With the new season about to begin in Bahrain this weekend, Formula One have clarified the rules about safety cars.
They are tantamount to an admission that the events at the end of last season’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix were handled wrongly, and that the race director, at the time, Michael Masi had not followed the correct procedures at the time.
Masi was replaced. In 2022, the role will alternate between Niels Wittich and Eduardo Freitas. To support them, Herbie Blash has been drafted in as an advisor to the race director. The FIA has also created a department which is intended to work in a similar fashion to VAR in football.
Blash formerly worked as right-hand person to Charlie Whiting, the highly respected figure whose death in 2019 led to Masi being propelled into his position. Many veterans of the sport feel that the climax of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix would not have occurred in the way that it did had Whiting still been at the helm.
Masi was accused of manipulating the result for the purposes of TV. It has been made clear that in case of similar circumstances in the future, all lapped cars must be allowed to unlap themselves before a race can be restarted. This is a restatement of last year’s regulation that stated that any unlapped cars between the leaders should join the back of the card before restart.
Masi’s decision to allow only the cars between Lewis Hamilton and his title rival Max Verstappen to unlap themselves was at the heart of the Abu Dhabi controversy and ultimately cost the Englishman an eighth world title.
The other rule involved in the Abu Dhabi race regarding safety cars remains unchanged. The race must be restated at the end of the following lap after the teams are informed that lapped cars may unlap themselves. Masi had ignored the rule completely. Had he not, Hamilton would have been world champion.
The eagerly awaited report into the investigation of the events of Abu Dhabi is finally expected to be published this weekend.