The first indication of how the FIA will resolve the questions thrown up by the controversial conclusion to the 2021 Formula 1 season emerged last week.
The sport’s governing body is caught on the horns of a dilemma in the wake of the Abu Dhabi row. Having promised a “detailed analysis and clarification exercise” relating to the way in which the race was restarted, which had an obvious effect on the outcome of the world championship, it now needs to find a solution which is acceptable to all parties.
On the one hand it has Red Bull and its newly-minted world champion, Max Verstappen. Any outcome which may cast doubt on the validity of his success would be both undesirable and unfair because, whatever may have gone wrong in the final laps at Yas Marina, he wasn’t to blame.
But on the other side is seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton and his team Mercedes, who are equally blameless, and clearly feel deeply wronged by the events of Abu Dhabi. They came close to appealing…