With the report published today on the occasion of the FIA World Council, the final word on the Abu Dhabi case has finally been written.
The last GP of the 2021 Formula 1 season ended chaotically due to the incomprehensible handling of the safety car by then race director Michael Masi. When Nicholas Latifi crashed into the barriers in the final laps, the safety car intervened on the track to allow the stewards to remove the damaged Williams.
When the track was cleared, however, Masi only allowed the lapped cars placed between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen to double and then return the safety car to the pit lane and give the green flag when there was only one lap left at the end of the race.
The Federation wanted to open an investigation into what happened and a detailed report was presented to the World Council to analyze all the events that led to the chaos in Abu Dhabi and to find corrective measures that could avoid the repetition of a similar situation in the future. Here is what was decided by the FIA.
FIA World Council: Masi acted in good faith
“The safety car procedure was a central topic of the analysis and the clarifications emerged by applying articles 48.12 and 48.13 of the Formula 1 Sporting Regulations. The race director recalled the safety car in the pit lane without having completed a lap. as required by the Formula 1 Sporting Regulations (article 48.12). From the analysis it emerged that there could be different interpretations of articles 48.12 and 48.13 of the regulation and this probably contributed to the application of that procedure ”.
“It was also considered that the decision regarding the use of the safety car in the final of the Abu Dhabi GP 2021 probably took into account the discussions that have taken place previously about the preference of interested parties (FIA, Formula 1, teams and drivers) to finish races under green flag conditions rather than safety car, taking into account safety conditions “.
Safety Car and Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W12, Lando Norris, McLaren MCL35M
Photo by: Jerry Andre / Motorsport Images
“In light of this will applied for the entire 2021 season, the report believes that the referee acted in good faith and to the best of his knowledge, given the difficult circumstances, also considering the significant time constraints for the decisions to be made. take and the immense pressure of the teams ”.
“The results of the Abu Dhabi GP 2021 and the FIA Formula 1 World Championship are valid, definitive and cannot be changed anymore. In accordance with the rules, Mercedes filed a complaint with the marshals after the race and this was rejected. Mercedes had the opportunity to proceed to the FIA’s International Court of Appeal, but did not. There are no other mechanisms available to change the ranking of the race ”.
FIA World Council: a software to split
“The process of identifying the lapped cars has so far been carried out manually and human error has led to the conclusion that not all lapped cars could return to the leader’s lap. Since manual interventions generally involve a greater risk of human error, a software has been developed which from now on will automate the communication relating to single-seaters that can split. Furthermore, the 2022 Formula 1 sporting regulations have been updated to clarify how “all” and not “some” of the cars are authorized to split ”.
“This dubbed car identification process has been revised on the basis of the recommendations announced by the President of the FIA on February 17, 2022 which also include the creation of the FIA Remote Operations Center, the integration of a new team to manage trackside operations. , as well as a review of the interactions between the teams and Race Control during the race “.
FIA World Council: here is the Remote Operative Center
The Remote Operative Center – previously named Virtual Race Control – present at the headquarters of the International Automobile Federation in Geneva was also described in the World Council of today.
The ROC (Remote Operative Center) works as follows:
Procedural and regulatory issues can be referred to the ROC, which operates in an advisory capacity and does not interrupt the workflow of the race management, active on site, nor cause any delay in decision-making processes.
In principle, the ROC resembles the VAR in use in football, but will serve as a support resource for match direction with data comparable to more than 10 simultaneous football matches, including over 140 video and audio sources.
The ROC provides an additional resource for the FIA to thoroughly review aspects of the competition and decisions made in order to refine and improve procedures for the future. It has no regulatory power and cannot be used to re-evaluate and change past decisions.
As the ROC is developed, it will become a valuable training and educational resource for the next generation of race control personnel and stewards. Its benefits will then extend to other FIA championships and the wider international community of the FIA National Sporting Authorities (ASN).
FIA World Council: new technical and sporting regulations
The World Council has also approved some important changes to the sporting and technical regulations that Motorsport.com had already anticipated in the past few weeks starting from the increase in the minimum weight of the current single-seaters. This increases by 3 kilograms, going from 795 to 798 kg.
George Russell, Mercedes W13
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
From now on, the technical regulations will allow teams to use a single ground support on each side of the car. Finally, from the point of view of the sporting regulations, the procedure linked to the Safety Car regime has been revised: all dubbed single-seaters will be able to return to the leaders’ lap and do it independently.
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