Did Formula 1 Break Their OWN RULES? | The F1 Breakdown | Abu Dhabi GP

So in that chaotic last grand prix at Abu Dhabi, all of the regulations seemed to go out of the window. Latifi crashed and sparked it all, and with only four laps to go, the Race Dictator (I mean Race Director), Michael Masi made some (odd) decisions - but did he break his own rules?
Well, Mercedes (predictably) say yes, and Red Bull (predictably) say no. So let's go over the rules, as well as the arguments from both sides. Let’s go.
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So as we know, on lap 54 out of 58 - Latifi stuck it in the wall. Meaning that (at least) 2 or 3 laps of Safety car was needed to clear up both the Williams and its bargeboards that were scattered over the track.
So at this point, Lewis couldn’t pit - for fear of losing track position to Max and then the race not getting started again - that would have been a real blunder - imagine.
So Lewis stayed out, and Red Bull (for obvious reasons) tried something different and boxed Max for some softs. However, half the field didn’t follow Max in. Leaving Norris, Alonso, Ocon, LeClerc and Vettel who passed - putting them between Hamilton and Verstappen.
So Michael Masi, the Race Director has a few choices here.
Either Red Flag the race, meaning the order would be restored, everyone could change tyres and there would be a fair 1v1, 4 lap battle for the championship.
But Masi would have had to call that straight away. And it would’ve been an unusual call when neither the driver, nor barrier, looked to be damaged.
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