Right, which option would you have picked if you were Masi? What do you think was the fairest option? Keep those comments civil, just like you guys normally do! Cheers for watching guys, *don't forget to subscribe!*

In a sport where you can get disqualified from qualifying for a 1mm discrepancy in a rear wing, how is it that the rules aren’t kept as strictly for the director, stewards and FIA?!?

If Masi can choose how many cars can unlap themselves, it means he has the power to give anyone he wishes a double digit time advantage at his whim

Bah, at the end of the day, it seems senseless to have ANY rules if there's a rule saying that the RD can decide not to follow them... and honestly, I can't blame Mercedes for not pitting, so close to a race end that could have ended under caution. If Red Bull were in that position, I doubt they would have pitted either.

I m sure some will have said but those cars allowed to unlap themselves were denied the chance of finishing in the positions they had been before the ruling by masi. So all those teams were disadvantaged also. This is more than just Lewis and max. It affected detrimentally the whole race order.

How about Sainz? 100% gets forgotten in that mess. He had a chance to fight for that win. That decision to only let the lap cars between LH and MV totally disregards every other competitor. As you mentioned in this video he pretty much did said exactly that. Put the spectacle before the sport

Sainz"s final lap was compromised by the decision- he was denied the opportunity to challenge for second place.

My question is what's the point of rules when there are other rules that in effect say they can be ignored by the Race Director. How can teams make important strategy decisions when the rules on which they base those decisions can just be ignored with no notice given. Surely the overide rules should only be used where safety is an issue, not simply to make a better TV spectical. The FIA will never admit the end of this race was a shambles but that is what it was.

It’s insane how the teams have a direct phone line to the race director. I was never on board with this because they could influence him. Bizarre

Thank you so much for your analysis. I'm Dutch and obviously want Max to win, but it really felt like the carpet was pulled out from under Lewis and that this race (like many more this season) was decided more by the race officials than the drivers. Thanks for putting the arguments to that feeling, it helps everyone who wants to know what exactly happened.

Add a rule that when say, when 8 or less laps remain in the race, any incident that may draw a Safety Car is immediately Red Flagged in these last laps. Clear/repair the track and put the cars back out on the track in the exact order they were. No moving lapped cars out. Or move them all to the back in their proper order. This would eliminate the time/laps wasted while the Director ponders options and preserve the ability to finish under Green Flag conditions. Automatic stop, sort it out, make sure the right and proper actions are taken. Under this "end of laps only" Red Flag - no tire changes or car alterations/fixes. Red Flag begins at moment of the incident, no Boxing because you were a turn or two from the Pit Entrance. Probably needs some work, but could be a start. Freeze it, Figure it out.

Rules only work when they are easy to understand.The rules should be you resume the race as it was when it was stopped .Meaning Hamilton starts behind the safety car .Then the 4 cars start were they were behind him same distance and time at that moment behind Hamilton then verstappen . Verstappen was given two advantages 1 he didn't have to make up 11 secs .2 he didn't have to pass the 4 cars Hamilton had to pass to maintain this 11 second lead .That's the easiest way to do it start the race as It was when it stopped .

Seems a Red Flag was really the only fair thing to have done. Max's championship victory would have been all that more justified had it been a more evenly-matched final sprint. At the end of the day, I'm extremely proud of both Max and Lewis. They are two of the greatest drivers the sport has ever seen, and they gave us one hell of a season. Love your balanced analysis, mate. Thank YOU for a great season, as well!

6:19 Masi states that the purpose of letting cars unlap themselves is "so they don't affect the racing". But Sainz, in third, was left with two lapped cars between himself and 2nd place Verstappen - so his race was affected, along with many other drivers further down the order who might have had a chance to improve their position at the restart. Having said all that, congratulations to Max - he delivered many outstanding races this year and made sure he was in a position to take advantage at the end.

1. The way I see it, since article 15 is about the officials, the “overriding authority” of the race director is overriding the clerk, not the rules 2. Not impeding the racing is applicable to all cars without any exception, not just the top 2 3. A “general agreement” is not above law and so is every single official

Thank you for cleaning up all the noise about the final green lap, it’s more apparent now that race director was overwhelmed with the 2 teams influencing him at an extremely time sensitive part of the race, best explanation yet.

