REVEALED: Michael Masi broke his own rules in Abu Dhabi GP controversy

REVEALED: Michael Masi broke his OWN RULES in Abu Dhabi Grand Prix controversy… as it emerges F1 race director went against safety car precedent he set in Germany last year

  • Michael Masi has come in for huge criticism in wake of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
  • His decisions in latter stages resulted in Max Verstappen winning drivers’ title
  • Race director Masi let some lapped cars pass under the safety car, but not others
  • This goes against a precedent he set last year at the 2020 Eifel Grand Prix 
  • READ: Who is Michael Masi, the man accused of ‘stealing’ title from Hamilton?

Michael Masi is facing further questions about his decision-making at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix after it was revealed that the F1 race director broke his own rules to allow a controversial finish to the race.

There was uproar from Mercedes at the end of the Yas Marina race after Red Bull’s Max Verstappen overtook Lewis Hamilton to be crowned the 2021 drivers’ champion.

With just a handful of laps remaining, Hamilton held a healthy lead, but a shunt from Williams’ Nicholas Latifi bunched the field, before Masi opted to allow the back-markers between Hamilton and Verstappen to unlap themselves.

Michael Masi broke his own rules in Abu Dhabi, going against a precedent he set last year

Max Verstappen overtook Lewis Hamilton to win the 2021 drivers’ title on the final lap

Red Bull superstar Verstappen celebrates after his Abu Dhabi success won him the 2021 title

That created a straight one-lap shootout between the two title rivals, of which Verstappen was the victor due to his fresher, soft tyres.

Now, though, it has been revealed that Masi’s instructions went against a precedent he himself set last year at the Eifel Grand Prix in Germany.

At the October race, an issue with Lando Norris’ McLaren brought out the safety car, and a similar situation ensued in which Verstappen and Hamilton were 1-2, with back markers between them and just a few laps remaining.

At that race, Masi said: ‘There’s a requirement in the sporting regulations to wave all the lapped cars past.’

At the Nurburgring, all lapped cars were waved through, whereas in Abu Dhabi, only the five cars between Hamilton and Verstappen were moved out of the way, while other lapped cars were able to remain behind the leaders.

At the front of those was Daniel Ricciardo, who had a close-up view of the last-lap battle between the leaders but was left confused as to why he hadn’t also been allowed to go past the two front-runners and rejoin a race with his midfield competitors.

Hamilton led for most of the race in Abu Dhabi, but was then overtaken on the very last lap

At the Eifel Grand Prix, Masi let all the lapped cars overtake the leaders, but he didn’t this time

After the race, Ricciardo said: ‘I don’t want you to ask me… I want to ask you. Tell me, tell me what happened.

‘Crazy. Crazy, crazy finale. At the end it was kind of weird, they said cars can’t pass, the lapped cars, then some of them did, but then I wasn’t allowed to.

‘We did a one-lap restart, I’m sitting right behind Lewis and Max, like, ‘why am I here?’ I don’t know. It was very interesting.’

Mercedes also protested against Masi and the FIA’s decision, based on article 48.12 of the sporting regulations, which state: ‘Any cars that have been lapped by the leader will be required to pass the cars on the lead lap and the Safety Car,’ and ‘once the last lapped car has passed the leader the Safety Car will return to the pits at the end of the following lap.’

Masi has come in for heavy criticism and will face plenty of questions before the 2022 season

Hamilton leads Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo after a safety car restart in Germany last year

In Abu Dhabi, more confusion reigned because after the last of the five lapped cars got past Hamilton, a message went round telling the drivers that the safety car would come in at the end of the current lap, giving them one final lap to race.

Of course, if the rules had been followed correctly, the safety car would have completed one more lap, ending the race under safety car conditions – and therefore securing Hamilton an eighth world title.   

Masi, meanwhile, argued that there is a clause in the rules that enables him to call in the safety car any time it is safe to do so, and that that overrides anything that comes before.

His response reads: ‘The Race Director stated that the purpose of Article 48.12 was to remove those lapped cars that would “interfere” in the racing between the leaders and that in his view Article 48.13 [‘When the clerk of the course decides it is safe to call in the Safety Car the message ‘SAFETY CAR IN THIS LAP’ will be sent to all Competitors.’] was the one that applied in this case.’

Mercedes two protests in the immediate aftermath of the race were dismissed, and they now have until Thursday to decide whether they will continue with a further appeal.




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