Are Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton on the inevitable collision course in the F1 finals in Abu Dhabi?

ABU DHABI – It’s almost amazing. After 21 races, Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton advance to the final round of the Formula 1 series with points.

It’s a remarkable situation that has only happened once in the history of F1, and it promises to provide a spectacular showdown as the world’s two best drivers face each other in a win-win race at Sunday’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. But as exciting as it sounds, there are genuine concerns that this incredible season will end in a collision – or worse, in a shop steward’s office.

Most of these concerns stem from last weekend’s half-farce at the Saudi GP, where places between the two champions changed more off-track than on-track (as well as literally off-track white lines in turn 1 and as a result of the race, the control tells Verstappen to return seats).

During the race, it became clear that Verstappen and Hamilton have very different views on the rules of the race, and this could lead to an unprecedented controversy in Abu Dhabi if the title is settled in a collision.

Hamilton and Verstappen have contacted the track several times this year, but the roots of the current embarrassment only go back to last month’s Brazilian GP. In lap 48 of the race, Hamilton tried to drive outside Verstappen only to get Verstappen to stop braking so late that both drivers had no choice but to drive off the track. The competition oversight ruled the incident, but the judges decided not to investigate it, which means it was considered legal, but the judges did not explain why.

At the very least, it could be argued that Verstappen gained an advantage by going off the track, and he probably broke another rule by leaving Hamilton’s race room. After the race, Mercedes asked the jury to review the case when new camera material from Verstappen’s car became available, but the same jury decided to oppose a post-race investigation, so no explanation was found in their decision not to punish Verstappen. pending.

It may come as no surprise that the next time Verstappen and Hamilton battled for a place on the track – at last weekend’s Saudi GP – Verstappen pulled two very similar moves. Both occurred in turn 1, once in lap 15 on a red flag restart after Verstappen had lost his lead to Hamilton for a while and threw his car inside turn 2 to regain the lead, and again in lap 37 when Hamilton tried to overtake. the exterior and Verstappen forced both drivers off the track by successfully taking too high a speed in turn 1. On both occasions, Hamilton had to avoid measures to prevent the collision.

First, there was an unusual situation where a second red flag happened immediately after, which meant the FIA ​​could make sure Verstappen gave the seat back by moving him behind Hamilton on the grid at the next launch. It felt like an embarrassing shift over the radio waves at the time, but it was consistent with many previous examples of race control telling drivers to return seats after cutting a bend to gain an advantage – this time it was just a red flag standing in front of a restart.

Verstappen was also asked to give the seat back after round 37 incidents, but then things got really messed up when Hamilton hit the back of Verstappen’s car as Red Bull slowed to let him through. The judges later found that Verstappen braked the brakes unnecessarily hard in front of Hamilton and was largely to blame for the collision, which resulted in a ten-second penalty – although that is a different matter than the one discussed here.

Immediately after the Round 37 collision, Verstappen drove out of Hamilton without giving back the seat, meaning he was fined five seconds for the original turn 1 event because he was judged to have “left the track and gained an advantage”. Verstappen was not happy about this decision after the race and, by some logic with his argument, compared it to Brazil, where he had also left the track and gained an advantage and no punishment.

“I find it interesting that I’m the one who gets the punishment when we both ran outside the white lines,” Verstappen said after the race. – In Brazil it was great, and now all of a sudden I get a punishment for it.

“You saw clearly that neither of them got to the corner, but that’s good. I mean, I really don’t either. [want to] spend too much time on it. We need to move forward.

“I said it before in my arms [over team radio]I think we’re talking more about white lines and penalties lately than about the actual Formula 1 race, and I think that’s a bit of a shame. “

So here we have a driver who has taken a decision on the lack of Brazil and used it as a precedent when driving another car off the track in Saudi Arabia. Of course, Verstappen was also the driver in these events, who was less destructive due to the drivers ’championship and who could therefore run the risk of colliding to maintain his lead, but he thinks he won’t be punished in Brazil, allowing him to take that risk.

