Formula 1: The most alarming aspect of the Jeddah FIA chaos

While the 2021 Formula 1 season’s penultimate race ended with the right winner, the way the FIA handled things down the stretch should be alarming.

Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton drew even on points with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in the penultimate race of the 2021 Formula 1 season, earning his third consecutive victory on Sunday in the inaugural Saudi Arabian Grand Prix at Jeddah Corniche Circuit.

The pair are tied at 369.5 points with just this coming Sunday’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at Yas Marina Circuit remaining on this year’s schedule.

While Sunday’s 50-lap race around the 27-turn, 3.837-mile (6.175-kilometer) temporary street circuit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia certainly saw the deserving winner in terms of pace and strategy, the result did not come without plenty of chaos.

At the end of the day, it was a fifth consecutive 1-2 finish for the title rivals, with Verstappen still managing to finish in second place despite multiple penalties.

From the get-go, specifically the first red flag period, it looked as though this would be a race heavily influenced by subjective decisions by the FIA.

Given the inconsistency we’ve seen from the FIA on multiple occasions this year, that really wasn’t much of a surprise.

Fortunately, despite the fact that it did seem like we were hearing the FIA/team communication on the Sky Sports broadcast more than we were actually hearing anybody from Sky Sports, this didn’t truly affect the outcome of the race.

But it’s what happened after the race that should alarm fans as we prepare for round 22 of 22 this coming Sunday.

Let’s go through what transpired as far as the Verstappen vs. Hamilton battle was concerned.

First of all, Verstappen needed to hand back the position he took from Hamilton by going off the track after Hamilton got the better of him on the first restart (second overall standing start).

Verstappen started this one from the pole position due to the fact that, unlike Hamilton and teammate Valtteri Bottas, he had not come into the pits for new tires before the red flag and thus secured a free pit stop during it.

The need to hand back this spot sent him back not to second place but to third behind Hamilton in second and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon in the lead.

Verstappen ended up retaking the lead on the ensuing (second) restart (third standing start), while Hamilton dropped back to third place. But Hamilton was able to hunt Verstappen down after getting past Ocon for second place.

Both drivers had to bail out of a Hamilton pass attempt when the two ran side by side into turn one, although it was determined by the FIA that Verstappen’s move was illegal. So, he was instructed to hand the position back.

But a lack of communication on the part of multiple parties led to Hamilton running into the back of Verstappen when Verstappen slowed down and gave him a gap to the left in an attempt to let him pass.

Despite the fact that even Hamilton admitted after the race that this wasn’t Verstappen’s fault (which one would hope, considering Verstappen isn’t responsible for the communication between the FIA and Mercedes), Verstappen was still instructed to relinquish the lead again after the incident.

He did so strategically and set himself up to retake the lead a few seconds later.

In fact, some speculate that the whole incident itself occurred because Hamilton wanted to strategically get past him at a moment when he would be able to take advantage of the DRS zone himself.

Hamilton ended up getting the lead back shortly thereafter anyway, though again, there was some speculation that this only happened because Verstappen was told he would be given a five-second time penalty otherwise.

Verstappen ended up getting a five-second time penalty anyway. Meanwhile, Hamilton set sail.

With all of that having been said, Hamilton was bound to take back the lead anyway, given the state of Verstappen’s tires compared to Hamilton’s. There is no doubt that, penalties aside, Hamilton still would have ended up on top whether Verstappen moved over or not.

But that’s where things get really interesting.

Given all the instances (four for sure, five if we count the confusion) during which the FIA interfered and instructed Verstappen to let Hamilton pass him during the race itself, you’d think that they would have gotten their point across in regard to each and every incident.

However, they ended up giving Verstappen a 10-second penalty after the race for the incident in which Hamilton ran into the back of him, when it was Hamilton who, for a reason that Verstappen had no control over, said he didn’t know what, exactly, was going on (you can see him literally crawling behind Verstappen for a full three seconds before the contact happens, leading to the aforementioned DRS speculation).

Now, this ended up not affecting anything, given the fact that Verstappen still finished in second place even with 15 seconds worth of penalties added to his final race time.

And some even argue that this lack of effect is why they issued him the penalty: to satisfy those who thought it was “dangerous driving”. Maybe the penalty was only issued to set a precedent moving forward, knowing that the result wouldn’t change with 10 more seconds added to Verstappen’s time. Did somebody say transparency?

But imagine if this is how the world championship is decided, behind closed doors after this coming Sunday’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Is that what anybody wants to see?

Ok, yes, I’m sure there are quite a few fans who wouldn’t mind, as long as it’s their driver who is handed the trophy. That’s quite obvious if you know what Twitter is. Let’s not pretend it isn’t.

Nevertheless, the FIA were undoubtedly in over their heads here, and they only made things worse. We could spend all day arguing about whether or not the penalties were fair, yada yada yada, and @No1_MaxFan_33 isn’t going to change @Best_LewisFan44’s mind in the comments section. I can promise you this.

But if there was one penalty that was a completely subjective penalty, given the circumstances surrounding the incident, it was this one.

Given the confusion, it was blatantly obvious that neither driver was at fault, yet what compounded the foolishness of it all was the fact that the penalty wasn’t issued until well after the race ended.

Not to mention the fact that he did give the position up after the kerfuffle…

Heading into the season finale, the manner in which this situation was handled in itself should concern any Formula 1 fan who has any interest in appreciating the championship battle we’ve all witnessed over the last eight-plus months.

Who will secure the 2021 Formula 1 world championship in this Sunday’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at Yas Marina Circuit? Tune in to ESPN2 at 7:55 a.m. ET for the live broadcast of the season finale. Make sure to start your free trial of FuboTV now and don’t miss any of the action!