F1: Lewis Hamilton hints at Abu Dhabi 2021 but says safety car rules are being followed at Monza

Lewis Hamilton Said the safety car rule was properly applied at the end Italian Grand Prix but does give a pointer Abu Dhabi Last year, as he put it, “there was only one time in the history of the sport that they didn’t play by the rules.”

Sunday’s game Monza Stopped with five laps left Daniel Ricardo Stopped on the side of the track to report an engine failure, triggering a pit stop with the safety car and new tires.

However, once the car finally left the track, there was not enough time to restart the race in green flag conditions, Frustration for second-placed Charles Leclerc and Ferrari fan base as they want a late sprint line with the winner Max Verstappen.

Hamilton, who finished fifth, was asked about the final and mentioned how he Infamously lost last year’s World Championships in Abu Dhabi’s final winner-take-all matchwhen the safety car entered a lap early, which opened the door for Verstappen to pass him and take the title.

“It always evokes memories, that’s the rule that should be, yes,” Hamilton told Sky F1when asked about the race that ended behind the safety car.

“So only once in the history of the sport they didn’t play by the rules.”

The seven-time world champion is confident the rules are being followed this time around, as is Mercedes boss Toto Wolff – who says race director Nils Vitic has done his job.

last year Race director Michael Massey sacked by FIA in February After the controversial end of last year’s intriguing title race.

“The match director’s corner has always been criticized, but this time they followed the rules,” he said.

“Maybe they could have gone one lap earlier or let George pass – but they followed the rules and accepted the race to end under the safety car. That’s how it should be.”

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner insisted the race should restart under green flag conditions, saying there was “sufficient” time for the race to resume.

“We don’t want to win the race under the safety car,” Horner told Sky F1.

“It’s something we’ve been talking about for years, they should finish the race. There’s enough time to keep the race going. I think they (the safety car) picked the wrong car, they picked the wrong George Russell.

“We have the faster cars and we want to win the race on the track, not behind the safety car. So we are as disappointed as all the fans because it took away a grandstand finish. I just want to see the race go. And , you know, I think we would have won without the safety car, and we had enough speed in the one-stop parking space we adopted.

“We saved a new set of tires, we had a new set of tires instead of Charles’ scrubbed tires. But it’s also a grandstand finish that we haven’t seen. I think it goes against the principles we’ve discussed before. So unfortunately , the biggest losers today are the fans. But we need to fix that quickly.

“We need to go through the details of it. But for me, there’s enough time to get that race back on. Another car with no obstacles. It’s parked on the side of the track.”

Verstappen now has a 116-point lead over Leclerc at the world championships with six races to go and could win the title in Singapore in three weeks’ time.