Mercedes says the title battle doesn’t deserve it, Red Bull says it cares about the Formula 1 championship being settled the right way – but what happens if a collision decides the Max Verstappen/Lewis Hamilton fight?
The two rivals have come to blows three times this season and had multiple other controversial run-ins as the championship has progressed.
This weekend’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix is a winner-takes-all showdown as the two drivers arrive on equal points.
Verstappen has the advantage of leading on countback as he has won more races. As he would be champion if neither driver scored points, the hypothetical ‘what if they collide?’ scenario could be considered code for ‘what if Verstappen crashes on purpose?’.
However, the fact is both drivers have been punished this year for causing a collision with the other, and it is possible that – intentionally or not – they could do so again this weekend.
The two offences that are most relevant to this battle are ‘causing a collision’ or ‘forcing another driver off the track’.
The available punishments are wide-ranging with the main ones specifically outlined in the sporting regulations being five and 10-second time penalties, a drive through, a 10-second stop-go penalty, and disqualification from the event.
But crucially the stewards are also allowed to impose any penalty available to them in the FIA’s International Sporting Code and this includes the option of deducting points.
It may seem sensible for a driver deemed to have caused a championship-deciding collision to be handed a punishment that prevents them gaining from it.
But several times this season the FIA has reiterated that the consequences of the incident do not have a bearing on the punishment given out.
That has been criticised, most notably when Hamilton was able to win the British Grand Prix despite getting a 10-second time penalty for causing the contact that ended Verstappen’s race.
In a season in which Hamilton and Verstappen have been the dominant forces – they have finished first and second 13 times in 21 races – a small time penalty for either is unlikely to make much difference to their result.
So if, for example, Hamilton caused a collision that ended Verstappen’s race, chances are a time penalty isn’t going to stop him scoring the single point needed to take the the title in those circumstances.
As for Verstappen, with his countback advantage, if he takes out Hamilton then none of the available in-race penalties would deny him the championship – but a points deduction would.
There is therefore potential for either driver to provisionally win the title via a controversial incident with the other – but also lose the title by intervention from the officials.
Any action from the stewards would unlikely be the end of the matter because each team would almost certainly appeal a stewards’ decision with the FIA’s international court if it decided the title either way.
And if the stewards fail to act in a manner that ‘undoes’ a title-deciding collision, there is precedent for the FIA itself to step in proactively.
Before the 1997 F1 title decider in Jerez race FIA president Max Mosley said that anyone who attempted to influence the title battle would be punished.
Michael Schumacher deliberately drove into title rival Jacques Villeneuve in an attempt to decide the fight in his favour.
He failed and that incident was dismissed by the stewards at the time, but was subsequently re-opened by a special FIA disciplinary hearing.
Even though Schumacher only finished second, the FIA decided to exclude him from the championship standings.
That kind of action presumably cannot be ruled out in 2021.
