The final stages of the Abu Dhabi GP suddenly became chaotic when Nicholas Latifi crashed into the protective barriers at the exit of turn 14 with five laps to go, forcing the race direction to let the safety car enter the track.
Initially it was communicated that the lapped cars would not be able to double but later his mind was changed and Max Verstappen was allowed, with fresh red tires, to get behind Lewis Hamilton for the last lap of the race.
Lando Norris, Fernando Alonso, Esteban Ocon, Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel were thus able to overtake Hamilton’s Mercedes and Verstappen’s Red Bull and at the restart the Dutchman took advantage of the compound to get the better of the Englishman and conquer the world title.
This unusual procedure infuriated Mercedes which made two complaints at the end of the race, both of which were rejected.
Many riders, however, were quite perplexed by the behavior of the race direction who even yesterday seemed to have absolutely no control of the situation.
“Obviously it was a decision made to emphasize the title fight for the TV show,” said Lando Norris.
“It is not for me to decide whether it was a correct decision or not. In some cases they allow you to overcome, in other cases they do not. However, we were told that overtaking would not be allowed and then, suddenly, we were told the opposite to play a one-lap race. This surprised me ”.
Fernando Alonso was also surprised by the behavior of the race management: “When the safety car was on the track, I thought they would immediately tell us to overtake because that’s what normally happens. You see the green light of the safety car and you split “.
“The green light, however, never showed and after two laps my engineer told me that it would not be allowed to overtake and that the positions would remain frozen. Shortly after, the green light appeared and when I asked if I could overtake I was told yes and to chase Lando Norris. It was a confusing situation ”.
The Safety Car Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W12, Lando Norris, McLaren MCL35M, Fernando Alonso, Alpine A521, the rest of the group
Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images
Sebastian Vettel was also very critical of management: “The message was communicated very late. They should have let us through right away, like other times. There were two drivers fighting for the title and they had to have a clear track. I don’t know what happened, but this decision completely ruined our race ”.
Same line of thinking that of Daniel Ricciardo who finished the race in twelfth position: “I was confused because I had received the message that the cars could not overtake and I thought it was a correct choice because Lewis was in the lead and Max had a advantage with fresh tires “.
“Then I saw some cars overtake and I asked my engineer what I should do and he told me to stay in my position. I found myself in the leading positions on the last lap and with a new set of soft. Honestly I’m speechless. Not how all this could have happened ”.
Another rider who criticized the management of the last laps of the race was Carlos Sainz, third yesterday: “It was certainly a strange situation for me. I was fighting for a podium position with Bottas and both AlphaTauri ”.
“In the beginning I was told that it would not be allowed to overtake, then the opposite was decided. This is something that has never happened to me before. It was strange and this decision almost cost me the podium to be honest. “
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