Safety car plays decisive role again in confusing end to chaotic race

Safety car plays decisive role again in confusing end to chaotic raceImage source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Race winner Charles Leclerc, of Ferrari, follows the safety car in the closing stages of the British Grand PrixByAndrew BensonF1 Correspondent at SilverstonePublished12 minutes ago4 CommentsThis time, Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff was able to joke about a safety car having a decisive role at the end of a chaotic and dramatic grand prix.Nearly five years have passed since Wolff watched his then driver Lewis Hamilton have a record-breaking eighth world title wrenched from his grasp as a result of the FIA race director failing to apply the rules correctly during a safety-car period.Back then, Michael Masi - who was fired a couple of months later for his error - made that call to override his organisation's own rules in a misguided attempt to not have the race finish under a safety car.At Silverstone on Sunday, that's exactly what happened .It might - for some - have been an unsatisfactory way to end a British Grand Prix that had gone from tense racing to chaos and drama in the final few laps.But as Wolff said: "I would have preferred for this to happen in '21. That was more important. It's good that the regulations have been followed."Sometimes it doesn't give for the most exciting final. But this is a sport. Show follows sport and not the other way around. So it's good that FIA made that call."How the confusing end unfoldedThe late drama was enhanced because shortly before the cars approached the end of the penultimate lap, a message flashed up on the timing screens saying that the safety car was about to pull off, restarting the race.This was one of the ways in which Masi messed up in Abu Dhabi. The rules say that the cars have to do one more lap once lapped cars have unlapped themselves behind a safety car, a process that was only just beginning at the time.In Abu Dhabi, two errors were made - only some lapped car...