FIA Abu Dhabi report: Masi at fault but acted in 'good faith'

The FIA has released its detailed report following its investigation into the events that took place in the closing stages of the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

The report's findings were rubber stamped on Saturday by the World Motor Sport Council and the detailed document has been released to the public.

The main take-away from the FIA's investigation is its admittance that race director Michael Masi did not follow the proper procedures regarding the race's restart following the safety car period, although it was asserted that he acted in "good faith".

"The race director called the safety car back into the pit lane without it having completed an additional lap as required by the Formula 1 Sporting Regulations," the FIA noted in a statement.

"The process of identifying lapped cars has up until now been a manual one and human error lead to the fact that not all cars were allowed to unlap themselves," it added.

Despite Masi's botched handling of the procedure, the FIA has made clear that the final result of the race that crowned Max Verstappen as F1's 2021 world champion would not be changed.

The results of the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and the FIA Formula One World Championship are valid, final and cannot now be changed," said the FIA.

"In accordance with the rules, Mercedes made a protest to the stewards after the race, seeking to change the race classification.

"The stewards dismissed the protest and Mercedes then had an opportunity to appeal that decision to the FIA International Court of Appeal, but did not do so. There are no other available mechanisms in the rules for amending the race classification."

The detailed report breaks down in a precise timeline the facts, key issues and findings as well as the radio communications that took place during the controversial safety car period.

Regarding the latter, the report clearly states that Masi was at one point overwhelmed by outside solicitations which in turn has a "negative impact" on the Aussie's management of the race.

• Read also - Verstappen: Masi 'appreciative' of messages of support

"The consensus of those involved in the detailed analysis and clarification exercise was that the respective communications to the Race Director by the Red Bull Racing and Mercedes Team Principals during the final laps of the 2021 Abu Dhabi GP had a negative impact on the smooth running of the final laps because they were distracting when the Race Director needed to focus on making difficult and time‐pressured decisions," read the report.

"It was found that these communications were neither necessary nor helpful to the smooth running of the race. Rather, the consensus was that they add pressure to the Race Director at a critical time and might seek to influence the decisions made by the Race Director."

The report also underlined the apparent confusing wording in the sporting code regarding the unlapping of cars under the safety car regimen.
"It was apparent from the analysis that there could be different interpretations of Article 48.12 and/or Article 48.13," the report said.

"This likely contributed to some of the confusion surrounding the Safety Car unlapping procedure. It was therefore considered that these provisions of the F1 Sporting Regulations would benefit from clarification."

Masi's error was somewhat mitigated in the report by the fact that the race director - who it states acted in "good faith" - took into account "previous discussions (including at meetings of the F1 SAC, the F1 Commission, and F1 Team Managers) that made clear the F1 teams’ 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," added the report.

"The F1 drivers’ consultation confirmed that finishing a race under green flag racing conditions remains desirable, but that safety should always come first.

"If for safety reasons it is not possible to withdraw the Safety Car, the F1 teams confirmed that they would accept finishing the race under Safety Car conditions."

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