“Penalty is when the referee blows the whistle”. This is the phrase passed into history uttered by Vujadin Boskov, a Yugoslavian footballer and then coach who died in 2014 at the age of 84 (when there was still no VAR, slow motion on the pitch). Helmut Marko, manager of the youth program of Red Bull, in some ways recalled it by commenting on the season finale in Abu Dhabi, where Race Director Michael Masi forced the restart procedure following the entry of the Safety Car on the track to make so that the race ended in ‘racing’ mode and not behind the safety car.
In this way Max Verstappen, who returned to the pits to mount new soft tires, was able to attack Lewis Hamilton, still on the track with the set of hard tires mounted after less than a third of the race. The Dutchman has passed the seven-time world champion in Curva-5 flying towards the conquest of the world title, in the face of the bewilderment of Toto Wolff who defined it all as an unsportsmanlike gesture resulting from a freestyle reading of the regulation comparable to the goal scored by Diego Armando Maradona in the quarter-final of the 1986 World Cup which saw Argentina opposed to England. “Credit must be given to Michael Masi who wanted the race to end by competing – the words of Marko, guest of the program ‘Sport und Talk’ broadcast on an Austrian broadcaster – he is the arbiter and what he decides is valid. There were five cars between Hamilton and Verstappen and he just got them out of the way. In Indycar and Nascar there are rules to ensure that the race ends by competing “. In reality, in the maximum US car formula, the regulation does not provide for anything ‘automatic’ in this situation, but it is customary to resort to the red flag to subsequently allow a ‘racing’ finish. In Nascar, on the other hand, there are three ‘overtimes’ to add two laps of the green flag to the finish if the race distance is reached under a ‘caution’ regime.
Marko stressed that Red Bull was quick to react to the situation, putting Verstappen in a position to win. Max then completed the work: “The team reacted sensationally, Hamilton at that point had no chance. When Verstappen asked me what my ‘prediction’ was for the restart, I replied that it was clear that he would have. Seeing him always driving so to the limit making full use of his talent is something that warms my heart. He is a driver in constant evolution, I can’t wait to find out what he will be able to give us in 2022 ”.
#Masi #Marko #referee #decides #valid #FormulaPassionit