What I don't get either is, Max drove infront of Lewis when Lewis was acting as the safety car, that is an immediate 5 second penalty, just like if your cross the wrong part of the pit entry. Why did Max not receive a penalty for that. It makes no sense

The wording of the rule stating that "any" lapped car must pass the safety is not ambiguous at all. The meaning of "any" depends on the structure of the sentence surrounding it. "Any" is a word used to quantify something. When it is used to quantify part of a sentence, i.e. "Get me any pen", then it does not mean all. However, if "any" is used to quantify the ENTIRE sentence, i.e. "Any fruit found to be rotten must be removed", it is quite literally a synonym to all. That is why you'll find them listed as synonyms in all thesauruses. In the case of the rule: "any cars that have been lapped by the leader will be required to pass the cars on the lead lap and the safety car" the word "any" is quantifying the entire sentence making it synonymous to "all". I can understand the confusion since the word can mean different things based on the structure but the rules of the language dictate the meaning and therefore the rule has a clear, unambiguous meaning when read by someone trained in legal language. Red Bull's defense was wrong, that's why the stewards decision accepted Mercedes' appeal and didn't reference Red Bull's argument in their decision. This is not saying that the result should or should not have been overturned, that's a larger discussion, but the specific point about the word "any" doesn't hold any water.

Love how it is automatically assumed that from carlos sainz in backwards you are not a part of this race. the teams lower down the order need to say something about this. Carlos had a legal right to get a shot at Max and so on and so forth. The last lap was not a race.

Masi didn’t technically break his rules because the race director has control over the safety car. But in reality his decision was wrong and didn’t follow the accepted practice

"the whole point of letting lapped cars to pass so that they don't affect racing." How does this make sense if only lapped cars between lewis and max was cleared???? What about other drivers? Do they not affect the outcome of the race? So Let's say if Carlos was directly behind Max and he made a dive into a corner and Cause some incident making Lewis and Max become P7 and 10. Would that make a difference in the race? The FIA are a bunch of clowns. The race is NOT just lewis and Max and other drivers do make a difference in the race and the outcome. Yet Massi decided to use a back marker to keep the rest of the field away from Lewis and Max so that Max on a 1.5s faster tyre can take the championship. No-one cares if the championship ends behind a fling safety car. What we want is a race that's not decided by penalties and stupid FIA decision, yet they still fk it up!!!!!! Pulling in safety car is one of the easiest decisions you can make as a race director. There are clear rules to follow. And there is no ambiguity whatsoever. You see the track being clear, you let lapped cars pass, then 1 lap latter, you pull in the safety car if the track remains clear. SIMPLE. HOW HARD IS THAT? And no, as a race director, you only have the override authority over the course clerk in make decisions if there's a discrepancy between them, NOT overriding the actual rules in there. Can a race director said "Hey I don't want any stewards in this race, let's remove them despite the rules saying we need a panel of them"?

My biggest takeaway from this is; what's the point of having a rulebook that all drivers must follow if the race director, just 1 person, can change and break them as he pleases? How do you as a driver and team principal plan your strategies and tactics around something that can be changed at a moment's notice? I don't care who wins the championship if they had red flagged it, everyone is even and raced their hearts out the last 4 laps. Michael Masi had many options but picked the worst, most controversial option to end this race and it's not only ruined a potential historic 8th WC but also tainted a 1st WC for 2 great drivers. Whether you're a Max or Lewis fan, I think we can all agree that both drivers deserved better than this after a wonderfully crazy and wild season like this.

The FIA have admitted that they didn’t “fully” follow their own rules

Have I been living under a rock? It was my understanding that Mercedes had, reluctantly, accepted the final decision and were moving on. However, I understand why they are taking it to an independent court because this is too important to be brushed under the carpet. Rules and guidelines are there for a reason. A football referee can't send off the goalkeepers and a couple of defenders from each team to hasten a goal in the World Cup final. Why should Massi treat this race differently than any other?

I love Max’s ferocity as a driver. I love Lewis’s incredible ability to constantly improve and overcome. I love good racing, no matter who the drivers are. And what Masi and the FIA have done here has really screwed the pooch. This moment has been years in the making, through Bernie Ecclestone’s previous concord agreement that had the teams involved in virtually every decision-making process. (An instance of having the foxes guard the hen-house if there ever was one.) The whole situation and the rule book need to be re-examined. Lewis said it, and he’s right: there isn’t clarity on how the rules are applied. Every situation is handled on a bespoke basis, leaving teams and drivers with no idea of how to approach any given situation. Masi clearly made a choice that was at minimum unconventional and strange. That can’t happen. Personally, I feel there needs to be less communication from teams to the race director. None, in fact. And the race director should be stripped of decision-making powers that can alter a race. He should be executing rules, not deciding when, if or how they are applied. And finally, F1 should just adopt a simple solution: with less than 10 laps remaining, obligatory safety car until all debris is cleared, followed by a green-white-checker just as in NASCAR. Everyone will k ow what to expect and everyone will make decisions accordingly.

