Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen, Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc have all been victims or beneficiaries of F1 rules at times. Photo / Don Kennedy
Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen, Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc have all been victims or beneficiaries of F1 rules at times. Photo / Don Kennedy
By Don Kennedy
Whilst world champion Max Verstappen's first Italian Grand Prix win and 11th victory of the season garnered much of the sports press headlines around the world, the fact that the race finished under safety car conditions got equal treatment.
That was because the Ferrari fans, known colloquially as the tifosi, booed the last few laps of the race, and when Verstappen stood on the podium for the first time. That booing, which he also experienced at Silverstone for the British GP because he was at Lewis Hamilton's home track, detracted to some extent from another decisive win for the Dutchman, regardless of how the race finished.
When Daniel Ricciardo's McLaren came to a halt with six laps to go, there appeared ample time for marshals to push his car back into a space behind the barriers about 10 metres away. But they couldn't get the car into neutral and so a tractor was required to move it. A Virtual Safety Car (VSC) situation became a full-course yellow and the safety car was deployed. But the safety car picked up George Russell's Mercedes as the race leader, instead of Verstappen, who was 25 seconds or so up the road, with Charles Leclerc in his Ferrari in between. Given Race Control has direct radio contact with the safety car personnel, it is surprising that error was made, and by the time it was realised, it was too late for a last lap shootout.
That scenario was in sharp contrast to what happened in the season finale in Abu Dhabi last year, when then FIA Race Director Michael Masi allowed the five cars between race leader Hamilton and Verstappen to un-lap themselves, and restarted the race with just over a lap to go. It is now etched into F1 history that Verstappen, having stopped under the safety car for fresh tyres, was able to overtake Hamilton and become world champion. Hamilton had said on the car radio "this race has been manipulated, man" and was almost irreconcilable post-race, and for several months afterward.
A livid Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff claimed they had been "robbed" of the championship, demanded the result be reversed and called for Masi to lose his job. He got his wish with the latter, but the race result stood, although the FIA called for a report.
In March this year, it released a seven-page report that examined what happened in Abu Dhabi. It determined Masi had failed to comply with F1's rules by bringing the safety car on immediately after ordering lapped cars to unlap themselves, calling it a "human error" but that he had acted in "good faith" by trying to get the race back to green. Had Masi ordered eight instead of just five lapped cars through, there would have been no breach of the rules. Hamilton was accepting when told of the gist of the report.
"I wasn't expecting an apology, and its not really something I'm really focused on," he said in March. "We know that's the way it is, and that wasn't going to probably happen. The fact that at least there is that transparency at least, admitting it was human error, I think that's a positive step."
In an interview with Vanity Fair in August, Hamilton was more forthcoming on what he felt in losing an eighth world championship in Abu Dhabi.
"You see things start to unfold," he recalled, "and my worst fears came alive. I was like, there's no way they're going to cheat me out of this. There's no way. That won't happen. Surely not?"
"I don't know if I can really put into words the feeling I had. We can't go back unfortunately and change the past."
At Monza the tifosi seemed to be booing Verstappen, but Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto is convinced they were actually booing the FIA for its apparent bungle in ensuring the race didn't finish under a safety car, just like it had in Abu Dhabi. Binotto and the tifosi believed Leclerc could have won the race on a last lap shootout.
But all three leading cars had pitted under the VSC for fresh tyres, unlike the situation in Abu Dhabi, where Hamilton was on worn-out tyres, whereas Verstappen's were only one lap old.
These drawings of Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly may be as close as they get. Photo / Don Kennedy
Red Bull boss Christian Horner said that the decision to end the race in Monza under a safety car went against the "principles" agreed to try and end in green flag conditions, consistent with the Abu Dhabi outcome. Likewise, Wolff had to concede that at least "they followed the rules" at Monza, but took some delight in being able to contrast that decision with what had happened in Abu Dhabi.
