Formula 1’s safety car rules have been changed to make it impossible for a race to go ahead in the same way as the controversial 2021 title decision.
Michael Massi was retired from office as race director last month as a result of not correctly applying the rules in Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2021.
Masi’s actions had a direct result in the outcome of the world championship.
The FIA governing body has now made it clear that “all” lapped cars must be unfastened before restarting.
The change replaces wording in last year’s rules, which said “any” car passed among the leaders should overtake and join the rear of the field before a restart after a safety car.
Masi’s decision to allow only the cars between race leader Lewis Hamilton and title rival Max Verstappen to disengage before a restart was at the center of the Abu Dhabi controversy.
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It meant that not all the drivers in the field were treated equally, as the cars overtaken between Verstappen and Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari in third, and others further down the field, were left in their place.
McLaren’s Lando Norris said the climax of the race had been “made for TV” with team-mate Daniel Ricciardo adding: “I’m glad I wasn’t a part of it.”
Hamilton had dominated the race and was on his way to an eighth world title. But after the restart, the Mercedes driver was exposed on old tires and went through Verstappen’s Red Bull, earning the Dutchman a maiden championship.
Verstappen’s Red Bull team used this as an argument that Masi had not erred in his procedures and the result should stand. And the stewards also used it to tailor a justification for Masi’s actions and uphold the result after Mercedes lodged a post-race appeal.
The second rule at the center of the Abu Dhabi controversy has not changed.
This is the requirement: the race must be restarted “at the end of the next lap” after the message is broadcast that lapped cars can now overtake.
Masi ignored this rule and restarted the race at the end of the lap where he had ordered only a few lapped cars to pass the leaders.
Had he followed the rules as intended in this regard, the race would not have been restarted and Hamilton would have been world champion.
The rule changes are the latest in a series of moves by the FIA that amount to an effective admission that Masi made mistakes in his handling of the Abu Dhabi race.
The first was the admission that the controversy was “tainting the image” of F1 and the decision to launch an investigation into what happened.
After conducting the investigation, Masi was dismissed as race director and replaced by two new officials who will alternate in the position, Eduardo Freitas and Niels Wittich.
And the support structure in race control was strengthened, including the establishment of a department similar to football’s video assistant referee (VAR) and the return of F1 veteran Herbie Blash in an advisory role to race directors.
Blash, 73, was the right-hand man of former FIA F1 director Charlie Whiting, whose death on the eve of the 2019 season prompted Masi to be appointed race director.
A full report on the events in Abu Dhabi is expected to be released during this weekend’s season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix.
It is widely accepted within F1 that Masi did not follow the rules correctly.
The closest there has been to an explicit admission of that fact by the FIA has been an interview with single-seater chief executive Peter Bayer.
He said that if Mercedes had followed his appeal, it would probably have been decided that “it’s different in the regulations, he [Masi] decided that [other] way, so we could just override the result“.
Had the race been declared void, Verstappen would still have been champion, as he started the event ahead in the championship by virtue of the results countdown.
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