How can Masi be allowed to decide that only the first two cars deserve to go racing? Sainz might’ve had a chance to overtake Verstappen or Hamilton if they get involved in an overtake incident. No way should the director be able to choose options that might affect the outcome like that.

I think I saw someone mentioned this before. The way Masi did, showing that he thinks only two cars are racing and rest of them are just the background. Imaging other drivers feeling in that situation. I would feel my existence on the track seems negligible if I am one of them. Yes, it is the final; yes, it is the championship deciding moment between these two cars, but the decision doesn't seem to show any respect to other drivers at that moment.

Bravo for the unbiased and thorough analysis. Real racing fans with common sense will judge fairly regardless of how the appeal goes.

They should revise these rules in the next season with 2 major part: No teams talking to the race manager and no race shall ever end in safety car. I mean c'mon, what's even the point of racing if that happens.. 🤷🏾‍♂️

You are forgetting the crucial change of mind of Masi; the initial order was that there would be NO unlapping of cars, that's why Max went in for soft tyres, letting the 5 backmarkers past. THEN the order was that only those 5 cars could unlap themselves, thereby giving Max a free pitstop. Even some of the other drivers could not understand that biased decision!

Imagine what went on in Lewis' mind. He just had to get the car safely over the finish line. The only thing that could've prevented that would've been a puncture, but with a second per lap to spare he could easily avoid the dangerous curbstones...and then this happened and absolutely nothing he could do about it. He became a sitting duck! I really felt sad for him, although I believe both drivers deserved the title, based on the whole of the year.

Also Ricciardo boxed and was unable to challenge the cars infront of him and maybe get some points... If there were other constructor battles that could have been negatively affected by this then I believe there would have been a bigger uproar and pressure on FIA to change the result

Why have I just found this KZfaq channel when I am concidering stopping watching F1?! Great clear analysis. Wish most TV channels were as good!

There ought to be rules on what to do when there is a safety car in the last five or ten laps. The rules should be different to prevent finishing the race behind a safety car. Maybe Red Flag the race immediately during that time if normally you would have a safety car. If NASCAR can figure this out, the FIA and Formula 1 should be able to figure this out.

As always, thanks for a clear and concise explanation. I wonder if Bernie and others are deep in conversation with Toto and the Mercedes heirarchy/shareholders trying to get Mercedes not to appeal to bring calm and peace? If Mercedes, therefore, does not appeal, what does this mean for future borderline calls by the Racing Director? Will an appeal clear the mud from the water? Will not appealing make for murkier waters in championships to come?

If you say that Massi threw the rules out the window then you are ignoring Rule 15.3.

I fundamentally disagree on the "any doesn't mean all" argument. In the context of these regulations it very much does. Try arguing with your landlord that you only pay the damages you want to, because your contract states "tenants are liable for any damage"

"He can break his own rules, as written, in his own rules " I love that 😂

I was thinking that allowing teams to contact race director mid-race and intervening their decision is the reason why stewards often takes so many odd and inconsistent decision

This is not about rules, but rather on misjudgement. Masi let the cars between L. Hamilton and M. Verstappen overtake the safety car, because he wanted a final race between them. In the understandable rush and difficulties of a moment where he was liasing with the team principals, he forgot that in the title race between LH and MV, a crucial role is played by C. Sainz who can take advantage in the restart if MV waives too much to catch the slipstream of LH. Also, sometimes cars need to open a 1s or 1.5s gap behind them, before attempting an overtake on the car in front, something that you cannot afford in a one lap race. He was so focused to ensure a fair battle between LH and MV, that he actually forgot to do it in the right way.

The team principals should not have a direct line to the race director

The best option for next year is to get rid of 'Messy', and put someone with real experience of F1 on the judges bench.

Rules were not broken, only a lack of consistency. The whole season and at every race decisions were made, that lacked consistency. Also in this final race, it was very strange that Lewis was allowed to keep the lead after taking a shortcut … and it would have been even more strange not to let cars unlap themselves ….. If Mercedes really wants to appeal, then i guess we should take into account every other race this season including their bending of the rules with regard to changing the power unit in Brazil. I like Lewis, but i am glad that in this season we really had some exciting racing instead of watching Lewis and Mercedes winning all races like the last 5 years.

