FLOYD ON F1: Epic season shouldn’t be decided off the track

Most of us figured the final race of this year would not be easy, but I don’t think anybody predicted the outcome of last Sunday’s F1 race at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi.

After taking a dramatic pole position, Max Verstappen made a poor race start as rival Lewis Hamilton took the lead.

At turn six on the first lap Verstappen saw a gap on the inside of Hamilton and went for a successful overtake, but Hamilton ran wide cutting the corner and rejoined the track far ahead of the Red Bull.

The Mercedes F1 driver was told to slow down to negate any advantage his shortcut may have created, but it was extremely difficult to detect any reduction in the gap as the Mercedes romped away from Verstappen at a rate of knots.

Hamilton was told to retain his position and it paid off, as the stewards announced that no investigation was necessary.
Despite an objection from Red Bull, race director Michael Masi stated Hamilton had slowed down enough to nullify his advantage.

Verstappen was not amused saying, “it’s incredible, what are they doing”. His pit wall responded “keep your head down” as there were still many laps remaining.

Hamilton held a comfortable lead and looked set for his eighth Drivers’ title. But, in the closing stages of the race Nicholas Latifi put his Williams into a wall, resulting in a Safety Car period, plus a war of words and interesting official decisions, of which you are all well aware.

But despite Verstappen’s victories in both the race and the F1 Drivers’ Championship, we cannot finalise the season, after two protests raised by Mercedes, which were both declined by the stewards and Mercedes stating they may lodge an appeal with the FIA.

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At the time of writing no confirmation of such an appeal had been released, so we end off the most exciting season in many years, with a cliffhanger. Sadly not the type that causes one to chew fingernails as drivers battle it out on track, but possibly in a courtroom action to decide which of these two brilliant drivers is the 2021 champion. Not the finale to the season any F1 enthusiast would have wished for.

It has been a year of exciting on track action, but particularly the titanic fight between Hamilton and Verstappen. We have also witnessed incredible comments and reactions from team chiefs Toto Wolff and Christian Horner. This at times boiled over, with last weekend’s F1 race a prime example.

We saw headphones thrown to the floor, calls to Masi to ensure the result goes the way of the complainant, even a call for the race director not to use the Safety Car after Antonio Giovinazzi’ retirement in a dangerous position off track.

I am not sure the concept of fans being party to all communication between pit wall and race director benefits the sport’s “openness” policy. The images and comments televised recently have done nothing more than to demonstrate frustration and anger to the global audience. Those emotions have always been a factor in motorsport, but previously it was never part of the “entertainment”.

Mercedes has 96 hours in which to proceed. If they lodge the appeal, then the FIA’s International Court of Appeal decides who is the 2021 F1 driver’s champion. A very sad way to close a truly great season.

To see the F1 drivers’ world championship standings, click here.