While the Monza race had ended behind the safety car a few weeks ago, the rumble had risen in the paddock and among the spectators even if the regulations were unlike Abu Dhabi 2021, correctly applied.
Should we therefore review these regulations in the future so that the FIA race management can raise the red flag if the event is interrupted just a few races from its end?
The team principals had a sports meeting just after Monza and the subject was brought up. But nothing has filtered since. What came out of it? First of all, not much…
“I’m not sure it’s still a settlement issue,” believes for his part Frédéric Vasseur, the director of Alfa Romeo F1.
« It’s about how you react when an incident happens on the track. But I think part of the problem is the fact that the safety car got in front of Russell instead of Verstappen, that’s which caused a bit of disorder or at least prolonged the duration of the intervention on the track, when we wondered if we needed a red flag to clear Ricciardo’s car.
« I am not at the heart of discussions between the marshals and the race director. But if a car is stopped and not moving, it is logical to ask whether the red flag is appropriate in the event of a long interruption.
Laurent Mekies, the sporting director of Ferrari, is « Agree with Fred, I don’t think this is a rules issue. »
« The regulations rightly leave the freedom to the race management to manage these types of situations. Then you have to determine what you can do best in the future to have a fresh start. »
For his part, Günther Steiner considers “that a better decision could have been made,” but the Haas F1 director doesn’t think either “that there needs to be a rule change. »
« In my opinion, it could have been thought that many spectators wanted to see a good show and it would not have been so strange to raise the red flag. So was it the wrong decision? No, because the regulations were correctly enforced, and it all started when the safety car got in front of Russell and not the race leader, and there’s no one to blame for that. »
« We don’t have to be stubborn and follow the rules to the letter, we could decide to pull out the red flag without it going against it. »
