How the FIA Botched the Ending to a Historic Season
The safety car leads the pack around the Abu Dhabi track. (photo credit Formula 1)It’s the last lap of the last race of the season, and the two championship contenders, Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen, are tied on points and are at the front of the pack, about to battle it out to the finish. This should have been a dream scenario for Formula 1, so why was the season finale in Abu Dhabi marred in so much controversy, and how did the FIA manage to bungle the ending to a nearly perfect season?
The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix will be remembered for Michael Masi’s decision to let only select cars unlap themselves under the safety car to allow Hamilton and Verstappen to have a close battle to the finish, a decision that F1 driver Lando Norris said was “made for TV”. Masi is the Race Director for the FIA, which is the governing body of international motorsport. To those who have been closely following this season of F1, Masi making an inconsistent ruling shouldn’t come as a surprise. Throughout the course of the season, Masi and the FIA have failed to set clear guidelines for what is and isn’t permissible, ranging from the lack of penalty given to Verstappen in Brazil for pushing Hamilton off the track to the slew of confusing and misguided directions given by Masi in Saudi Arabia that led to Hamilton crashing into the back of Verstappen. At every turn this season, Masi and the FIA have made clear that their guiding principle is how to keep this championship fight close and competitive, when it should have been how to issue clear and consistent rulings. So when Nicholas Latifi crashed with only a few laps to go in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the FIA had a conundrum on their hands. They wanted to make sure that the race finished under green flag conditions, which is completely justifiable, this momentous season didn't deserve to end under a safety car. However, the issue was that Verstappen was behind a few cars that needed to unlap themselves, but there wasn’t enough time for everyone in the field to unlap themselves and for the race to restart. That meant that if the race was restarted, Hamilton would’ve had a buffer of a couple cars to Max, which would have practically ensured a Hamilton victory. Well this option was no good for the FIA, they wanted to see an exciting battle to the finish, not a comfortable Hamilton cruise to his 8th world title. So what did the FIA decide to do? Well they decided that their strict “rules” weren’t so strict after all, and if they needed to be bent to ensure an exciting photo finish, then so be it. Only the cars in front of Verstappen were allowed to unlap themselves, and Verstappen, on fresh soft tires, easily passed Hamilton, who was on 40 lap old hard tires. The FIA got the “made for TV” finish they wanted, but it came at the expense of the integrity of the sport, and it will unfortunately always leave a sour taste in the mouth of those who witnessed a battle for the ages between two era defining drivers.