Has the FIA broken its own rules?

Well, that was a climax to a race at the end of the season. However, there was much to be done about the controversial situation that arose during and after the safety car period. Did the FIA broke its own rules or not?

First of all, we can say that the FIA ​​is not coming across as chaotic for the first time this year. For example, we have often wondered during this season why the FIA ​​does give a penalty to driver X and not to give a penalty or another penalty to driver Y. But this is for something else. Now we are going to focus on the last few rounds of the Abu Dhabi GrandPrix.

It is lap 54 when Nicolas Latifi crashes in turn 14. Immediately a safety car arrives. Verstappen pits for soft tires and Hamilton continues to drive on his worn hard tires. Then a message comes from the FIA ​​Race Control: ''Lapped cars will not be allowed to overtake''. Then half a lap later there is a new message from the FIA ​​race control: ''Lapped cars 4 (Norris) - 14 -31 -16 - 5 to overtake safety car''. This put Verstappen right behind Hamilton and made a nice overtake on Hamilton at a crucial moment and won the race and the championship. Immediately after the race, Mercedes protested against 2 rules, rule 48.8 and 48.12. Rule 48.8 of the sport regulations says: ''no driver may overtake another car on the track, including the safetycar, until he passes the line (start-finish) for the first time after the safety car has returned to the pits.'' Verstappen was a few centimeters ahead for a split moment as he and Lewis battled for the restart. However, the FIA ​​has immediately said that Verstappen has kept behind Hamilton for the rest and was behind Hamilton at the time of the restart. So there was no benefit here.

Breaking your own rules?

But what matters is rule 48.12. This one says: ''any cars that have been lapped by the leader will be required to pass the cars on the lead lap and safety car''. Race control let Norris, Alonso, Ocon, Leclerc and Vettel pass, but not Ricciardo, Stroll and Schumacher. So we can now conclude that the FIA has broken its own rule. Can this just happen?

I recently wrote about the FIA not following its own rules regarding the construction of the Jeddah circuit. But whether you think it's weird or not, the FIA Race Control is allowed to break its own rules under Article 15.3. In this case, Article 15.3 states: 

''The clerk of the course shall work in permanent consultation with the Race Director. The Race Director shall have overriding authority in the following matters and the clerk of the course may give orders in respect of them only with his express agreement:

a) The control of practice, sprint qualifying session and the race, adherence to the timetable and, if he deems it necessary, the making of any proposal to the stewards to modify the timetable in accordance with the Code or Sporting Regulations.

b) The stopping of any car in accordance with the Code or Sporting Regulations. 

c) The stopping of practice, suspension of a sprint qualifying session or suspension of the race in accordance with the Sporting Regulations if he deems it unsafe to continue and ensuring that the correct restart procedure is carried out. 

d) The starting procedure. 

e) The use of the safety car.''

As you have already read, the last one is important in this case. This means that 15.3 E is broad enough to give the FIA race control overriding authority on all safety car decisions

Loophole

To make things even more complicated, some say a loophole has been found in the regulations. Through various channels (Reddit, Twitter etc.) I saw that several people stated this. They say a loophole was found. So let's delve into it. Article 48.8 a says:

''With the exception of the cases listed under a) to h) below, no driver may overtake another car on the track, including the safety car, until he passes the Line (see Article 5.3) for the first time after the safety car has returned to the pits. The exceptions are: 

a) If a driver is signalled to do so from the safety car, etc.''

As I mentioned before, several cars have been allowed through. So Article 48.10 and 48.12 only applies to these cars. But it was very important that the message: ''Lapped cars will not be allowed to overtake'' was displayed, because this ensures that all lapped cars are locked. After that the FIA Race control uses 48.8 and therefore Article 48.12 only applies to these cars and they get exemption from Article 48.10. By sending out the message: ''lapped cars will not be allowed to overtake'', all cars from Article 48.10 went to Article 48.13 and this one says: 

''When the clerk of the course decides it is safe to call in the safety car the message "SAFETY CAR IN THIS LAP" will be sent to all Competitors via the official messaging system and the car's orange lights will be extinguished. This will be the signal to the Competitors and drivers that it will be entering the pit lane at the end of that lap. Issue 13 At this point the first car in line behind the safety car may dictate the pace and, if necessary, fall more than ten car lengths behind it. In order to avoid the likelihood of accidents before the safety car returns to the pits, from the point at which the lights on the car are turned out drivers must proceed at a pace which involves no erratic acceleration or braking nor any other manoeuvre which is likely to endanger other drivers or impede the restart. As the safety car is approaching the pit entry the SC boards will be withdrawn and, other than on the last lap of the sprint qualifying session or the race, as the leader approaches the Line the yellow flags will be withdrawn and a green flag and/or green light panel will be displayed at the Line''.

In summary it means that Article 48.12 only applies to the cars that were allowed to unlap by Article 48.8 a. This also means that all cars that were allowed to unlap are not subject to Article 48.10 and the cars that were not allowed to unlap are excluded from Article 48.10. This allowed the race to start without the next lap without the procedure of rule of 48.9:

''When ordered to do so by the clerk of the course the observer in the car will use a green light to signal to any cars between it and the leader that they should pass. These cars will continue at reduced speed and without overtaking until they reach the line of cars behind the safety car''.

Can you still follow it?....

FIA inconsistent?

The FIA has been guilty several times this year of acting chaotic in or after the races. I think they really need to make sure this goes better. F1 has always been about the rules but they should not be made too complicated for the fans or applied consistently. The latter has not always been the case this year. If the FIA wants to avoid these kinds of problems, I think they should do some kind of explaining after every controversial decision. This creates clarity about your decision and people will understand why the stewards or Michael Masi made this decision. Unfortunately the season ended controversially but none the less it was a great season with 2 legends working together to make it happen.

Rick