Abu Dhabi GP result ‘valid and final’ as FIA report blames ‘human error’ for Hamilton-Verstappen drama

A report by Formula One’s governing body has found race director Michael Masi was at fault for the chaotic and controversial finish to the 2021 season

Max Verstappen’s world championship-clinching victory at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix is “valid and final”, an FIA report into the controversial race has found.

On the eve of the new season’s first race in Bahrain, F1’s governing body finally delivered its verdict on the extroardinary climax to the 2021 season, which saw Verstappen overtake title rival Lewis Hamilton in a final lap shootout to win his maiden world title and deny a shocked Hamilton a record eighth crown.

The FIA’s report blamed “human error” for the unprecedented application of safety car rules which caused such a stir, effectively pinning responsibility on the since sacked race director Michael Masi, although it added that Masi acted “in good faith”.

The sport’s governing body delivered its verdict 97 days after the contentious race.

In a statement, the FIA said: “The Race Director called the safety car back into the pit lane without it having completed an additional lap as required by the Formula One Sporting Regulations (Article 48.12).

“It was apparent from the analysis that there could be different interpretations of Article 48.12 and Article 48.13 of the Formula One Sporting Regulations, and that this likely contributed to the applied procedure.

“It was also considered that the decisions regarding the safety car at the end of the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix likely took into account previous discussions that made clear the Formula One Stakeholders (FIA, Formula One, teams and drivers) preference to end races under green flag racing conditions, rather than behind a safety car, when safe to do so.

“In combination with the objective to finish under green flag racing conditions applied throughout the 2021 season, the report finds that the race director was acting in good faith and to the best of his knowledge given the difficult circumstances, particularly acknowledging the significant time constraints for decisions to be made and the immense pressure being applied by the teams.

“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 process of identifying lapped cars has up until now been a manual one and human error led to the fact that not all cars were allowed to un-lap themselves.”