The FIA has chosen not to disclose the findings of its inquiry into the controversial climax of the Formula One world championship-deciding Abu Dhabi Grand Prix last season. The sport’s governing body presented its report to the teams on Monday but in the forthcoming days will reveal only its plans of proposed changes.
The development will not be welcomed by those who felt the sport’s integrity was put at risk by events at last season’s finale. The FIA was expected to share the findings publicly but instead issued a short statement.
“The FIA president [Mohammed Ahmed bin Sulayem] led detailed discussions of the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix,” it read. “Feedback from the commission on matters raised will be incorporated into the president’s analysis and he will publicly present news of structural changes and action plan in the coming days.”
Max Verstappen won in Abu Dhabi after the race director, Michael Masi, improvised the rules in order to ensure the race did not finish behind a safety car, specifically in the way backmarkers could unlap themselves and in how long the safety car had to remain on track after they had begun to do so. Masi’s actions faced greater scrutiny after he appeared to react to pressure from radio communications with Verstappen’s Red Bull team. It allowed Verstappen, on new tyres, to attack and pass Lewis Hamilton on the final lap to secure his first title.
After protests from Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes team were dismissed by FIA stewards, the organisation came under fire for “marking its own homework”. Similar accusations are likely to be raised if only proposed changes are announced and details of the investigation are not presented.
After the equally controversial decision to count two laps behind the safety car at last year’s washed out Belgian Grand Prix as a race and award half points, the FIA has proposed rule changes on races shortened because of bad weather. Two laps without the safety car, or virtual safety car, will be required in future to count as a race and a percentage scale applied for points according to how much of the race has been completed. The commission also approved three sprint race events this year at Imola, Austria and Brazil.
