I’m trying to understand what exactly happened in the Abu Dabi F1 2021 Drama, but as someone very new to racing I don’t seem to understand what exactly happened. I keep hearing lapped cars were allowed to unlap, but as someone who hasn’t seen that match or any for that matter, I don’t exactly know what that means.
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Formula 1 races last a certain amount of laps or a maximum time. Generally the maximum time limit never becomes a factor except in races like Singapore which is slow and has a lot of accidents.
The Abu Dhbui Grand Prix is 58 laps long. The fastest cars average 86-87 seconds per lap. The slowest cars average 90 seconds per lap.
This means that in ~22 laps the fastest cars will have completed one more lap than the slowest cars. The slow car is now a lapped car.*
During a safety car when there is an accident all the cars will follow behind the safety car at a slower speed. The safety car pulls out and then the leader of the race will queue up behind the safety car. All other cars will the drop in behind the leader in the physical position they were in the track not race position.
That is if the leader laps a slower car the leader is still in first place. The car that the leader just lapped may be in 20th place. If the safety car comes out the safety car will pull in front of the leader and everyone else will slow down. So the queue may look like this:
Safety Car
Leader – 1st place
Lapped Car – 20th place
Second Place
Third Place
Now we have a situation where all the cars are moving slowly behind the safety car and the cars are out of race position. Before the race resumes the decision can be made to allow the lapped cars to unlap themselves.
They will be given instruction by race direction when it is safe to do so and in this example the 20th place car will speed up, pass the leader, pass the safety car, and drive around the entire track to rejoin the queue at the back.**
Race direction can also decide not to allow lapped cars to unlap themselves. This may happen if allowing the cars to unlap themselves will mean the race ends under a safety car. This could happen at the very end of the race when there is a safety car.
It takes time for cars to unlap themselves and while unlapping themselves the lead cars might finish the race while still under safety car conditions. This has happened but it’s not great entertainment. It’s much more entertaining to have the race ends with cars racing.
The rules in 2021 gave race direction two options.
1. Allow all lapped cars to unlap themselves
2. Allow no cars to unlap themselves
Option 1
If race direction allowed all cars to unlap themselves then the race would end under the safety car and the winner of the race would win the world championship. This is not very entertaining to have a world championship decided under a safety car and there purportedly were talks with the teams prior to the race to try to prevent this.
If race direction choose Option 1 Max would have had to pass lapped cars to get to Lewis Hamilton then pass Lewis Hamilton to win the race. Lapped cars are not allowed to defend or impede an unlapped car but it’s slower passing a car even if it is not trying to slow you down that it is driving exactly where and how you want.
This all takes time and Max might have been able to pass Lewis in the final lap or maybe Lewis would have been able to hold him off.
Option 2
Race direction could have allowed no cars to unlap themselves but this was very unsatisfying for Red Bull. Red Bull wanted the cars between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton to unlap themselves so Max would be directly behind Lewis at the restart. This would give Max the best chance to win. Max was on a faster tire with less wear and would have a raw pace advantage. Max wouldn’t be guaranteed to win but barring something unusual Max on newer tires should have the pace to pass Lewis.
Scenario:
Race direction is trying to figure out which option to choose.
The race win is on the line, the world championship is on the line, of Lewis Hamilton wins he will have the most wold championships of anyone in F1 ever, race direction doesn’t want to be the referee that decides the match, two hugely influential and powerful people are yelling at you in the radio, there are 150k people in the stands, another 70 or 80 million watching, and the clock is ticking because you have to make a decision because the safety car is about to come in.
Race direction needs to make a decision now….and…
Chooses an option which didn’t exist.
Race direction allows only the cars between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen to unlap themselves. All the other unlapped cars are not allowed to unlap themselves.
Max on is newer tires fires past Lewis on the last lap and wins the race and WDC…
………
Maybe Max would have won anyway if all the unlapped cars were not allowed to unlap. Max would have raced passed the unlap cars and passed Lewis and won or Lewis would have held him off.
Either way it would have been an epic battle between two incredible drivers to decide the world championship in the final race of the year in the final lap. Amazing.
What the world got instead was race direction making up an option on the spot and putting its finger on the scale.
In the aftermath people talk about who deserved to win. That’s bollocks. They both deserved to win inasmuch as they both drove incredible seasons and are monumentally talented drivers that have massive dedication.
Neither of them “deserved” to win more than the other. I think what the both really deserved and what we as fans deserved was that last lap. A last lap undecided by the whims and foibles of a fallible race direction.
*In practice there are more factors than this. F1 cars are given 5 types of tires. 2 wet weather and 3 dry weather tires. The dry weather tires are go from a soft compound to a medium to a hard. Generally the soft compound is fastest but wears faster. The hard compound is the slowest but but wears the slowest. F1 teams need to use at least two compounds in a dry race.
**In a non safety car situation lapped cars are able to unlap themselves provided they are able to drive quick enough to do so. This doesn’t happen very often.
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