Well, who would have thought the season would have finished like that!

Let’s look at the facts :

The safety car was deployed after Latifi crashed with 5 laps to go. It seemed at that time that the race would be finished behind the safety car; with only 5 laps remaining, it didn’t seem possible that the track would be cleared in time: but, isn’t it amazing how these obstacles can be overcome. I would question whether all the debris was cleared, although that’s not the issue here. Horner was on the radio to Michael Masi, and was heard to say, “We only need 1 race lap”. The next minute, Masi announced that lapped cars would not be allowed to pass the safety car. Horner, again onto Masi, asking why the lapped cars would not be allowed to pass. And so, without any further time wasted, the lapped cars were told to overtake the safety car. I’ll leave you to think about those last 4 sentences! However, only those lapped cars that were between Hamilton and Verstappen passed. Then with what seemed like a blink of an eye, the safety car was ordered in, leaving only a very short time before the Hamilton crossed the start line to begin the last lap, and because the lapped cars between Hamilton and Verstappen were out of the way, it left Verstappen, on fresh soft tyres, right behind Hamilton. From that point, it was a forgone conclusion that Vertappen would win the race.

I don’t begrudge Verstappen the race win, he’s a very talented driver. However, had the rules been applied properly by Massi, there was no doubt that Hamilton would have won the race. It’s hard not to think there was some collusion between Horner and Masi, nor it’s possible for them to belong to the same lodge.

The bottom line is that Verstappen didn’t win the race, he was given it on a silver platter by race director Masi.

Perhaps the FIA should think about replacing their race director because the current one has clearly lost the plot.

Best regards

Rantattack