Max Verstappen was the lone voice in opposing the full release of the FIA report into the events of last year’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
The Dutchman became world champion after passing Lewis Hamilton on the final lap at Yas Marina following now-former race director Michael Masi’s controversial handling of a Safety Car restart.
Rather than follow the same procedure that has been used for multiple years, the Australian only permitted the five cars between Hamilton and Verstappen to unlap themselves before immediately restarting for that final lap.
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Changes have already been brought in for 2022, including the removal of Masi, the introduction of a new VAR-style remote Race Control to assist in race management and limits on communication between teams and Race Control.
But the findings of the final report are still unknown and could be released as early as Saturday.
“I don’t think we need a full report,” Verstappen said on Friday ahead of this weekend’s Bahrain GP.
“Of course every year it’s good to discuss what happened the year before and what you can do better. That’s what teams do as well, you always analyse everything you do.
“So we’ll find out and of course, if things can be written down in an easier way or a way to understand it better, the wording, then for sure. Let’s see.”
The fallout from Abu Dhabi has been and continues to be ferocious on social media since the race on December 12, and Verstappen doesn’t believe there needs to be a moment when everyone moves on.
“The sport doesn’t need to heal, there are these dramatic moments which are part of the sport as well,” he told the BBC.
“F1 is a very tough world. I think Lewis can feel the pain a bit less if you already have seven [Drivers’ titles].”
However, Hamilton led what was the vast majority of drivers calling for absolute clarity on what took place at last year’s season finale.
“I think it’s important that, as a sport, we are transparent,” said the Mercedes driver.
“I had a good meeting with Mohammed [ben Sulayem, FIA President] last night who agreed that’s the direction we should take as a sport.
“So we’re looking forward to seeing it come out and for people to know that the sport is transparent and we are learning from what’s happened in the past and we’ll make improvements moving forwards.”
Every other driver asked agreed, with Charles Leclerc hoping the “big lines” and “conclusion” are published at the very least.
But equally the same drivers had another message…
“I think as soon as it comes out and as soon as it’s analysed and read by everyone, it’s time to move on,” Sainz noted. “We are in March 2022 and we’re still talking about December 2021.
“I think as a sport, it’s also time to, whatever comes out of that meeting, learn from it, apply the lessons learnt and move on and never talk about it too much again.”
