Former Ferrari and Williams team manager has slammed FIA for robbing Lewis Hamilton of the 2021 championship title.
According to former Ferrari and Williams team manager Peter Windsor, the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix should have been stopped after Nicholas Latifi crashed with a few laps left.
Latifi lost control and crashed during the final laps of the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix race at Yas Marina Circuit, just as Lewis Hamilton was about to win a record eighth world championship title.
As a result, a one-lap sprint was held after a regulation violation by former race director Michael Masi, with Max Verstappen passing Lewis Hamilton on the final lap to win his maiden Formula One championship.
Verstappen easily passed Hamilton since the Mercedes driver was using very worn-out Hard tyres and had not yet pitted for a set of Soft tires when the Safety Car was pulled out.
Nevertheless, if Masi had just permitted the drivers between the two title contenders to unlap themselves, Verstappen probably wouldn’t have gotten by Hamilton.
Windsor felt that when it became evident that it would take longer than anticipated to clear Latifi’s crashed Williams, the race ought to be called off so that everyone could switch to a set of Soft tyres.
He believes that the Dutch Grand Prix last weekend, where the race was stopped with eight laps to go due to excessive rain, is essentially what should have happened in the 2021 championship.
Only the Intermediates could be used when the race resumed.
Windsor believes that in order to ensure a fair conclusion of the race, the 2021 finale should have been paused and eventually resumed with all those present on the same compound.
“They were very, very closely matched,” Windsor said in a YouTube stream. “The Mercedes was usually a bit quicker in a straight line, but it was close.
“It was very close. I think we saw Mercedes definitely with a very competitive car in the last few races.
“I still say that race of Lewis’s at Abu Dhabi was one of the best races he ever drove and, considering the state of the Championship, it was a really impressive performance from Mercedes as well, I think, to do as well as they did.
“I was just thinking actually, to go on about it again, when the whole red flag thing came out at Zandvoort and they all stopped and then they told everybody what tyres to be on, why didn’t they do that at Abu Dhabi?
“If they’re going to stop the race, why didn’t they do that?
“Everybody must be on a new set of soft tyres, one-lap sprint to the finish – that would’ve been OK.
“But to allow pit stops and then have the race start when it shouldn’t have? It still sticks in the gullet, that one.
“Nothing to do with Max deserving it or not, I just think it was an insanely bad decision at the wrong time.”
