec 14, 2021

Enthilzha said:
Ok, but asking you honestly and ignoring the particular situation on Sunday; do you think it is healthy for a sport to have it's rules and regulations but choose to ignore those at any moment (even though the competitors are competing to those rules) simply to engineer artificial excitement at the expense of fair competition?

For example: would football ultimately benefit if at the World Cup Final, Brazil are winning 5-0 with one minute to go against Argentina, and FIFA steps in and says 'next goal wins' and hands Argentina a penalty, simply because it is more exciting that way?

I'll answer it the other way (which I think is more important).... Do I think it's unhealthy for a sport to have it's rule and regulations not be followed to 100% the letter of the regulation 100% of the time; and my answer would be no I don't necessarily think that it's unhealthy.

Formula1 doesn't want it's title decided under a Safety Car. They said as much before the race. So they did whatever they possibly could to avoid that situation, which ended up giving Max a huge advantage in one race. I don't know if they absolutely violated the letter of the law, in my opinion they seem to have, but an argument could be made the other way. And you could argue that not making Lewis give that spot up after lap one didn't follow the letter of the rule either, your not suppose to gain a lasting advantage, which he arguably did (and I really don't want to argue it either way). I don't think this hurts F1 in the long term. I don't think it really hurts them in the short term. I think the hyperbole here is bordering on the absurd.

Parallels to other sports simply don't work. In motor racing you can get huge advantages from things that are beyond your control that just doesn't happen in other sports. Look at Imola and try to draw a comparison to another sport. Or Spa. Or Hungary. Or Baku. You can't draw comparisons to football or tennis.

1	Max VERSTAPPEN	Red Bull	1:22.109
2	Lewis HAMILTON	Mercedes	1:22.480
3	Lando NORRIS	McLaren	1:22.931
4	Sergio PÉREZ	Red Bull	1:22.947
5	Carlos SAINZ	Ferrari	1:22.992
6	Valtteri BOTTAS	Mercedes	1:23.036
7	Charles LECLERC	Ferrari	1:23.122
8	Yuki TSUNODA	Alpha Tauri	1:23.220
9	Esteban OCON	Alpine	1:23.389
10	Daniel RICCIARDO	McLaren	1:23.409
11	Fernando ALONSO	Alpine	1:23.460
12	Pierre GASLY	Alpha Tauri	1:24.043
13	Lance STROLL	Aston Martin	1:24.066
14	Antonio GIOVINAZZI	Alfa Romeo	1:24.251
15	Sebastian VETTEL	Aston Martin	1:24.305
16	Nicholas LATIFI	Williams	1:24.338
17	George RUSSELL	Williams	1:24.423
18	Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN	Alfa Romeo	1:24.779
19	Mick SCHUMACHER	Haas	1:24.906
20	Nikita MAZEPIN	Haas	1:25.685

1	Max VERSTAPPEN	Red Bull	LAP 58
2	Lewis HAMILTON	Mercedes	2.256
3	Carlos SAINZ	Ferrari	5.173
4	Yuki TSUNODA	Alpha Tauri	5.692
5	Pierre GASLY	Alpha Tauri	6.531
6	Valtteri BOTTAS	Mercedes	7.463
7	Lando NORRIS	McLaren	59.2
8	Fernando ALONSO	Alpine	61.708
9	Esteban OCON	Alpine	64.026
10	Charles LECLERC	Ferrari	66.057
11	Sebastian VETTEL	Aston Martin	67.527
12	Daniel RICCIARDO	McLaren	+1L
13	Lance STROLL	Aston Martin	+1L
14	Mick SCHUMACHER	Haas	+1L
15	Sergio PÉREZ	Red Bull	DNF
16	Nicholas LATIFI	Williams	DNF
17	Antonio GIOVINAZZI	Alfa Romeo	DNF
18	George RUSSELL	Williams	DNF
19	Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN	Alfa Romeo	DNF

2021 Formula One Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Who will win the 2021 World Championship?

Max Verstappen

Lewis Hamilton

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2021 Formula One Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Who will win the 2021 World Championship?

Max Verstappen

Lewis Hamilton

Qualification Results​

Race Results​

Comments

Article information

Share this article

Qualification Results

Race Results