Lewis Hamilton F1 News: Mercedes star admits Abu Dhabi issue over Max Verstappen FIA debate

Composite of Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton in F1 cooldown room — Photo: © IMAGO

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Hamilton admits Abu Dhabi issue over Verstappen FIA debate

The FIA have caused controversy after a last minute decision at the US GP

Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Saturday 26 October 2024 10:12 Updated: 11:37

Lewis Hamilton has discussed the FIA's stewarding after a late Lando Norris penalty at the US GP, drawing parallels with his experience in Abu Dhabi.

The 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix remains one of the most controversial races in F1 history, after Hamilton lost the win and the world title after the FIA declared a safety car restart under the watch of race director at the time, Michael Masi.

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Their decision played into Max Verstappen’s hands, who had just pitted onto fresh tyres and was able to easily overtake Hamilton to win his first world title, the pair having gone into the session on equal points.

Following the decision, the sport's governing body were called out for inconsistent stewarding as some lapped cars were unable to un-lap themselves before the safety car was pulled in and racing resumed.

The 2021 Abu Dhabi GP ended in controversy

Lewis Hamilton lost the title to Max Verstappen in 2021

Should action be taken over inconsistent FIA stewarding?

The FIA have once again found themselves under scrutiny after a late decision at the US GP.

Norris was awarded a five-second penalty after the Brit was forced wide by Verstappen, overtaking his rival, ensuring Norris finished in fourth once the penalty was applied.

McLaren have since launched a fresh appeal to overturn the 5-second penalty, which if successful could see third place restored to Norris. The FIA did recently reveal however that they had amended the penalty for the papaya driver, with the initial punishment set to be a 10-second penalty.

When discussing his opinion on the consistency of the stewarding ahead of the Mexican GP, Hamilton made reference to his own injustice in 2021 and called for action over the FIA stewarding decisions.

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Asked by Sky F1 if he felt tweaks should be made to the FIA regulations, Hamilton responded: "I mean I have for a long time,"

"It’s interesting people are talking about it now because the same thing happened to me in 2021."

"If you take Brazil into account for example, under braking you’re ahead but then the car just comes off the brakes and doesn’t make the corner and you have to go wide, well then they’ll say you both went wide but you had no choice because you had to avoid a collision.

"I mean there definitely needs to be something done about it because it’s happening a lot now."

"You shouldn’t be able to come off the brakes and run more speed in and go off track and still hold your place."

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Written by

Sheona Mountford - F1 Journalist

Sheona Mountford is a motorsport journalist specialising in F1. As a writer and contributor, she covers a wide range of motorsport series from F1 to F1 Academy, responsible for breaking news, live race coverage and in depth analysis of the sport and the culture around it.

View full biography

Red Bull Lewis Hamilton FIA Lando Norris Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Michael Masi