“The race director is allowed to control”– FIA Stewards defends race director Michael Masi against Mercedes’ safety car complaint

Tanish Chachra | 13/12/2021
"The race director is allowed to control"– FIA Stewards defends race director Michael Masi against Mercedes' safety car complaint

Stewards defend race director Michael Masi’s decision as FIA dismisses both appeals made by Mercedes to strip Max Verstappen from the championship.

Max Verstappen won the championship in Abu Dhabi in a very controversial manner. FIA director Michael Masi made unusual calls with the safety car, forcing Mercedes to lodge two complaints.

Moreover, Mercedes even reportedly brought their counsel to the track. And later, Red Bull’s counsel also apparently reached into the dispute.

While the accusation of Verstappen overtaking Lewis Hamilton under a safety car was rejected. Later, the stewards also rejected the second plea of allowing five cars between Verstappen and Hamilton to reduce their lap disadvantage.

According to the journalist Chris Medland, “The stewards say the race director is allowed to control the use of the Safety Car, and taking the results from the penultimate lap (as Mercedes requested) “is effectively shortening the race. Retrospectively, and hence not appropriate.”

With this update, the Silver Arrows are likely to knock on the Court of Arbitration of Sports (CAS) door. Thus, we can expect more drama for a few more months.

FIA and unprecedented calls

Nevertheless, FIA has been massively scrutinized by the fans and experts for their inconsistent calls. Moreover, setting new precedents later doesn’t repeat in different races.

So, what will be FIA doing to evolve itself not to repeat such chaotic conclusions remains to be seen. Meanwhile, some F1 journalist claims that Mercedes would never succeed with their pleas.

Because, usually successful appeals are based on rulebooks, but over here, it’s Mercedes against FIA’s words. So, maybe the Silver Arrows are rowing in waters far from land.

Post Edited By: Tanish Chachra
Mercedes Michael Masi

About the author

Tanish Chachra

Tanish Chachra is the Motorsport editor at The SportsRush. He saw his first race when F1 visited India in 2011, and since then, his romance with the sport has been seasonal until he took up this role in 2020. Reigniting F1's coverage on this site, Tanish has fallen in love with the sport all over again. He loves Kimi Raikkonen and sees a future world champion in Oscar Piastri. Away from us, he loves to snuggle inside his books.

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