Despite the fact that there is a different debate raging regarding whether or not standing restarts are in fact a positive solution for Formula 1, there is also one other key matter that emerged following the events that took place in the final stages of the 2023 Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix at the Albert Park circuit.
The first red flag moment in Melbourne was caused by a mistake made by Alex Albon, who crashed his Williams car in the first part of the Australian Grand Prix. Following the incident, race control decided for a standing restart procedure. The current regulation states that the safety car has to lead the cars around in formation for the restart, before returning back into the pits.
However, this time there was a very dangerous moment which was caused by race leader Lewis Hamilton: the British driver had slowed the formation lap pace at the front while when cars were trying to ctach up from the back and were closing in at at high speed, as explained in this video. One of the reasons that led to his was also the fact that Lewis Hamilton’s teammate, George Russell, lost some time when leaving the pitlane and as a result several drivers were forced to run quickly in order to recover the gap to the group.
As George Russell was then forced to suddenly slow down after joining the back of the train, others behind him were caught out and many drivers had to take evasive action in order to prevent a big accident from happening. Red Bull’s Sergio Perez nearly collided with the Alfa Romeo of Guanyu Zhou, while Williams’ Logan Sargeant came close to hitting the other Alfa Romeo car of Valtteri Bottas. Kevin Magnussen, who was running at high speed, was also forced to take avoiding action in his Haas and went on the gravel to avoid hitting other cars in front of him.
The moment was reviewed by the race stewards following the Australian Grand Prix and they pointed out that no driver can be particularly held responsible for the incident that could have resulted in a big crash involving many cars.
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The stewards explained that “when Russell and the cars behind caught up with the cars in front, they were met with a significant speed delta between the two groups resulting in a situation where a number of cars had to take evasive action. This was not at all an ideal situation from a safety point of view. Although Russell’s start was slow, given that he had to maintain the pit lane speed till he got out of the pits and that he immediately sped up to make up the gap, we did not consider that it would be necessary or appropriate to penalise Russell for a slow start from the pit lane. We, therefore, took no further action.” – the official statement informs.
Yet the stewards believes that the current rules and regulations in terms of formation lap procedure should be reviewed and changed, especially when it comes to the leader of the race setting the pace.
Article 58.8 of the Sporting Regulations states that the leading car has to stay within ten car lengths of the safety car before the restart when its lights are on.
Yet once the message has been given to teams that there will be a standing restart, then the safety car lights go out and the leader is allowed to slow down. This is what Lewis Hamilton did, which is not against the rules, but contributed to what could have been a big crash in Melbourne.
Article 58.11 of the sporting regulations adds that “at this point the first car in line behind the safety car may dictate the pace and, if necessary, fall more than ten (10) car lengths behind it.”
The stewards believe this freedom for the leader to set the pace so early in the lap should be changed with a better regulation of the procedure: “We do consider that part of the problem is the regulation that permits the lead car to set the pace even when the restart is for a standing start from the pit lane (as opposed to a rolling start). This should perhaps be looked at in the future to see if this is appropriate for a restart of this nature.” – the statement concluded at the end of the Australian Grand Prix.
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