FIA Changes Safety Car Rules Ahead of Bahrain Grand Prix After Abu Dhabi Controversy

The updated regulations included a change for lapped cars, a sticking point from last year’s season finale.

With the Bahrain Grand Prix just a few days away, FIA made changes to its safety car rules, likely to avoid a repeat of the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix controversy. 

According to an updated version of the Sporting Regulation, Article 55.13 now reads: “If the clerk of the course considers it safe to do so, and the message ‘LAPPED CARS MAY NOW OVERTAKE’ has been sent to all Competitors using the official messaging system, all cars that have been lapped by the leader will be required to pass the cars on the lead lap and the Safety Car.”

The previous rule read as “any” rather than “all” cars that have been lapped must overtake the Safety Car. 

During the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, there were five cars between first-place Lewis Hamilton and second-place Max Verstappen after a late safety car came out—Lando Norris, Fernando Alonso, Esteban Ocon, Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel. Initially race officials decided those lapped cars could not overtake the safety car.

Red Bull manager Christian Horner asked then race director Michael Masi over radio about the situation: “Why aren’t we getting these cars out of the way? We only need one racing lap.”

After the exchange, in a surprising and controversial move, Masi decided on lap 57 of 58 to allow those five cars to overtake the safety car. However, the three remaining lapped cars—Daniel Ricciardo, Lance Stroll, Mick Schumacher—were not allowed to unlap themselves, creating confusion among the drivers. 

The controversial move by Masi placed Verstappen right on Hamilton’s tail for a one-lap mad dash to the finish, and the young Red Bull driver ended up winning the race and the world championship. Formula One stewards eventually dismissed both of Mercedes’s protests concerning the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and the controversial restart, but the FIA, the sport’s governing body, launched its own review. 

Since the season's conclusion, changes have been made, including removing Masi from his post and replacing him with two race directors. Additionally, a virtual race control room has been introduced, and the direct radio connection between teams and the race director will be removed.