Formula 1 Round 22 Abu Dhabi GP

The decision to only clear the cars between max and Lewis wasn't about getting the green flag. That decision was very unusual and it was all about the drama.

I'm happy with the outcome as I was supporting Max, but I think you need to acknowledge that the decision to only clear the cars between max and Lewis was all about showbiz. If it was all about getting the race underway and finishing under green flag, then not clearing any cars would have been simpler and faster.

So there are no rules then basically?

whatever the race director says is what happens.

it was a sh*tshow relying on pitlane drama , Toto crying and the drama of not knowing what the race director is gonna do to make it exciting.

anything bar the racing itself.

It was a combination of serendipitous crash and the need for safety car, manufactured drama AND racing. I don't think it was about "anything bar the racing itself".

There are rules and procedures. It turns out the race director can override the rules if they want to. I certainly didn't know that and I think most others didn't know that either. It almost never comes up. But it came up in this instance and it resulted in the most dramatic finish to the season finale in decades

That’s a bit of a stretch ,

“sporting moments of all time”

maybe

“manufactured sporting moments of all time”

Well the safety car would have been an intervention within the rules, I just can’t get my head around the race director making stuff up.

maybe they will learn something from it .

Overall it's Toto's fault. He could have told bottas at the restart to park the car in the middle of the track. Safety car cannot end, Lewis is champion. Multi 21 ...

What if Bottas was to stop the car cause of a crippling migraine and he couldnt go on?

Surely there’s nothing that could be done in that case

It's perfectly normal for lapped cars to be let past (in fact it would be completely unprecedented if they weren't)

It's perfectly normal for the safety car to be called in once the track is clear.

Everybody fully expected these two things to happen once the crash occurred, this is why Red Bull pitted immediately and Hamilton was so distraught on the radio.

The only abnormal thing was the strange delay in letting the lapped cars past.

Latifi crashed on lap 53. The car was clear on lap 55 and on lap 56 the last of the marshalls who were clearing up some off track debris returned behind the barriers. Lapped cars don't immediately get up to racing speed when they are let past the safety car, they are told to maintain an appropriate speed. It is safe for them to be allowed past once the blockage is clear, even if there are some marshalls cleaning up the last of the debris, as this would be treated like a VSC. This is why on lap 55 Lewis Hamilton's race engineer got on the radio and told him the lapped cars are about to be let past, as he was expecting normal procedure to be followed. This is why Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso, two experienced world champions with no affiliation to either Mercedes or Red Bull, both got on the radio to their teams asking why lapped cars weren't being allowed past like they normally are.

When the FIA announced out of the blue that they were taking the unprecedented step of not allowing lapped cars to pass Alonso (who was one of the lapped cars and is entirely unaffiliated to the two teams fighting for the title) literally laughed upon hearing the announcement and said they're keeping Max behind him when he should be in front of him.

Who knows what the reason was for that initial plan to go against all precedent and not allow lapped cars to pass. It was safe when the car was clear on lap 55 and multiple drivers were on the radio wondering why it wasn't happening, then it was even more safe on lap 56 when the marshalls had all left the run off area entirely. However, they didn't do this, until they eventually changed their minds and decided to apply the normal rules on lap 57 and let the lapped cars through. This meant that they had to compress things somewhat and have less of a gap between letting the lapped cars through and pulling the safety car in than they normally would, but this ultimately had zero impact on the outcome.

Not allowing the lapped cars past would have gone against all precedent. Not finishing the race under green flags when it's a 58 lap race and the blockage is completely clear on lap 56 would have gone against basic common sense in addition to going against the regulations that state that the race will be started when the clerk of the course deems the track safe. It would also have gone against a previous agreement among all teams that ending under a green flag should always be the priority call if it is safe to do so.

The only minor hiccup was the delay in letting the lapped cars through, but if they'd been allowed through a lap earlier when they should have been it would have had zero impact. A lot of the controversy on Sky was really just manufactured because their man lost. Safety cars are a part of F1. When a car crashes and stops on the racing line you absolutely expect a safety car, you expect the backmarkers to be cleared like normal, and you expect a return to racing if the incident is entirely clear two laps before the end of the race. Red Bull expected all of this, made the correct tactical choices, and Max executed perfectly with a superb overtake when the race restarted. It's as simple as that.

Max got lucky that Latifi crashed when he did certainly. It gave him an opportunity to gain 7 points (but only if he and the team executed on it perfectly, which they did). Lewis has gained more points than that from previous similar situations this season and if you managed to come up with some system that eliminated all possible advantages or disadvantages from safety cars and red flags and found a way to retroactively apply it across the whole season, Max would still be champion.

There are rules and they were followed. The race director used his discretion to get the last lap under green flag, something which all teams agreed beforehand would be preferable.

The race director wouldn't have such a decision to make if Latifi didn't bin it

has anyone seen the video from Toto Wolff. What a load of nonsense. Toto mentions wanting the Abu Dhabi GP result reinstated from Lap 57 in the interest of sporting fairness. So a decision made by the race director within the rules should be scrapped because Merc didnt win. Lewis is disillusioned and feels betrayed.

I really hope they get it badly wrong next season with the new regs

Well of they followed the rules (which you said you think they did) then the safety car would have come in the lap after they gave the order to unlap cars. But they broke those rules by bringing in the safety car on the same lap.

If they wanted to get the race underway as quickly as possible and finish on the green flag then they would have unlapped no cars and brought the safety car in and had one lap of racing.

If they wanted maximum showbiz drama, then they would take the unorthodox step of only unlapung the cars between max and Lewis, and then break the rule to bring in the safety car on the same lap. Which of these options did they choose?

Considering the physical demands of F1, suddenly the F1 driver unable to bring his car to the pits because of a headache? With no previous health complaints during the course of the race? This will be enough for this to be decided against Merc considering the rest of the circumstances.

Lewis a 10 place grid penalty in Bahrein for not showing up at the F1 gala .... How hilarious would that be ?

I agree it was stupid for them not to show up ... Breaking the rules have consequences

To be fair, an off track punishment would be a more appropriate punishment for an action taken off the track like this.