SILVERSTONE, England, July 5 (Reuters) - Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said Formula One had made the right call after Sunday's British Grand Prix ended under safety car conditions, to some boos from the crowd who had wanted to see a last-lap fight to the finish.
The decision echoed controversial and painful memories of the 2021 world championship decider in Abu Dhabi when the usual safety car procedures were changed by the then-race director Michael Masi to avoid the race finishing behind the safety car.
That led to Red Bull's Max Verstappen, on fresher tyres, overtaking Mercedes's Lewis Hamilton and taking his first title -- in the process denying the Briton a record eighth.
Hamilton, now with Ferrari, was the one on fresh tyres on Sunday after pitting from second place when the safety car was deployed four laps from the end after Verstappen crashed.
Mercedes's George Russell stayed out, contrary to Ferrari's expectations, and became the target but this time the lapped cars were allowed to unlap themselves and the race ran out of time to resume, leaving Hamilton third.
"I would have preferred for this to happen in '21," Wolff told reporters. "That was more important.
"But it's good that the regulations have been followed. Sometimes it doesn't give for the most exciting finale. Generally from a spectacle standpoint, everybody would have loved to see Lewis on a soft (tyre) against us and maybe fighting with (Ferrari teammate Charles) Leclerc.
"But this is a sport. The show follows sport and not the other way around. So it's good that the FIA made that call."
JUST HOW THE RACING GOES
The boos came after the race direction announced, erroneously, that the safety car would come in with one lap remaining but it then stayed out. The governing FIA said that was due to a software error.
Russell finished second behind Leclerc and recognised his good fortune, with his tyres cold and unable to put up much of a fight.
"I mean, of course it's a shame for any race to finish into the safety car. But then you go back to Abu Dhabi ’21, and that is just how racing goes," said the Briton.
"Obviously, there was a lot of chat post-Abu Dhabi ’21. If you actually look at the number of races that have finished under the safety car over the past 20 years, it's not actually a lot.
"It is a shame but what can you do? I don't think it should be different."
Asked whether he regretted making the pitstop, Hamilton told reporters: "What difference does it make?
"The team asked me to stop. I assumed in stopping that we would be holding position. If they told me, "You're stopping and you're losing position" I wouldn't have done it."
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin; editing by Clare Fallon)
