How a safety car turned Formula 1 upside down
“I’m just speechless, Lewis,” said Mercedes engineer Peter Bonnington over the team radio, just moments after driver Lewis Hamilton saw his eighth potential world title snatched away from him by Red Bull driver Max Verstappen at the last lap. “Absolutely speechless.”
Mercedes epitomized what many fans felt during the historic Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, a Formula One racing event. With both drivers heading into the finale tied at 369.5 points apiece, the message was simple: Win the race, become the champion. Yet despite the spectacles and recent interest surrounding motor racing, the ending left it grappling with its very identity as a sport versus a piece of entertainment.
By the end of the day, the fact that Hamilton led during the homestretch of the race did not matter. It was a safety car, brought out by Williams driver Nicholas Latifi’s crash, that became the elephant in the circuit. Due to requirements of drivers slowing their speed down, Hamilton’s leading gap closed significantly. Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile, or FIA, director Michael Masi was tasked with two distinct options: either let the 58-lap race finish under a safety car, in which case cars would be allowed to overtake one another, or restart the race for one more, winner-take-all lap.
Masi’s eventual decision was underscored by five simple words he uttered to Mercedes team chief Toto Wolff after the grand prix: “It’s called a motor race.”
Per the director’s approval, normal FIA rules 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.” However, only the five cars that were in between Hamilton and Verstappen were allowed to pass, therefore leaving the two drivers alongside one another during the final laps. Masi then made the decision to restart the race for one lap.
It probably would have been a fair race to the chequered flag. After all, the two best drivers of the year would start evenly, with one last chance to determine the better driver and champion of the 2021 season.
But Hamilton didn’t change his tires.
Tires are broken down into three types: soft, medium and hard. Verstappen, who used soft tires, took a pit stop before the safety car. Mercedes and Hamilton, who used the long-lasting hard tires that wore down gradually, didn’t pit to change in fear of losing their place to Hamilton. When the race restarted, it wasn’t really Verstappen against Hamilton –– it was the Red Bull prodigy and his fresh, higher-grip tires against Hamilton’s worn-down hard tires.
From an entertainment perspective, it makes sense why Masi went the route he did. Ending a winner-take-all race on a safety car is like ending the seventh game of the NBA Finals on a game-winning free throw. It’s also easy to place some blame on Mercedes for not making a pit stop to change tires. Lost in the controversy were arguments over whether the stewards gave Hamilton the benefit of the doubt throughout the race. In the first lap, Hamilton cut a corner to get ahead of Verstappen after the two collided, yet he did not have to give the place back.
Despite the controversy surrounding F1, what isn’t being called into question is the fact that Verstappen is a worthy winner. But the question that will undoubtedly hang over the sport for at least the rest of the offseason is whether the integrity of F1 was ruined by forgoing a strict interpretation of the rules and prioritizing a heart-stopping finish.
Nevertheless, at least Netflix has its drama for the fourth season of “Drive to Survive.”
Ali Fazal covers men’s soccer. Contact him at afazaldailycal.org.