Incoming Mercedes driver George Russell has voiced his outrage after a dramatic end to the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix saw Red Bull’s Max Verstappen crowned the Formula 1 world champion.
After retiring from the race on lap 26, Russell watched on as his Williams teammate Nicholas Latifi crashed late in the race, triggering the safety car to be deployed and the field to bunch up with four laps remaining.
Despite earlier announcing that no lapped cars would be allowed to pass the safety car, the FIA reversed their decision to allow only the five drivers separating title rivals Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton to go by.
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This set the scene for a hectic final lap sprint to the chequered flag which concluded with Verstappen overtaking Hamilton on fresher tyres to snatch the championship from the Mercedes driver, who had maintained a dominant lead for the majority of the race.
Russell swiftly took to social media, calling the FIA’s decision to orchestrate a final lap showdown “unacceptable”.
“Max is an absolutely fantastic driver who has had an incredible season and I have nothing but huge respect for him, but what just happened is absolutely unacceptable. I cannot believe what we’ve just seen,” he wrote on Twitter.
https://twitter.com/GeorgeRussell63/status/1470040401323175950?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
McLaren driver Lando Norris was similarly bewildered, feeling uneasy about things unfolded post-race.
“I’m not too sure what was said from the FIA. At first, we weren’t allowed to overtake as backmarkers, so if that influenced decisions to Mercedes and to Lewis and that’s the reason they didn’t do the pit stop, but then the FIA suddenly changed their minds and they were allowed to let us past, then that’s where I’m not so sure,” he said.
“In terms of the decision, for it to end like that, I’m not so sure.”
Speaking before Mercedes announced its intention to protest and appeal, Sky Sport’s commentary team shared mixed opinions on the fairness of the result.
“Unfortunately for them (Mercedes) they got hit with a very unexpected, sudden change of mind – apparent change of mind – about how they were going to go and restart this race,” said 1996 world champion Damon Hill.
Former teammates of Hamilton – Jenson Button and Nico Rosberg – reflected on the peculiarity of the situation.
“You think the guy at the front, he’s got the advantage, but he’s kind of stuck because he doesn’t want to give away track position. Whereas Max can just come in, put a brand new set of tyres on and he’s right behind him as they restart,” said Button.
“The reason why he’s stuck is he doesn’t know if the race is going to finish under safety car, so he can’t pit and put the soft tyres on and be second because the race might finish under safety car and then Verstappen is world champion. That’s the problem,” added Rosberg.
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