There was a lot of radio communication, arguments and discussions in the season finale of Formula 1. Between race management, team bosses, stewards and lawyers. One sentence stood out. And the fact that it was reminiscent of one of the most famous sayings in film history went well with the course of the race in Abu Dhabi. “Toto, it’s called a motor race. We want car racing,” said race director Michael Masi to Mercedes team boss Wolff. To make him understand why he intended to open the race for the devil one lap before the end and not end it with a slow run behind the safety car. “Toto, I have a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore,” says the orphan girl Dorothy Gale to her dog in a classic 1939 film. It dawns on all of you, Gale, Hund and Wolff, after the respective enlightenment, that you are in a world of miracles: Toto, i.e. the dog, in the land of Wizard of Oz. Toto Wolff in the magic realm of Formula 1. In both worlds there are rules made of rubber.
The sentence stood out because it is completely paradoxical. Masi asked for something that Wolff would otherwise like to ask: If the racing speed can be driven, then this should also be done. From the point of view of a motorsport purist, safety car phases are an emergency solution owed to safety that must be ended as soon as possible. Nobody sees it that way more than Wolff, who is a former racer himself. So why the discussion? Because the engineers make highly complex calculations about the moments at which they wave their drivers out for a pit stop, which tire compound they screw on, how quickly the tires break down, whether new tires are still worthwhile, in short: They try to calculate success by using the Minimize coincidence. A reliable set of rules is the basis for all calculations. Just as gravity ensures that we don’t all get spun around like in the tornado of Oz.
Expert on all paragraphs: Race director Michael Masi decided that the race would be restarted from a safety car phase one lap before the end.
(Photo: Clive Rose / Getty Images)
Some cars? Or all of them? The word “any” is disputed as if it were not English but ancient Greek
From Wolff’s horrified reaction to Masi’s instruction to get the cars out of the way between Hamilton and Verstappen at short notice and to open the race one lap before the end, it was clear that Mercedes was assuming a different legal basis than Masi. Whether rightly or wrongly, this can only be checked by lawyers. Not those race stewards who acquitted Masi and thus a colleague at the World Automobile Federation. And who will also have had a lot of respect for snatching the trophy that they have only just become fond of from Verstappen. Independent judges.
But that even the commissioners admit in the verdict that a certain paragraph 48.12 “may not have been fully applied” because it was overturned by the not exactly notorious 48.13, and about the correct translation of the word “any” (all cars? Or only some?) brooding as if this was not English but ancient Greek, which calls for a leaner of the rules. According to 48.12, Hamilton would have become world champion, but followed 48.13 and so Verstappen now has the crown. Who should get that?
The following verdict is issued on behalf of the racing community: If an accident occurs in the last ten laps that requires a safety car, the brand new paragraph 1 applies: The race is interrupted and continued with a standing start. Nice with fresh tires for everyone.