It’s been over two months since the controversial final race of the 2021 season, and the Abu Dhabi saga is still going on. In the nail-biting clash between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton, the 24-year-old Dutchman denied Hamilton his record eighth World Championship title. Most fans and experts believe Race Director Michael Masi’s call for a safety car at the later stage of the race changed the tide of the Abu Dhabi race.

However, there are others who support Masi’s call and favor Verstappen’s victory over Hamilton even without the safety car. Beat Zehnder, the Alfa Romeo sporting director, recently shared his support for the race director and Verstappen. Since his comments, however, Masi has been replaced as race director.

Zehnder reported, “From my point of view, not much went wrong in Abu Dhabi. The only thing I didn’t quite understand was the early announcement that the lapped drivers were not allowed to overtake. He should have allowed that if the track conditions allowed it.”

Furthermore, many F1 teams are suggesting that Masi should have called for a red flag instead of a safety car after Nicholas Latifi’s crash. But the Alfa Romeo sporting director again showed his dissatisfaction with the red flag suggestion.

“If there was a red flag, you would put fresh tyres in the hands of all the drivers. The question is: would that be really fairer?”

“To stop the race just to create artificial tension, I don’t think much of that,” Zehnder further added.

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What are the plans of Alfa Romeo F1 for 2022?

Alfa Romeo had a poor performance in the 2021 season, finishing ninth on the Constructor Standings with only 13 points. Further, the drivers’ ratings from the last season also aren’t very appealing; veteran Kimi Räikkönen only managed to bag 10 points, whereas Antonio Giovinazzi got 3 points.

However, many Formula One enthusiasts believe 2022 is going to be the start of Alfa Romeo’s revival. First, both the drivers from last season quit the Italian F1 team, as veteran Kimi retired from the sport after the 2021 season, whereas Antonio moved to Formula E. The Italian team got the former Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas and rookie Guanyu Zhou. The Finnish driver already has the experience of winning races, which will help the team.

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Further, this might be the opportunity for Bottas to get some spotlight, which he didn’t get in Mercedes. Apart from that, the former Mercedes driver is one of the best drivers in F1 and can guide the rookie.

Alfa Romeo still hasn’t officially launched their new car. They will release the 2022 challenger C42 on February 27, after the first pre-season test at Barcelona.

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