Fans of Formula 1 car racing submit to a certain amount of high drama each season. Even before “Formula 1: Drive to Survive” was a hit on Netflix, people tuned in to watch a

variety of cars

in races that were rife with apparently random rule applications, horrifying brushes with death, and a full pallet of egos.

This latest season of F1 racing was no different. After the final race’s deus ex machina conclusion divided allegiances into “those are the rules” and “Toto Wolff should have burned the place to the ground,” we’re finally close to answers. On March 18, the governing body of F1, the FIA, will reveal the results of their investigation into the controversial Abu Dhabi race, which crowned Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen champion.

F1 background

The stakes of the last race of 2021 were nail-bitingly high. Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes, the winningest driver in F1 history, entered the Dec. 12 Grand Prix tied at 369.5 points with young upstart Max Verstappen, whose stellar season had put him in position to challenge the title.

This was the first time since 1974 that F1’s championship title would come down to a tiebreaker between two drivers, reported

Sports Illustrated

. And it would prove to be an unbelievable finish.

After a scrappy start, the usual suspects climbed to the top of the heap. Hamilton looked fairly comfortable at first until Max Verstappen’s teammate, Sergio Perez, pulled out some seriously impressive driving and forced the Mercedes champion to play a bit of defense.

It wasn’t enough to entirely close the gap between Hamilton and second place Verstappen, but it made an impressive dent. And, as would become crucial later, it contributed to the wearing down of Hamilton’s tires.

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Enter the safety car

It was at lap 53 that all hell broke loose. Williams driver Nicholas Latifi crashed on a turn, causing a temporary pause as the safety car was deployed. The safety car, a gorgeous green Aston Martin for this race, took to the track.

The larger point of a safety car is right there in the name—it slows drivers down to a safe pace while obstacles and debris are cleared. But it is also a great equalizer. Any cars that had an advantage before the safety incident necessarily reduce their speed, and slower cars have a chance to get right back in line with leaders.

The ripple effects of the safety car are also highly dependent on the race director’s subjective decisions: will lapped cars be allowed to overtake the safety car, or not? In other words—will the clear leader of the pack lose all the time he’s gained and start effectively from zero? The interpretation of the safety car rules quickly became the centerpiece of the current dispute.

A highly controversial ending

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During the deployment of the safety car on lap 53, Max Verstappen took the opportunity to head to the pit to get a new set of tires. Hamilton did not. The announcers wondered aloud if there would be any more racing laps after the safety car, and, presciently, noted that Verstappen would have the clear advantage over Hamilton with his brand new soft tires.

And then we got a window into the highly consequential nature of the byzantine safety car rules. FIA director Michael Masi determined that, post safety car, there would be one lap of racing to determine the champion. It was no longer a comfortable cruise to the finish line for Hamilton to claim his title, and instead was now a sudden death situation between Hamilton and Verstappen.

The safety car left the track, and the two cars duked it out. In the final seconds of the race, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff could be heard pleading with Masi on the radio: “No Michael, no Michael, that was so not right.” Verstappen, an excellent driver and on new tires, jumped out ahead of Hamilton, and in front of a screaming crowd at Yas Marina Circuit, took the F1 crown.

The aftermath

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Though Lewis Hamilton was typically gracious on the podium, congratulating Verstappen and dutifully spraying his second place champagne, behind the scenes Team Mercedes was preparing for war. They immediately called for an investigation into the application of the safety car rules, which they claimed directly caused the loss of their championship.

It is generally agreed upon that Masi applied the rules incorrectly, reports

ESPN

, and it is highly likely that the results of the FIA investigation will determine if Lewis Hamilton continues to race, and if Michael Masi keeps his job.

And so we will have to wait until March 18 to see how it all shakes out. Will Lewis Hamilton continue to race in a chaotic universe? Will we ever get tired of watching Toto Wolff angrily throw his headpiece to the ground in slow motion? Time will tell.

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