The FIA explanation was that "the safety of the recovery is our only priority, and the incident was not significant enough to require a red flag, the race ended under safety car following the procedures agreed between the FIA and all competitors".
No mention as to why the safety car added to the delay by initially picking up the wrong lead car. Binotto was not impressed with the whole thing.
"Finishing behind the safety car is never great - not for us, for the F1, for the show - and I think there was plenty of time for the FIA to act differently today," he said.
"After Abu Dhabi last year we had long discussions how to improve because the final objective, the final aim, is to try and restart the race as soon as we can in a [safe] manner and I think that today it could certainly have happened. So, the FIA changed a lot in that area, but still I think they need more experience as they need to do a better job because F1 deserve a better job in that respect."
In addition, the FIA now finds itself in a row over its rules regarding what a driver needs to get a super licence. In light of Fernando Alonso's defection from Alpine to replace the retiring Sebastian Vettel at Aston Martin in 2023, Alpine have been looking for an Alonso replacement. They thought their reserve drive Oscar Piastri, the 2021 F2 champion, was their man, but well before Alonso announced his move, Piastri, well managed by former Red Bull driver Mark Webber, had already signed a McLaren contract to replace Ricciardo. The latter didn't know, but when it came to light, Alpine, believing it had a contract with Piastri, thought he would accept driving on loan to Williams for one year, while it retained Alonso for one more year. They were wrong on three counts. Alonso wanted a two-year deal, which Aston Martin gave him. Piastri wanted to drive for a top team next year, not a year later, and thirdly the Contract Recognition Board said Alpine didn't even have a contract with Piastri for 2023, but McLaren did.
Alpine CEO Laurent Rossi has now admitted Piastri hadn't signed a new contract because "we were expecting more loyalty".
"We made some mistakes, we made some legal technical mistakes. We left the door ajar by not forcing him in with a contract that is so tight he couldn't move."
So why on earth allow the matter to end up before the Contract Recognition Board, given they didn't have a contract? No problem, thought Alpine, because they knew Red Bull was prepared to release Alpha Tauri driver Pierre Gasly from his 2023 contract so he could join fellow Frenchman Esteban Ocon at Alpine, notwithstanding that the two simply can't stand one another by all accounts. Red Bull adviser Helmut Marko stated that they would then sign IndyCar driver Colton Herta to join Alpha Tauri. Having an American driver in a Red Bull-owned team would be great for the marketing of Red Bull products in the US.
But now the FIA has declined to give Herta a super licence as he needed 40 points but only has 32, even though he has won seven IndyCar races in the last two seasons. Only the IndyCar champion is credited with enough points to get an F1 super licence. Marko was not impressed, and has criticised the procedure, as has McLaren team boss Zak Brown.
"I think the whole licencing system needs to be reviewed," Brown told Motorsport.com.
"I get that the rules are what the rules are and that rules shouldn't be broken, but I question whether, just because those are the rules that are in place now, that those rules are the correct rules."
"Someone of Colton's calibre, or half the [IndyCar] field are Formula One capable. If someone like Colton isn't eligible for a super licence then I think we need to review the super licence system."
Alexander Rossi, who was an F1 test driver with Caterham and Marussia from 2012 to 2015 and had five F1 starts with the Manor Marussia team in 2015, joined IndyCar the following year and won the Indy 500. He has added his criticism of the super licence system.
"I've kept my mouth shut long enough," he said on Twitter. "So here goes, I'm sick and tired of this back and forth regarding super licence points. The whole premise of it was to keep people from buying their way into F1 and allowing talent to be the motivating factor."
Mercedes reserve driver Nyck de Vries, who replaced an unwell Alex Albon at Monza in the Williams and finished ninth, has confirmed he met with Marko in Austria so he could be an Alpha Tauri driver in 2023 if Mercedes will release him.
The driver silly season gets more intriguing, while the rules that the FIA apply to govern F1 get murkier. Which is why F1 is better than a soap opera.