As a result of the incident in Brazil, drivers were informed by the Qatari GP on Friday about the rules of the race. It is understood that the FIA ​​was cautious in saying that the Brazilian case was against the rules because it would have raised more questions about the decision, so it made it clear that the judges would deal with each case on their own merits, meaning that only because the facts were on one track, when a driver forced another off the track does not mean that every case where a driver forces another off the track goes unpunished.

To be honest with FIA race director Michael Masia, he has consistently said that no two similar events and every corner of the F1 calendar is different, leading to different conditions when two drivers go from wheel to wheel. But while it is true that the placement of cars and their speeds relative to each other never match from case to case, the task of judges to judge is much more difficult when there are no serious precedents.

In addition, judges are much more likely to have to judge cases where two drivers fighting for a championship – in this case Hamilton and Verstappen – interpret the rules very differently and therefore drive very differently. behaviors.

Hamilton, who has been racing in F1 for 15 years and holding seven world championships, said on Sunday that Verstappen is the only F1 driver to compete on different rules.

“I don’t think I’ve changed the way I compete,” he said. “I think we will see a number of cases this year where even with Brazil we should run our race on the track between the white lines, and the rules have not been clear to leaders that those things are allowed, so let’s move on.

“I understand that I can’t bypass anyone and drive off the track and then hold the station, but I think it’s well known among all of us drivers. But it probably doesn’t apply to one of us.”

However, Red Bull team manager Christian Horner believes his driver is too focused, as Hamilton has also broken the boundaries this year. One such example was when he finally passed Verstappen on lap 44 in Saudi Arabia and ran Red Bull wide into the running area to make sure he couldn’t get back past the next straight. The competition oversight detected this incident, and Masi said it was the “limits” of the black-and-white warning flag.

“I would ask you to look at Lewis’ case at the last bend, where he pushed Max in the same way, ”Horner said Sunday night. “Every driver who has gone karting or competed in any fierce race, these kids have been racing all their careers. Lewis gives just as he gets.

“He’s very cunning with the way he does it sometimes. Look at the last angle as he ran Max out. There was also another angle where he opened the steering wheel, I think it was in turns 1 and 2.

“These are two guys fighting for such great margins, pushing to the limit. If you don’t want them to have the ability to run wide, put your gravel in there.”

Horners ’opposite issue, Mercedes stable boss Toto Wolff, hopes events in Saudi Arabia have cleared up some gray areas on their way to Abu Dhabi’s final round, but admits the rules are still vague.

“I said after Brazil that we are setting a precedent if it is not investigated, which could end up being really ugly for the championship, and you have seen [in Saudi Arabia] they were pretty similar cases in Brazil at slower speeds, “he said.” We don’t want that in Abu Dhabi. A faster car with a faster driver should win the championship, not each other’s exit.

“It simply came to our notice then [in that]? I can’t tell you about today’s race I hope [in Saudi Arabia] it has enough implications for everyone to learn from it and adapt to Abu Dhabi’s final race.

“I believe that a similar ride, if the judges looked over the line, would be punished in Abu Dhabi as well and could very well end in a messy situation for everyone, and I don’t think the championship has earned a result, which was affected by the collision.

“So in that case, I rely heavily on a system of self-regulation.”

Horner shared those feelings when asked if Red Bull cared about how Verstappen won the championship.

“Yes, of course we do,” the Red Bull boss said. “You want to win it on the track, not in the judges’ room, not in the gravel trap.

“It’s been a tough battle all year. There’s been a fantastic race between the two drivers, and I hope it’s a fair and clean race in Abu Dhabi.”

Even if the drivers are level in points before the last race, Verstappen would win the title by counting down the race wins if both drivers fail to finish. While no one expects him to take advantage of this factor by driving Hamilton off the road on purpose, it means he can continue to be aggressive in a wheel-to-bike shift, knowing that Hamilton can’t afford an accident that will take both drivers out.

After all, no one wants the title settled by a collision or jury decision, and the best way to prevent this is for Masi to plant both drivers before the race and make it clear what is tolerated and what will be. will be punished.