FIA "mistake" that "confused" teams in Abu Dhabi revealed

Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

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FIA "mistake" that "confused" teams in Abu Dhabi revealed

Mercedes was furious after a late safety car altered the course of the championship title

Sam Hall

Thursday 16 December 2021 12:05

Former F1 team owner Eddie Jordan has claimed he was left "confused" by FIA race director Michael Masi's handling of the safety car restart in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

The F1 season finale came to an unsavoury end after a chaotic and confusing restart led to a last-lap shootout between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton to decide the drivers' championship.

Although Masi initially declared lapped cars could not unlap themselves, he quickly changed his instruction to allow through the five drivers between the title rivals. The three others further back in the order were not afforded this opportunity.

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Although the regulations state the race will restart on the "following lap" after lapped traffic is waved through, Jordan backed Masi's "discretion" in not following this protocol and allowing the race to resume and not finish behind the safety car.

“It’s in his discretion and the rules are quite clear," Jordan told TalkSport. "First of all, every team does not want to finish a grand prix under a safety car. That’s a fact.

“Therefore, he tried to finish the race that was running out of laps. He needed to finish the race in a race condition. That was also right.

“Where he made a mistake, he confused the teams by saying the lapped cars that were between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton were not going to be able to pass the safety car to give the two protagonists a clear run and fight for the title.

“I’m confused why he did that."

Turning his attention to the repeat rants of team principals Christian Horner and Toto Wolff at Masi during the race, Jordan added: “It never happened in my day.

"In football, you don’t go up to a referee and tell him he’s got it wrong and say a load of bad things or you get sent off. It’s the same in rugby and every other sport.

“I don’t understand how there’s open communication between the team directors and the race director. For me, it’s fundamentally wrong.”