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Motorsport’s governing body FIA concluded Saturday that ex-Formula One race director Michael Masi made a “human error” but acted in good faith at the controversial season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix last year.
Masi was replaced as race director last month after the wild Abu Dhabi ending. Red Bull driver Max Verstappen won his first world title after overtaking Mercedes star Lewis Hamilton on the last lap following a controversial restart procedure.
Hamilton led comfortably until a crash by Nicholas Latifi brought out the safety car with five laps remaining.
Verstappen stopped under yellow flags for quicker tires, and Masi flipped his decision and let the five drivers separating Verstappen from Hamilton pass the safety car under yellow. But not all eight, which would have taken longer.
“The process of identifying lapped cars has up until now been a manual one and human error lead to the fact that not all cars were allowed to un-lap themselves,” the FIA said as it published its final conclusions on Saturday.
“Due to the fact that manual interventions generally carry a higher risk of human error, software has been developed that will, from now on, automate the communication of the list of cars that must un-lap themselves.”
Masi also called the safety car back too early.
“The race director called the safety car back into the pit lane without it having completed an additional lap,” the FIA said.
Verstappen restarted second behind Hamilton and, on quicker new tires, zoomed past Hamilton in the fifth turn. Mercedes lost both its protests over how the race ended.
Verstappen’s status as world champion, while not in doubt, has effectively been confirmed on the eve of Sunday’s opening race in Bahrain.
“The results of the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and the FIA Formula One World Championship are valid, final and cannot now be changed,” the FIA said.
Masi was cleared of any intent and the FIA said he was just doing his best to finish the race.
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