A
series
of
questionable
race
control
calls
were
made
at
the
season
finale
in
Abu
Dhabi
on
Sunday
(December
12)
when
Max
Verstappen
passed
Lewis
Hamilton
on
the
final
lap
to
win
his
maiden
title
and
deny
the
Briton
a
record-breaking
eighth
crown.
“How
the
entire
situation
unfolded,
it
seemed
like
they
wanted
Max
to
win.
It
was
a
great
battle
for
the
championship
but
what
happened
yesterday
it
wasn’t
sport.
You
need
close
battles
in
Formula
1
but
it
has
to
be
fair
at
the
same
time,”
Karthikeyan
told
PTI.
Hamilton
was
cruising
to
victory
when
Nicholas
Latifi’s
crash
on
lap
53
of
the
58-lap
race
brought
the
safety
car
on
to
the
track.
In
a
last
throw
of
dice,
Red
Bull
pitted
Verstappen
for
soft
tyres
after
the
safety
car
was
deployed
while
Hamilton
stayed
out
on
his
worn
out
hard
tyres.
Max
Verstappen
edges
Lewis
Hamilton
in
last-lap
thriller
to
be
crowned
new
F1
champion
In
what
could
go
down
as
the
most
controversial
call
of
the
Formula
1
decade,
race
director
Michael
Masi
allowed
five
backmarkers
to
unlap
themselves
on
the
penultimate
lap,
making
it
much
easier
for
Verstappen
to
make
the
move
on
Hamilton.
As
per
the
rules,
the
safety
car
should
have
gone
back
on
the
following
lap
which
was
the
last
lap
of
the
race.
“Unless
the
clerk
of
the
course
considers
the
presence
of
the
safety
car
is
still
necessary,
once
the
last
lapped
car
has
passed
the
leader
the
safety
car
will
return
to
the
pits
at
the
end
of
the
following
lap,”
the
rule
states.
The
social
media
was
a
divided
space
post
the
finale
with
some
calling
Mercedes’ race
strategy
too
safe.
However,
Karthikeyan
feels
Mercedes
were
right
to
not
let
Hamilton
pit
following
the
crash.
Verstappen
confirmed
as
champion
as
Mercedes
fail
with
Abu
Dhabi
protests
“What
Mercedes
would
have
done,
Red
Bull
would
have
done
the
opposite
and
stayed
out
to
take
track
opposition
so
it
was
too
risky.
Lewis
had
so
much
pace
and
hard
tyres
had
life
of
50
laps
so
why
should
you
give
that
up?
“Before
the
safety
car
the
gap
was
still
more
than
11
seconds
between
Hamilton
and
Verstappen.
What
happened
was
not
fair
and
Lewis
would
have
been
deserving
eight
time
champion
with
due
respect
to
Max
who
is
a
very
quick
driver,”
said
the
44-year-old
who
race
in
Formula
1
over
three
seasons
between
2005
and
2012.
Interestingly,
Hamilton’s
race
engineer
Peter
Bonnington
had
worked
with
Karthikeyan
during
the
Indian’s
debut
season
with
Jordan
in
2005.
“Lewis’
race
engineer
was
my
race
engineer
during
my
first
season
with
Jordan.
He
is
a
very
clever
guy
and
made
all
the
right
calls.”
Like
many
after
the
title
showdown,
Karthikeyan
also
remembered
former
race
director,
the
late
Charlie
Whiting,
and
said
he
would
have
handled
the
pressure
situation
much
better.
“This
is
what
happens
when
you
are
under
pressure.
He
(Michael
Masi)
was
being
bombarded
from
all
sides
on
the
radio.”
So,
what
should
be
done
going
going
forward?
“Each
scenario
is
different.
They
need
a
strong
a
guy
at
the
top.
That
is
what
everyone
said
if
Charlie
Whiting
was
there,
it
would
be
much
more
fair.
He
never
relented
to
teams’
pressure.
“On
the
open
channel,
he
would
have
ignored
the
constant
pushing
from
the
teams
and
carried
on
with
his
job.
These
situations
are
bound
to
happen,
the
race
control
should
have
been
more
prepared
for
a
situation
like
yesterday.
It
should
not
have
ended
the
way
I
did.
“We
can
give
them
the
benefit
of
doubt
that
he
was
not
siding
with
anyone
yesterday
and
the
calls
were
just
made
under
tremendous
pressure
and
it
went
terribly
wrong.
“If
you
leave
all
the
controversy
aside,
Lewis
surely
deserved
to
win
if
you
look
at
the
race
in
general.
It
was
definitely
his
race.
So
not
a
fair
result,”
Karthikeyan
added.
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