Silverstone F1 anti-climax highlights glaring Abu Dhabi 2021 injustice

And that was how the 2021 Formula 1 season should have ended. 

This December marks five years since the most controversial conclusion to an F1 world championship season. After being in total control of the 2021 season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton was on course to win both the race and the world championship, only to have it snatched away from him. 

Then-FIA race director Michael Masi’s failure to apply the rules correctly during a late safety car period robbed Hamilton of a record-breaking eighth world title in the most brutal of circumstances. 

Masi’s bid to prevent the race from ending under the safety car was put down to “human error” and ultimately cost him his job. It overshadowed Max Verstappen’s maiden world title and left a dark cloud hanging over the climax to what many consider to be F1’s greatest ever season and a championship battle for the ages. 

A late race safety car proved to be the talking point once again during a dramatic and chaotic British Grand Prix at Silverstone that ended in an anti-climax. 

The decision did not go down well, with boos ringing out from the record 175,000-strong crowd who were denied a grandstand one-lap shootout. But this was the correct outcome. 

In 2021 Masi incorrectly implemented the safety car rules in two ways; by not unlapping all cars, and in restarting the race a lap earlier than the rules state. This led to a clarification surrounding the ambiguous wording of safety car restarts to say “all” unlapped cars must unlap themselves before a race can resume, rather than “any”. 

This time, race control and FIA race director Rui Marques followed the rulebook to the letter of the law, despite confusion being caused when a “software error” resulted in timing screens incorrectly displaying the ‘safety car in this lap’ message. 

"I would have preferred for this to happen in 2021. That was more important. It's good that the regulations have been followed,” Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff summed up to media including Crash.net after the race. 

"Sometimes it doesn't give for the most exciting final. But this is a sport. Show follows sport and not the other way around. So it's good the FIA made that call.”

In an uncanny resemblance, just like in 2021, the driver to lose out the most due to the late safety car was Hamilton. Ferrari’s decision to pit the seven-time world champion for fresh tyres - in anticipation of a restart - cost him second place and three extra championship points.

Ferrari stood by its decision and strategic thinking that would have given Hamilton a significant tyre advantage over Mercedes’ George Russell, who leapfrogged Hamilton by staying out. Hamilton would have likely regained the position and been able to challenge for the win if green flag conditions returned, but no more racing happened. 

It was hardly surprising then that some old wounds were opened back up. 

“If you ever wanted more evidence that Lewis is an eight-time champion, this race was it. That’s how Abu Dhabi legally had to end. Lewis is an eight-time champion,” one fan wrote on X. 

Russell was a benefactor of the late safety car at Silverstone to claim a fortuitous second place finish that has reduced team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli's championship advantage down to 25 points - the exact equivalent of a race victory. 

“Of course it's a shame for any race to finish under the safety car. But then you go back to Abu Dhabi ’21, and that is just how racing goes,” Russell said. 

“Nobody can plan for somebody to have an incident, and the way F1 deals with it and FIA deals with it shouldn't be any different at the end of the race compared to the start of the race. 

“Obviously, there was a lot of chat post-Abu Dhabi ’21. If you actually look at the number of races that have finished under the Safety Car over the past 20 years, it's not actually a lot. It is a shame, but what can you do? I don't think it should be different.”

Hamilton did not take up the opportunity to share his thoughts, saying only: “Same as George said. Not really much more to add.” 

It was clear at the time, but events at the end of Sunday’s British Grand Prix only further rammed home the magnitude of the injustice that prevailed on that infamous night under the lights at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi.