A former Formula 1 driver and long-serving FIA steward has reignited debate over the controversial end to the 2021 title fight.
And, according to Danny Sullivan, the outcome was shaped by a decisive error from race control.
The 2021 Abu Dhabi finale remains one of the most disputed moments in F1 history, deciding the championship between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen.
Michael Masi oversaw the race as FIA race director, and a Nicholas Latifi crash sparked a late Safety Car, setting up a dramatic finish.
Verstappen passed Hamilton on the final lap to win the race and secure his first world title, with lapped cars between the two allowed to overtake the Safety Car.
A “human error” championship?
An FIA investigation later ruled that rules had been misapplied due to “human error”. Masi was subsequently removed from his role.
Sullivan, who raced in F1 with Tyrrell in 1983 and served as an FIA driver steward for 14 years, was not part of the stewarding panel in Abu Dhabi.
However, he did officiate at two races during the 2021 season.
Reflecting on the finale, Sullivan said race control acted alone.
“The stewards never had a call on any of that stuff,” Sullivan told Epartrade.
“People were yelling at him that they didn’t want to finish under yellow because it didn’t look good.
“That’s why he waved by five cars, which basically gave Max a shot. Well, under the rules, he’s supposed to wave by all lapped cars.
“But if they had done that, they wouldn’t have finished the race.
“They would have had to finish under yellow, because the other lapped cars were back further in the field.”
Sympathy for the decision
Sullivan argued the outcome was inevitable once the decision was made.
“So he let the five by, and then he put Max right behind Lewis. Max had stopped for tyres – Lewis had not – he’s on qualifying tyres, he’s on reds. Lewis’s tyres had 44 laps on them.
“There was not a chance in hell that he wasn’t going to pass him at that stage. He [Masi] basically gifted him the world championship on that decision.”
Despite his criticism, Sullivan also pointed to the pressure facing Masi at the end of a long Formula 1 season.
“To be fair to Michael, he’s 23 [sic] races into the season. These guys are travelling non-stop, they’re being beat up all the time by teams, everybody.
“There’s all kinds of controversy. A lot of pressure, lateness, last five minutes of basically the season.
“And again, that’s my viewpoint. If you’re a Max fan – and I’m a Max fan, don’t misunderstand me – but if I’m Dutch and I am leaning more towards Max, I would say ‘but that was the call’. And it was, Max didn’t do anything.
“But it was not for me a good call. That’s my opinion and everybody can debate that and we will until we all stop.”
No bias among F1 stewards
Sullivan was also keen to address broader claims of bias within F1 stewarding.
He insisted the system is designed to prevent individual influence.
“I’d like to clarify one thing: there’s [a] driver steward in the room, but there are three other stewards in there as well, so it’s a panel decision,” he explained.
“There’s been a couple of cases where I was overruled even though I thought that I was correct, but the other panellists disagreed with all the information that we had.
“And just to prove, the public would probably like to know this, the data that we have is unequivocal.
“There’s nothing like it. We got everybody’s in-car camera. We’ve got throttle traces, we’ve got brake pressure, we’ve got steering input, we’ve got in-car cameras.
“In a lot of the cases we interview the drivers, we can if there’s a situation after the event. So it’s very thorough.
“In all the years I did it, 14 years, I never felt any bias from anybody. Nobody was like, ‘well, that’s a buddy of mine, so I’m going to rule in their favour or anything like that’. It was pretty straightforward.”
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