Stroll slams FIA over ‘ridiculous’ Abu Dhabi at Aston launch

After staying out of the controversy following the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Lance Stroll took the opportunity of today's launch of Aston Martin's 2022 car to weigh in on it. The Canadian suggested the FIA did not follow its own rules when deciding how to end the race, in a move he described as “ridiculous.”

Lewis Hamilton looked set to win the race and drivers’ championship after a late safety car period, until race director Michael Masi opted to remove only the lapped cars between Hamilton and Max Verstappen for one final racing lap. Verstappen -- on fresh soft tires -- overtook Hamilton to become champion, leading to severe backlash from Mercedes and many fans, and an investigation of the incident by the FIA that is ongoing.

Stroll admits he tried not to get overly involved over the winter but holds a strong view over the way the FIA handled the final race.

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“Yeah, I switched off from all of it, but I do have an opinion,” Stroll said at the Aston Martin AMR22 launch. “My opinion is that it’s ridiculous that we didn’t go back racing in the way that we should have gone back racing. We can’t change the rules halfway through, or at the end of a race, tell half the cars they can overtake.

“Unfortunately, I was part of the group of the other half of the cars that couldn’t overtake on brand-new soft tires with the opportunity to pass and maybe do something -- not necessarily, but whatever. It’s just never been done before, and I think it’s important that we keep rules consistent.

"I understand that it’s great to go racing and everyone wants to see the last lap of the race and the two drivers fighting for the world championship go head-to-head with one lap to go, but we can’t be making up rules at the end of a race like that. It has to be set in stone. If there was maybe an error where cars didn’t pass soon enough when the safety car came out or back markers weren’t allowed to pass the safety car early enough, and the consequence is we won’t get a whole lap of racing, well then that’s how it is.

“That is… the rules have to be consistent. In Formula 1, we’ve seen some inconsistency in penalties and decision-making, and I think this was just like maybe a little bit too much. It’s important that those things are set in stone.”

With Sebastian Vettel defending Masi’s overall record as race director but saying F1 should “focus on the sport and not so much on the show,” Stroll agreed with his Aston Martin teammate.

“I think that consistency in our sport is not our strongest point. I think Abu Dhabi was just not right. The rules are the rules. When there’s a safety car, lapped cars get to overtake the safety car and then we go racing. There’s nothing that says half the cars can overtake, and half the cars have to stay behind, and then we’ll go racing. Those things can’t be modified during a race, just to put on a show.

“So I do agree with Seb’s comments, absolutely, if he said that. I fully agree. I’m not going to get into further detail with other things, but for sure, definitely that was an example of I think just poor consistency.

“You can’t be changing, modifying rules for entertainment. It has to be sport first, and if there’s something Formula 1 or the FIA maybe did wrong or could have done differently, then that’s something to review in hindsight. But I don’t think it’s right that happened in Abu Dhabi.”