FIA admit ‘human error’ from Michael Masi led to Max Verstappen’s F1 title win

The FIA have admitted that ‘human error’ from race director Michael Masi led to Max Verstappen beating Lewis Hamilton for last year’s Formula One drivers’ championship.

Hamilton looked certain to win his record breaking eighth title before a late race safety car led to Masi allowing only cars between Hamilton and Verstappen to unlap themselves.

This gave Verstappen a free run at Hamilton as racing resumed on the final lap, with the Dutchman making a move on the Mercedes driver to win his maiden title.

The FIA have confirmed that ‘human error’ from Michael Masi led to Max Verstappen’s title win

The report into the controversial Abu Dhabi decider has been released shortly before the first qualifying session of the new season

The FIA have conducted an investigation into the events of of the controversial Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and have finally released the report with their findings – just over an hour before qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix.

In the report, it’s said: ‘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 un-lap themselves. 

‘Due to the fact that manual interventions generally carry a higher risk of human error, software has been developed that will, from now on, automate the communication of the list of cars that must un-lap themselves. 

Hamilton looked certain to win the title before a late safety car and Masi’s call for only drivers between Hamilton and Verstappen to unlap themselves

This led to Verstappen passing Hamilton on the final lap of the season to win the championship

‘In addition, the 2022 Formula 1 Sporting Regulations have been recently updated to clarify that “all” and not “any” cars must be permitted to un-lap themselves.’

Race director Masi was sacked following the events of the race and replaced by a joint team consisting of Niels Wittich and Eduardo Freitas. 

Despite the Australian’s dismissal, the report states that Masi was ‘acting with good faith’.  

The report reads: ‘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.’

Michael Masi has since been sacked but the FIA state that he ‘acted in good faith’

The pressure applied by teams mentioned is that of personnel from both Mercedes and Red Bull camps who were over the radio with Masi during the race.

After the Williams of Nicholas Latifi crashed to bring out the safety car, a message displayed stating that ‘lapped cars will not be allowed to overtake’.

Red Bull principal Christian Horner asked why the lapped cars were not being moved out of the way while team manager Jonathan Wheatley said lapped cars ‘didn’t need to go around and catch up with the back of the pack’.

Masi in response to Wheatley replied ‘understood’ and not long after only the five cars between Hamilton and Verstappen were able to unlap themselves.

Verstappen, pitted for fresh tyres behind the safety car – something Hamilton could not do in fear of losing the lead, which led to an easy pass on the Mercedes driver. 

The FIA report adds that the results of the race and championship standings are ‘valid, final and cannot now be changed’. 

Mercedes had protested the race result in the aftermath of the race – which was was dismissed by stewards at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.