The finale of the 2021 F1 season came to a close on Sunday and it did so in spectacularly controversial fashion.

The race itself was mostly incident free, but what I want to focus on is the eighth-to-last lap where Nicholas Latifi’s Williams spun into the barrier after duelling with Mick Schumacher.

At first, I thought this was Mercedes trying to gain some kind of advantage, since Williams use their engines. By having a customer car crash so near the end, a safety car would surely have to come out to see them to the end of the race. I couldn’t understand why Mercedes would do such a thing since Hamilton was well out in front and, despite tital rival, Max Verstappen being on fresh hard tyres, was actually increasing his lead. A crash would not suit them at all since Verstappen was not quick enough to be in a position to catch Hamilton by the end of the race. So, I put that ‘tinfoil hat’ idea aside.

Hamilton came on the radio twice during the safety car period and asked about pitting for fresh tyres. And twice, he was told to stay out much to his disappointment and my confusion. Even if he pitted, his tyres would have been fresher. I kept thinking that Mercedes should have stuck him on softs since there were a few laps left and he’d have the advantage over Max with the fresher rubber.

Seemed Red Bull were tapping into my brainwaves because that’s what they did. With nothing to lose since third place Carlos Sainz Jr. was too far back in the Ferrari to be a threat, Max Verstappen was brought into the pits and given softs.

Even still, the clearup of Latifi’s car was going to require the race to finish under the safety car. An underwhelming end to what’s been a, mostly, exciting season.

And then, something strange happened. With a little over a lap to go, race director, Michael Masi, after having stated that the lapped cars would not overtake the safety car to unlap themselves, decides to allow lapped cars to overtake the safety car. However, after five passed (the exact number between Hamilton and Verstappen), Masi called the safety car in to orchestrate a one-lap shootout between Hamilton and Verstappen. In reality, Hamilton was not going to be able to defend against the fresher, grippier soft tyres of Verstappen. The race ended in the most controversial manner I’ve seen in my over twenty years of watching F1. It was not exciting to watch politics dictate an outcome. It was literally daylight (floodlight?) robbery taking place in front of tens of thousands of fans in the grandstands, millions of people around the world watching on TV and mobile devices, and in front of the eyes of one of the world’s biggest car manufacturers. If rulemakers and rulekeepers see fit to ignore agreed rules in order to provide a spectacle, the rules are a problem. I’ve said this for years that F1 has been too bogged down in litigation and it certainly bogged the atmosphere down yesterday, I’ll tell you.

All credit to Verstappen. As much as I find him arrogant and dangerous, he has the makings of a world champion. Surely, he wouldn’t want to win like this? He didn’t beat Hamilton fairly and was instread gifted a poisoned chalice that will surely choke him over the coming years. He won’t think it now. As far he’s concerned, he’s World Champion.

But what about next year if he fails to defend his title? What if he never wins another championship? Hamilton has nothing to prove. One more championship and he’s practically claimed all records for himself. Verstappen, on the other hand, has only proven he can race. Next year will be the first year where he has to prove that he is a champion. If he can defend his title, then 2021 can be disregarded. But the pressure is on Max. Hamilton and Mercedes are furious and will throw their mighty resources to ensure the constructors and driver’s championships are theirs next year.

And what of Michael Masi, the stewards and the FiA?

Masi’s backpedalling and indecision has brought an already farcical season to overly farcical end. Essentially, he’s turned the elite sport of Forumla One into nothing more than the WWE on wheels where artificial drama trumps real sporting action. By effectively showing that the rules don’t matter if it means eyes on screens, Masi’s brought not only himself, but the integrity of the sport into question. Why, oh, why don’t they have a former team owner or team boss as a race director and former drivers as stewards? It takes the politics out of it and, frankly, removes the useless people from the equation. Unfortunately, that’s precisely why this approach isn’t taken. If it was, we’d have an actual sport where decisions are made on-track and there would be fewer instances where drivers would be brought before people who’ve never raced a day in their lives.

And the FiA is in a bind over this whole incident. By dismissing Mercedes’ legitimate appeals, they have confirmed that Masi, as race director, can throw the rulebook out the window when he wants.

Mercedes are now pursuing this further by taking their case to the International Court of Appeals. This is a court comprised of 36 judges from various FiA motorsports. If the case fails, it will, again, reinforce that the race director’s opinion matters more than the agreed set of rules. If Mercedes win the case and the decision is overturned, it sets a precedent for the future where a disagreement over a result can be taken all the way to the ICA. Ergo, Formula One will be more about court battles than track ones.

What was a brief moment of madness and indecision on Masi’s part, has now created a domino effect whereby all the flaws and inconsistencies within the FiA may well now come to light.

I think next year, there will have to be no means for teams to directly contact the race director. Abu Dhabi in particular highlighted the deep, deep problem with allowing this. Team bosses can, effectively, influence the outcome of the race by pestering the race director. Whoever does it the most gets what they want.

The FiA are going to have to take a serious look at themselves. They’ve been laughed at all year, but having a final round of a very heated and contentious championship end in parody is beyond reason. It is sheer incompetence on their part that allowed this to happen. It’s been building for years, but I think this has to be where the FiA turn a corner and aim to simplify the rules and make Formula One about racing again.