New technologies, new problems. For the second time this Formula One season, a practice session has been halted with a red flag, seemingly without any emergency situations on track. Yesterday’s first free practice session for the Canadian Grand Prix at the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve in Montreal lasted only a few minutes before the cameras showed Pierre Gasly stopped on the side of the track. The red flag was initially displayed to recover the Alpine of the French driver, but in reality, the interruption lasted until the end of the scheduled sixty minutes.
The session was halted due to a faulty fiber optic connection in the circuit’s service camera system. The images were not synchronized, making real-time monitoring of the track problematic.
The search for the fault continued even after the end of the FP1 session, causing concern for Liberty Media personnel. As a backup solution, they offered the use of images from all the television cameras around the circuit. The fault was later identified in an optical connection, and once it was replaced, the system resumed normal operation.
In the previous Australian Grand Prix, a red flag appeared after five minutes of the FP1 session, again without any incidents or car malfunctions on track.
In that case, the reason was a server issue that disabled all GPS data, leaving the race direction and the teams in the dark about the cars’ positions on the track. On that occasion, even some officials were surprised by the race direction’s decision, but the effects of the absence of satellite data became apparent within seconds, with a risk of collision between three cars due to the engineers’ inability to warn their drivers of an approaching vehicle behind them.
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The GPS system, as well as the internal camera circuit, are part of the essential safety systems that allow Formula 1 cars to take to the track. In the case of GPS, the real-time position detected by the satellite has taken on the function of rear-view mirrors.
Although the FIA has decided to increase their minimum size, drivers are aware that the field of vision provided by the mirrors does not cover the entire width of the track and, above all, does not allow them to see a car approaching from behind at high speed.
Engineers have compensated for this problem by timely informing their drivers about the traffic on the track, instructions that have become essential to be able to drive on the circuit, especially during practice sessions when there are fast-moving cars and others moving more slowly.
In the case of the service cameras, they are a fundamental tool for the race direction as they allow them to monitor the track with fixed shots that cover the entire extent of the circuit. They are followed in real time by FIA personnel.
In Montreal, there have already been incidents related to the presence of groundhogs at the edge of the track (in 2007, Anthony Davidson lost third place by hitting one). But in general, these shots serve to timely alert the teams to any unexpected event that could jeopardize safety on the track.
It is not surprising that in the absence of these safety devices, the only viable option for the race direction is the red flag, whether it’s for ten minutes like in Melbourne or for the entire FP1 session as happened yesterday. These services are integral parts of the safety measures introduced over the years by the FIA, and in their absence, track activity is not authorized.
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