It is a debate that has been going on for many years now. Since the events of Abu Dhabi 2021, one has wondered above all about the opportunity to potentially distort the results of an entire race just so as not to end the Grand Prix early when an accident occurs a few laps from the end, yet it is a widely foreseen option by the regulation and used often in the past.
Furthermore, perhaps a much more important factor concerns the lack of uniformity in the judgment of the race stewards who are required to make particular decisions when the regulation, which obviously cannot foresee all situations, leaves room for several choices.
The option of the red flag with restart can be seen as more spectacular and fun, but in fact it risks mortifying the whole weekend’s work of some teams, not to mention the implications that concern safety and even consequences for the rest of the season due to the budget cap. Indeed, it is clear that putting 20 cars back on the starting grid, with empty tanks and new tires a few laps from the end, the possibility of a contact or a disastrous accident are perhaps higher than the level of danger that one wants to avoid by suspending the race.
But let’s analyze the decisions made in the Australian Grand Prix, jumping to the more questionable ones relating to the events that took place on laps 55 and 57 of 58.
The second red flag of the day came when Kevin Magnussen hit his Haas exiting turn 2, resulting in his right rear tire exploding and being left on the track along with other debris.
As we will see from subsequent statements, many drivers were surprised by the race director’s decision to display the red flag and set up a restart from the grid (which didn’t go well) with just three laps to go instead of using the safety car. The decision in fact led to a series of chaotic events that certainly would not have happened if the race had been suspended or if it had finished under the safety car regime.
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Max Verstappen spoke of his discontent in the post-race press conference, stating that: “I think the race itself towards the end was a bit of a mess with all the calls. I don’t think there was a need for the second red flag I think it could have been done with a virtual safety car or at worst with a safety car.”
He continued: “I think if we had had a safety car and then a normal flying start, we wouldn’t have had all these incidents. And then there would have been a normal finish. So the problems were created by themselves.”
Lando Norris agrees, and speaking to the media, said: “I don’t think the second red flag was necessary, I don’t know, I don’t see everything, but from what I’ve been able to see in the car, it doesn’t seem like it was necessary.” It seemed to me that there were only four laps to go, and that we didn’t want to go under the safety car. It caused a bad finish to the race. I think if we had finished behind the safety car it would have been a little easier.”
Surely the races concluded under the safety car didn’t exactly go down in history as the most exciting ever, and discontent with this option had also recently emerged.
In the 2022 Italian GP, race direction followed the regulations in a more precautionary way – departing from what was done in Abu Dhabi in 2021, where the championship was resolved with a restart on the last lap – and the fans were nonetheless left with bitterness after being denied the entire final race. But in that case the main discontent concerned the timing of the choice, with a late decision that canceled well over three laps of the Grand Prix.
Since then, the FIA, Formula 1 and the teams have tried to find an alternative solution to the checkered flag under the safety car, but have been unable to agree on anything better. Decisions like in the Australian Grand Prix are probably also a consequence of this discontent.
Suppose, however, for a moment that we want to take the decision to restart with a standing start three laps from the end as a good one, it is what happens afterwards that is more open to criticism.
At the time of Magnussen’s tire blowout this was the order of the top 10: Verstappen, Hamilton, Alonso, Sainz, Gasly, Stroll, Perez, Norris, Hulkenberg and Ocon.
Following the last restart and subsequent accidents, 3 cars were forced to retire (the two Alpines and Sargeant’s Williams), and due to the contact between Carlos Sainz and Fernando Alonso, the positions recorded by the subsequent measurements were: Verstapoen, Hamilton , Sainz, Hulkenberg, Tsunoda, Norris, Piastri, Zhou, Bottas and Perez.
At this point the race direction chooses to suspend the race again, a correct decision given that the two Alpines were in full trajectory and had to be removed with the crane.
Then they made the biggest mistake in our opinion. Instead of ending the race using as arrival order that of the last position in which it was possible to evaluate it (as per article 57.3 of the regulation), they decided to restart the race with a single lap behind the safety car, correctly applying the order restart as per art. 57.3 (for this the Haas protest was rejected), but obviously without the two Alpines, effectively penalizing Gasly and Ocon and in a certain way also Carlos Sainz who, although guilty in the contact with Fernando Alonso, received the minimum penalty (5 sec) that entails however the maximum punishment, that is the exclusion from the points.
Therefore, even if we want to understand the intention that for safety reasons led to the display of the first two red flags, we do not understand how the same idea did not act with common sense immediately afterwards, ending the race, in respect of those who had battled on track for 57 of 58 laps, in a certain sense repeating the mistakes of Abu Dhabi 2021.
For those who have doubts about the possibility of finishing a race before the end of the scheduled laps or before the end of the two hours without interruptions or the four hours with interruptions, we report article 59.2 of the regulation which evidently allows the race to be finished early “for any reason “, evidently at the discretion of the race direction, attributing as final positions those of the last time the single-seaters crossed the finish line before the end-of-race signal (in the event of a suspended race for order, the aforementioned 57.3 applies) .
59.2 Should for any reason the end-of-session signal be given before the leading car completes the scheduled number of laps, or the prescribed time has been completed, the sprint session or the race will be deemed to have finished when the leading car last crossed the Line before the signal was given
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