I’m a huge Lewis fan and I was gutted over what happened. Over the season, Max 100% deserved the title, he’s been awesome. For Lewis to loose it like that though? Was horrible. I hope the results aren’t over turned. It needs to stand as RBR did nothing wrong. The FIA though, they need to own up to that shambolic show from them

In this context "any" definitely means "all". If a law says any person entering the country must submit a proof of a negative covid test, I dont see myself going to the airport to argue "we'll it didn't say all, so let me on the plane".

Red flagging the race was the best choice. Imagine Lewis and max both on even tires, 4 laps to go that will make or break their season. Might have been the race of the century.

Listen to Horners message to Masi which ends with a very strange sentence... "You only need one racing lap". Why would Horner say 'YOU' to Masi? I'd have understood if he said WE only need one racing lap but instead he's referring to Masi. Maybe it's "You only need one racing lap..... to get the finish you want".

There's no room for interpretation at all. 'Any cars that have been lapped will be required to pass the cars on the lead lap...', means ALL lapped cars must pass the lead lap cars, because the use of the word 'any' is qualifying the entire sentence. Like saying 'Any dirty dishes are required to be washed'. That doesn't mean some dirty dishes can be washed, and some can be left, based on arbitrary decision. The rules of the English language are explicitly clear on this point. The race director broke the rules as they are written, there's no two ways about it.

Did Formula 1 Break Their OWN RULES? Yes, but the *entire year*

what has happened this year with the FIA is that formula 1 is seen as a show and not as a sport. that is pretty bad in my opinion.

What do I think? It was a blatant bending of the rules that was swayed by RedBull. No point having rules if you’re not going to follow them. If they had kept the cars there and said go for the last lap, it would have delayed it but Max might have still won. We were cheated out of this by the FIA and RedBull. A very sad end to a great season

One thing that nobody doesn't talk about, is the fact that there's 20 cars on the grid that have the right to race at the end of the safety car, not just the 2 leaders. Why shouldn't Sainz be given a fair chance to fight for the win when he's third behind the safety car? Now he had 2 lapped cars between him and Verstappen while he had his lapped cars cleared... That to me does not sound fair. And shouldn't the midfield teams also have the right to fight for points by starting in the right order after the safety car? Been enjoying this season a lot but the ending here was a huge disappointment, because making the sport into a show became more important than the sport itself.

"Any" followed by a condition followed by "required" can only be sensibly understood as "every". The whole rule does not make any sense otherwise. 15.3 does also not mention the safety car procedure but only "the use of the safety car". Masi never had the authority to break the rules or overrule one with another according to 15.3. 48.13 also cannot even overrule 48.12 since 48.12 puts a requirement on when the SC can be called in. Furthermore Masi explaining his solution would have been the only one to not compromise the racing is ... laughable. He did directly interfere with the racing and gave Verstappen an advantage by eliminating Sainz out of the equation as well. Where is the rule that says that only P1 and P2 are worthy of racing? 15.3.c can furthermore be very much understood in a way that Masi could have suggested a red flag to the stewards as a solution outside of the Sporting Regulations. This was the worst performance of Masi ever and that's quite a feat considering his track record of terrible decisions. Since RB and Verstappen are not responsible for this mess I think it's unfair to strip them of the title. On the other hand Hamilton was indeed robbed of a fair chance. This mess demands consequences, one of those being Masi to be fired and stripped of all FIA duties as he's proven to be unfit for the job.

“It’s a motor race,” but his decision pretty much made the first 54 laps null and void. I don’t think anyone could have made the right call in that moment, but the decision to finish the race not under safety car and after the second place driver has pitted for softs, after he allowed only the cars between the race leaders to pass, you can’t say it was a fair restart. It was the smart move to stay out for Lewis because he kept track position and if it wasn’t red flagged and Max pitted, either all lapped cars should’ve been let through, leading to a possible win under SC or Max should’ve had to fight from position. But instead, he made a decision that gave Max the clear advantage. Regardless of popular opinion, the fairest way to end that race was under safety car or red flagged. I do believe Masi did everything to his best ability to ensure that the race didn’t end under SC but by doing that, he failed to realize that it was his decision, not the teams nor the drivers, that determined the Championship.

I watched every race this season (amongst other seasons). I LOVE Formula 1. But, the way this season ended was one of THE most disappointing things I’ve ever seen. I wouldn’t of cared who one the race (as ling as it was fair), but to see it having ended the way it did made me lose faith and love for the sport. I literally cried when it happened. It wasn’t fair, it wasn’t right and if they made the decision to increase better racing/viewing pleasure, it definitely didn’t work for me……it had the absolutely direct opposite impact on me. I’m still sad and will be for some time😔. Thanks so much for your videos and happy holidays everyone!! Be well and be merry!!

