It has been practically a month since F1 proclaimed its new champion and yet, the controversy surrounding the last lap of the Abu Dhabi GP it is still a trend. After all the statements left by the protagonists and affected at the time, now it is the turn of other authorized voices: during the start of the Dakar spoke the new president of the FIA, Ben Sulayem, and at Ferrari’s Christmas press conference with the media, his boss Mattia Binotto. The Swiss engineer ran on a “very difficult decision” that at Mercedes was conceived as “theft”, and defended the performance of the Race Direction at a key moment that decided a whole season.
The criticism of Masi from the defeated side was incessant and in fact, in Brackley they tried to win in the offices what escaped them on the asphalt. But there was no way either. Verstappen is the current F1 champion thanks to the advantage that his second position in the race gave him when the safety car came out, as he was able to choose a strategy, and the resumption of a lap questioned by Mercedes that did comply with the regulations, to give validity to the first position that the Dutchman won on the track.
Regarding the procedure followed at that time, Binotto is clear that “with any decision that had been made, someone would be happy and other unhappy ones, there is no doubt about that. “For the Swiss, the race director faced “to the hardest job in the world at the time in Abu Dhabi “and accepts his performance … although it invites us to reflect if necessary.
“It is important to learn lessons, if there are any. In the F1 Commission we can discuss all the events and situations of the season, and it is identified if there are any improvements to be made for the future “, argues the Ferrari boss, grateful in turn for the possibility of sitting next to the other teams “the FIA and F1, to discuss whether something could have been done differently. “ “Judging the decisions would be wrong for me because I think, again, that it was a very difficult decision,” insists Binotto about what happened in Abu Dhabi, although in his opinion “There are adequate reasons why they acted (from Race Direction) that way”.
