![]() Mercedes protested the race result, but the protest was denied. Race director Michael Masi answered an irate Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff after the race, “Toto, it's called a motor race, OK? We went car racing." In this case, that exercise would have taken another lap to complete and thus ending the race behind the Safety Car. Mercedes felt that all eight cars (including three lapped cars behind Verstappen) should have also been ordered to pass the safety car before the restart. Mercedes argued after the race that restarting the race after just the five cars (and not the three lapped cars behind Verstappen) were allowed to pass the Safety Car was in contradiction to the Sporting Regulations, part of which reads “once the last lapped car has passed the leader the safety car will return to the pits at the end of the following lap.” Horner: 'Nobody Is Taking Max's Title Away'.Pressure on Mercedes F1 to End Appeal of Finale.Mercedes Boss Hopes Angry Hamilton Doesn't Quit F1.Hamilton was a sitting duck and Verstappen had not trouble making the pass and cruising to the win and the championship. ![]() The signal was then given to restart the race, and with Verstappen (on soft tires) allowed to position his Red Bull directly behind Hamilton's Mercedes (on older hard tires) for a one-lap shootout. But then, almost without warning, it was determined that the five cars in between Hamilton and Verstappen- rather than all eight cars who had been lapped-would be allowed to overtake the Safety Car just before the final lap. Initially, Race Control gave the message that lapped cars would not be allowed to roll post the lead car and return to to the back of the pack. In between Hamilton and Verstappen were five lapped cars and as Latifi’s wreckage was cleared from the track, arguments continued between officials and team representatives over the situation. The disabled car and debris brought out a Safety Car. In case you missed it, on Lap 53 of 58 and with Hamilton cruising with a double-digit seconds lead over Verstappen, the Williams car of Nicholas Latifi went into the wall. The setup to the interpretation will likely be talked about in F1 circles for years. F1 race director Michael Masi was in the middle of the controversy on Sunday in Abu Dhabi.
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