The FIA will release the final findings on March 18 of this year on the controversy over last season's finale, which seems to mean that there are still some variables in this matter. A few F1 executives said that THE FIA director Michael Massy made the wrong decision at the time, mainly because each team was constantly putting pressure on him to make the right judgment.
The controversy at the closing station was mainly the timing of the withdrawal of the safety car, Mercedes believed that according to the rules, the race should be completed by the car so that Hamilton could win the championship of the year as he wished, but Michael Massey decided to restart the race on the last lap, which gave Verstappen, who had the dominant tire, a chance to overtake Hamilton in the final moments. After the end of the race, the controversy has not subsided, and the FIA will now conduct further investigation into the incident.
Brundel, a well-known commentator on F1, said in an interview a few days ago: "A lot of teams are making their own demands on the radio, imagine if you receive so many requests from teams at the same time, it is difficult for you to remain absolutely calm. I'm not trying to defend Michael Massey, but we've had 39 Grand Prix in 17 months, many of them on new venues. He was under pressure, exhausted, and made some bad decisions. ”
Brundel said Michael Massy's decision at the time was under a lot of pressure from Red Bull: "I think he (Michael Massy) was affected by Horner's call at the time, and Horner kept asking for the slow car to be unwinded and the race restarted. I think it makes sense for Michael Massy to restart the race, but doing so violates the FIA's own rules, and if the race director can veto and change the basic rules of the race, then the team can't strategize accordingly. ”
Former F1 world champion Damon Hill also said that Michael Massy's decision was interfered with by external factors, but he believes mercedes also has an unshirkable responsibility: "I think these radio calls are absolutely confusing, and we can understand why Michael Massy's decision has changed, because he doesn't want to finish the race in a safe car, doesn't want the world championship to end in this way, I think he succumbed to the pressure exerted by the two teams." ”
It is worth mentioning that after the end of last season, the FIA announced that in future races, no team will be allowed to contact the race director during the race.
Another former F1 world champion, Villeneuve, said Verstappen deserved to be the title of the 2021 season, and he believed hamilton should not retire from the army, but should fight back in a more positive way: "Look at the progress of the whole season, Verstappen's world title is well deserved. He's been in the lead all year and he's well worthy of that. ”
Villeneuve thought it was unknown if Hamilton would ever return, but he wanted to see the seven-time champion go on on the paddock: "No one knew what Hamilton would decide, just as no one expected Rosberg to suddenly say he had no passion for motorsport. Hamilton's reaction so far has been quite negative, but you have to start over, and I think that's something that a lot of people want to see. (Text/Li Tianyou)