Everybody emphasises the "any lapped cars are required" part. All of them skip the very first sentence of 48.12, which very clearly states that this requirement only comes in effect AFTER the message "LAPPED CARS MAY NOW OVERTAKE" has been sent to all the competitors. It never was. A different message was stating that "Lapped car so and so to overtake the safety car", which does not fulfill the requirement to bring 48.12 into effect. So, 48.12 was not breached.

"The race dictator" phrase is both hilarious and extremely accurate 🤣

Good video, I would also add that from a drivers point of view these decisions set a worrying precedent. Can they trust that following the rules will be beneficial in the future. I think all drivers and teams should be concerned with the bending of the rules. I’m surprised we haven’t heard more from the other teams on this.

Very good summary. Someone mentioned to me that the restart wasn't an option as the race was over 90% complete as well...?

A race is a a race. Merc tactical move to stick with worn rubber was their choice and a big blunders.

You forgot one very important point. When the SC was first called, Massi clearly said “no lapped cars will pass” this would’ve had a huge impact on Merc decision to stay out and not put with a tyre change. However Massi was influenced by Michael Horner after red bull had already pitted asking for the lapped cars to go through. The real Croix here is that Massi back flipped on his decision with little to no warning for Merc with nil regard of the consequences

Alonzo , at the time, was calling for lapped cars to pass the safety and have TWO racing laps. But there was a "no pass" order out at that time. Alonzo should be the Race Director

What makes these people think that a whole championship can be overturned on technicalities. It's one race out of 22 and if one decision is disputed then every decision can be, making a precedent to challenge in court every controversial decision as "championship critical".

When a judge judges differently in two similar cases it is called prevarication.

Even with the rules in front of you, you got it wrong. Option 3 (i.e. Masi's original choice) does not apply. Only if it is unsafe for lapped cars to pass the safety car is this an option, and clearly it was perfectly safe or he shouldn't let any cars past. The "overriding authority" does NOT apply to the rules. It's saying he has authority to override a decision of the Clerk of the Course. Look at the context of that paragraph. It's talking about what powers the Clerk has and where the Race Director can override him. I've been through the rules with a fine toothed comb, and nowhere does it give the Race Director any power to change any rules. On the contrary, the few situations where the Race Director can deviate from the norm are explicitly called out, and modifying the safety car procedure is not one of them. Also, the very first paragraph, even before section 1 says that the FIA undertake to apply as well as observe the rules. There's nothing about changing them to get a mad Horner off ones back. While I'm sure some of the rules are ambiguous and need to be reworded, there isn't any ambiguity in the safety car rules. The use of "any" is in the context of "if there are any lapped cars, they ALL must pass the safety car unless it is unsafe to do so". The last sentence in the section, which you quoted, "once the last of the lapped cars has passed the leader..." removes any possible ambiguity, despite what Christian would like us to believe. As for "not affecting the racing", what about Sainz? He was stuck behind a lapped Ricciardo (whose race was effectively ended by this decision). Had he been allowed to get back on the lead lap, Ricciardo might have been able to get into the points. Masi was right not to red flag the race, especially not once the track was clear, but given that it was safe for lapped cars to pass the safety car, there was only one legal option - he should have let all lapped cars past, and brought the safety car in at the end of the following lap, which would have been the end of the race. By breaking the rules he changed a certain Lewis victory into an inevitable Max victory. That is "affecting the racing" in the worst possible way. I certainly think there's a case for cutting direct communication with the Race Director. Masi was already under pressure to get the race underway as soon as possible, and Horner's badgering was pretty unseemly at best, and may have been instrumental in him making the bad decision. Of course, if you've got an ineffectual, and barely respected, Race Director who's prepared to "offer" a team a deal or no deal over penalties, when he should have said "give the place back, or get a penalty", the team principals are going to smell blood and try to exert whatever influence they can. Masi brought this upon himself. I'm a neutral, and would have been happy for either driver to win legitimately, but this stinks and I'm wholly behind Lewis on this. I'm not at all against Max, just the illegal use by Masi of non-existent powers to change the outcome of the whole championship.

I'm still pretty much gutted about how it all unfolded. There were different situations on the table. Even though Max definitely deserved the title, it's a shame that it was taken away from Lewis - in the decisive race, he completely dominates Max and ends up getting knocked out by this controversial decision by a third party. Just to have a good show, you should not bend the basic rules of the sport, not in the last lap of the last race of the championship. It would have been just as much of a farce if it had happened the other way around, this has nothing to do with sport, but solely with entertainment. And that can not please a real fan. And yes, Max has certainly taken some penalties this season, which is perhaps why many are talking about compensatory justice. In my eyes, he deserved many of the penalties, but again, is definitely also a deserving world champion. Still, this final was for me a distortion of competition.

