Why the FIA has shot itself in the foot with 2021 hangover

With plenty of big questions still unanswered, the drama of 2021 is unlikely to be forgotten for a while yet – and the FIA are doing their bit to clear up what happened.

As the season starts, the predominant conversation is likely still to be the fallout from the controversy on Abu Dhabi, and understandably so.

What the FIA decides is also thought to be a factor in whether or not Lewis Hamilton will be on the grid at all in 2022 but, with Mercedes’ car launch set for Friday 18 February, there could well be an update on that front sooner rather than later.

The FIA’s internal investigation is still ongoing, and the findings are set to only be confirmed to the World Motor Sport Council on 18 March – as Friday practice gets underway in Bahrain – meaning this will absolutely be the talk of the paddock, whether they like it or not.

While the FIA need to be thorough in their process, it almost feels as if they have shot themselves in the foot by delivering the results when they will.

Formula 1 should be heralding the start of its biggest regulation changes in recent years by having the full focus on how the new running order will shape up, how the cars differ, the anticipation of the year ahead as a whole and keeping everyone’s eyes on what will happen on track.

Instead, those at the top of the sport are going to be peppered with questions about what their internal investigation shows, and the subsequent knock-on effects for the future.

These questions will inevitably all be passed on to the drivers, team principals and beyond through the weekend, with Hamilton and Max Verstappen set to be wanted men in that regard.

Neither of them will want to re-tread old ground over and over again, but they’re going to have to in order to finally close the book on what was a remarkable year that finished in the most dramatic and controversial circumstances.

All this will detract from what the sport will want to do, which is to finally bring in the excitement of these fresh technical regulations and brand-new cars, which have been discussed and anticipated for so long.

TV cameras will only be able to catch a glimpse of these new feats of engineering a week before the season starts, again in Bahrain, but even then, the FIA report will still be looming large prior to the findings being presented.

In terms of when Formula 1 can finally focus on the weekend, it’s likely to be qualifying by the time the new cars will take precedence – but Abu Dhabi is likely to be dredged up once again.

If Michael Masi stays, how will he deal with any changes made by the FIA? Will every decision he makes in the race be called into question now? How will he have dealt with being under the microscope for the past three months?

If he goes, who is the new race director? Are they up to the job? Will any new FIA measures take time to bed in? Were any mistakes made, and how will they learn from them?

What has been clear throughout is that the FIA need to make the report as clear and as transparent as possible, explaining everything as they go in order to quell as many concerns as possible.

The questions will never go away completely, but they need to help others by helping themselves and leave nothing up to interpretation if they are able to put a lid on everything Abu Dhabi-related as best they can.

The FIA are clearly doing the right thing by looking at the 2021 season finale in detail, getting thoughts from the drivers themselves and other senior figures in the sport, but they can help ease the barrage of questioning coming their way by somehow giving a synopsis of the investigation’s major findings before they are finalised in front of the WMSC, just to take some of the anticipation away and enabling people to focus on the future instead.

There is no way to please everyone in this situation. We know this already. However, the more clarity the FIA can provide before the opening weekend in Bahrain, the more we’ll be able to focus on what promises to be an exciting new chapter in the history of Formula 1, and close the book on what came before it.

At this point, we all need it.

FIA needs to show that it has taken action

Zak Brown believes that the FIA must show the action they have taken after Abu Dhabi.