Maybe Masi should be handed a set of cards (yellow and red), and he could use them if a team principal disputed his decisions. It has been done in football/soccer with great success. A yellow card would be a warning, a red card would be a ban from the paddock in the following race. Simple & effective!

If the tie was broken under a safety car, there would have been controversy. Might as well have controversy, AND a racing lap.

"To get the lapped cars out of the way of racing" apparently the only race happening in the eyes of Masi is only between Max and Lewis

Thank you for a very clear explanation of the facts. Was I mistaken in hearing a call that lapped cars won’t pass, followed by one saying they should? Also the race is not just about the leaders but the mid field battles too. By only allowing a few cars through he negated these battles as well. All in all a very unsatisfactory way to end a season.

Mercedes strategized according to the book. If then the rules are interpreted as wished, obviously Mercedes’ was left hanging

The reason I believe that has upset the apple cart is that if Massi wanted to finish under racing conditions he should have found out how many laps it would take to clear the circuit and then immediately red flagged the race, and restarted the race in the identical order in which the race had been stopped, with or without tyre changes. Preferably without a tyre stop. after all Max had a huge and unfair advantage over the leader. Was it really fair to decide a championship of 22 races and 57 led laps, in just one lap.I would not have minded Max winning on a level playing field, but not like this.

As others have pointed out, 15.3 is about the RD having authority to override the clerk, not to override the regulations. No matter how you look at it or try to spin it, it is indisputable that 2 concrete regulations simply were not followed: 1) ALL lapped cars should have been required to pass. This was not done, only cars between Lewis and Max were told to pass. 2) the safety car should have returned to the pits on the lap FOLLOWING the lap where the last lapped car has passed. This also was not done, as the SC was ordered back to the pits after those 5 back markers had passed -- on the same lap -- rather than at the end of the following lap. Horner's contention that Masi's actions were proper because 15.3 gives him authority to override the regulations is dubious if not disingenuous. Also, in a legal document there is no distinction between "any" and "all" in this context -- and any court would rule as such if it came to that (sorry @Driver61). What I hope we will see happen henceforth is: -- Mercedes should pursue appeals, but not with the goal of stripping Verstappen of the title and awarding it to Hamilton. That would be no less farcical than what we've already been subjected to. They should proceed with their appeals, including up to the CAS, for the purpose of forcing the FIA to real reform. --Masi should step down, or be forced to step down, mainly for the optics, as it may go some distance to placating aggrieved fans. --Beyond Masi, F1 should also recognize that they must look bigger picture than just replacing one person -- the solution needs to be centered around clarifying and making unequivocal what any RD's scope of responsibility should and should not be going forward. --As another commenter mentioned, F1 also needs to reform the rules and punishments related to drivers gaining position by forcing other drivers off the track. This is a dangerous and chickenshit practice and shouldn't be allowed. I know some will disagree and say that's just hard racing, but IMO it's a subtle form of cheating -- you force your opponent into a dangerous situation where their only option to avoid contact or crashing is to veer off course. As the commenter rightly says, if this continues unaddressed, it will become commonplace as all drivers will be forced to adopt the tactic to remain competitive. P.S. Did anyone catch the verbal exchange between Wolf and Race Control at the end of the race, as Wolf was protesting? The speaker on the other end (was it Masi? the voice sounded British rather than Australian) responded to Wolf in a surprisingly snarky and condescending manner, saying something to the effect of "Toto, it's called a motor race." This really stood out to me, as I thought this was extremely unprofessional for an official (in any sport) to communicate with a competitor this way. If it was indeed Masi, then simply add it to the list of reasons he should be removed from his position. Really unprofessional and inappropriate -- whoever it was.

Do not interfere with the race. To ensure safety and to let the race finish in accordance with the rules, whether the spectators like it or not.

The race director shouldn't have the possibility to overrule the rulebook. He just has to make sure that the rules are being followed. And I think it's a good idea to cut the communication between the race director and the teamleaders. No interference in this way. I'm really glad that Verstappen has won this race and I think he deserves the title if you look at the stats. Looking at this season as a whole, this decision is one of many in a strange F1 season. I'm only just starting to watch F1 more seriously, but I hope next year will be a more fair sporting year with clear rules, less framing and more focus on the actual racing.

It's simple. The most sporting and fair option would have been to leave the lapped cars in place. Lewis had a huge lead wiped out through no fault of his and Max would enjoy a sporting chance to catch him after a good call for a tyre change. Moving just a few cars is a joke because it impedes the other cars on the lead lap. How can that be right? The race wasn't just about two cars after all.

"any" in this context should actually be interpreted as all cars. The entire sentence must be read down, you can't simply hold out one single word and read down that meaning alone. Then the 15.1 rule in context means the director can over rule the clerk of the course, not that they can make up rules on the fly as to the use of the car. It is an overriding authority. Say if the clerk had a stroke mid race, director can now control that aspect, or other such scenarios where needed. It isn't intended to give the director discretion to inject himself into the championship outcome. Which is what has happened, an artificial scenario made to provide a last lap shootout at the expense of all credibility. Masi needs to resign at the very least. F1 can't continue this way and the rule book obviously needs to be altered to make the language airtight so that they don't get these idiots making it up as they go.

Masi set the precedent to use the red flag to clean up a wreck in this situation earlier this season in Baku, when Max’s tire exploded in the final few laps. The race was red flagged and later restarted with two laps remaining, which Perez won. Maybe not the best use of the red flag, but probably would have led to a more equitable outcome in Abu Dbabi than finishing under the safety car, or the accelerated restart we ultimately saw. Max would benefit from his gap being closed up, Lewis would benefit from fresh tires to defend with, and neither driver would find themselves directly losing out because of Masi’s restart decision

Only allowing the cars between Hamilton and Verstappen to unlap was clear intervention by the race director in Red Bulls favour. In this case it was a clear breach of their own rules and Mercedes have every right to feel aggrieved and appeal.

Thank you for taking us through the chaos of that final race. You do a very credible job of communicating and reporting without a lot of commentating. I value that. I hope this controversy will lead to further clarification of the racing rules and consistency in their execution when circumstances like these arise. I love motor racing and have since 1973 when I caught my first glimpse of F1 within the December issue of Road & Track, where Jackie Stewart clinched his third Championship at Monza. This year's controversy reminds me of the Prost/Senna debacle at Suzuka where it appeared that Jean Marie Ballestre ignored precedent and disqualified Ayrton Senna, handing the championship to fellow countryman Prost. As this year's deciding race unfolded, I remember asking why a red flag wasn't thrown to ensure a fair fight under green to the end. You cleared that up in this video, but it seems to me that there should be some sort of Red Flag Option, in cases like this. On the other hand, the championship isn't and maybe shouldn't be decided in a single lap (or three), but that is what this unprecedented season served up. After all is said and done, more of us out in KZfaq Land have bellied up to the bar of opinion, so to speak, and that is truly a good thing for F1.

Whoever you wanted to win, I think all parties can agree that it was an absolute farce that made F1 look like a clown show. The FIA needs to get a grip on itself, and quickly. Whilst they're at it, would be great to seem them take WRC seriously as well.

I'm not understanding this overwhelming desire that everyone has to have the race finish under race conditions. Yes, it'd be anticlimactic for the race to end behind the safety car, but plenty of races in the past have ended this way and so could this. Yes, people could say it was a bit of a let down, but it's not as if Max and Lewis were fighting wheel to wheel all race and the safety car stopped it. Lewis had the race under control and Max was powerless 10 seconds down the road. They ran out of time to end it under race conditions, or they would have if they followed procedure. Honestly, it was so blindly manufactured to allow the top two go toe to toe on the last lap that I've lost all respect for the sport, or at least the sport under Liberty Media.

Regardless if it was fair or not (in my opinion, more unfair than fair), the choice made by Masi resulted in the most entertaining outcome (1 lap shoot out).

You can die a hero or you can live long enough to see yourself become the villain.

Hamilton had to work his way through the traffic that Masi let through in the run up to the safety car. He would have known that Verstappen had put fresh rubber on. He knew he was going against his own rules and anyone would have known that was going to hand the race to Verstappen after Hamilton had clearly won already. Wrong. It doesn’t matter who you support, it was wrong. Not taking anything away from either driver. They both did amazing this year and provided us with the best season in years and both deserved the win. Well done to both of them. Let’s just have consistent rules and stop meddling with the race please! I want to see them fight each other and not the FIA.

One needs to ask oneself whether Masi would have made the same decision if this was the third race of the season or if Max/Lewis and RB/Merc had wrapped up the championship well before the last race. It seems that the answer would most certainly be "no" in both cases.

the fairest result would have been to finish it under a safety car as Lewis was 10 seconds ahead of Max before the crash and it was an obvious massive advantage to Max if they went for a 1 lap sprint after he had been second for the majority of the race... Masi's decision certainly decide the outcome - it wasn't fairly decided on the track.

injustice was done only in one small detail that no one talks about, and that is 5 cars between Hamilton and Max, all 5 were overtaken by Hamilton during the race, and Max was only 3 during race, which means that after the restart of the race, there should have been 2 cars left between Hamilton and Max.They knew very well that if they left those 2 cars between Hamilton and Max, that Max would not be able to win, so they removed all 5,there is no other explanation for that move.All cars overtaken during the race by 1 lap means they can pass the SC race leader, second place if he also overtook the same cars as the race leader, but we saw something completely different.MANIPULATIONS

I really believe Michael Masi has to go. His inconsistent rulings made it way more dangerous out there for the drivers who couldn't get a clear answer as to what was legal and what was a penalty. The whole year was frustrating in that respect and really comes down to the race director's inconsistency. In the end Lewis has been ripped off and Max has a tainted championship - no winner.

Am I missing something? 15.3 surely doesn’t mean that the rules relating to the deployment or withdrawal of the safety car can be ignored and overridden by the whims of the race director. But only that if there was ever a disagreement between the race director and clerk of the course on wether it were safe to bring in the safety car. Then the race director would have the overriding opinion.

I was rooting for Max all season long (proud Dutchie here), but I feel that Mercedes was scr*wed by this clear deviation from the rulebook. No fun in winning a race in this artificial way and had the situation been the other way around, I am pretty sure that Horner would have agreed. Let's deviate from the rulebook again and award a joint championship title to both Max and Lewis. They certainly both deserve it!

You're overlooking that 48.12 is effectively an IF / THEN statement and the criteria for the IF (message lapped cars may now overtake sent to all competitors) was not met. Therefore the THEN part doesn't apply.

Thank you for the clear analysis. It's a great shame that Masi felt the need to change the rules to increase, in his view, the entertainment. This isn't how sport works. F1 has really let itself down, the fans and everyone else involved by cheapening itself in this way.

The wording of 48.12 is clear enough in my opinion. The use of “any” in this context creates 2 groups: lapped cars and non-lapped cars. If you’re a lapped car, then you “will be required to pass,” and if you aren’t, then stay where you are. Simple as that. Calling the safety car in a lap early in clear violation of the regulations creates for a combination of egregious mistakes that undermine the integrity of the sport.

Since these new people took control of F1 they have consistently strived to make it more of a spectacle with events all weekend (at least) etc. - which is good. However, are they also applying inconsistent rulings to spice things up? Rules need to be there to stipulate with absolute clarity what the parameters of the sport are, prevent people gaining an “unfair” advantage, and therefore be applied “fairly” and consistently. It seems that as time goes by these basics are not really being followed and instead of making F1 more attractive and watchable they are having the opposite effect as many people now think the sport is rigged and once again not worth watching. This urgently needs cleaning up.

The way I look at is that Max had no chance to win the race with 4 laps left and what Masi did after Red Bull complained is not right. He took a car that did not deserve the win and gave him a chance to win. What Hamilton did for 57.5 laps meant zero. For those who say they should have changed the tires it would not have mattered with 4 laps Max would have had to get by 5 cars plus Hamilton. I’m a Ferrari fan and I’ve been wanting Hamilton and Mercedes to lose but not like this they were ROBBED. F1 2021 Champion is Max but not to me, for me it’s still Hamilton.

"Let them race!" - Well he didn't allow those who were lapped but weren't allowed to pass the safety car to race... Their chances of passing the ones ahead who were allowed to pass was over. Likewise with Lewis, on 40 lap old tyres... His ability to race Max was over too... The exact opposite of what Masi claims was his motivation. BIG FAIL.

I think Hamilton and Mercedes didnt pit for new tires during the last sc since they thought the race would end during the safety car but instead it went to the pits early and the cars between the two were allowed to unlap themselves which just messed them up. Im also pretty sure that the word ANY is immediately confirmed to mean all since the next rule says "LAST lapped cars" which techincally means all the cars. Then again with the lapped cars being in the way of actual racing, the literal permission to allow only the cars between Ver and Ham affected the racing of the rest of the cars behind Verstappen. It made it look like the only race that mattered was the one between Lew and Ver. I mean it was the most important but jesus christ.

I think red flag it was the best option

At the end of the day F1 has dominated the headlines this year all year, popularity is sky high and David beat goliath. Who wins from all this? The Fans because everyone will be tuning in next year hoping it will be as exciting as this year even if it is almost impossible to run a championship as close and crazy as this one.