Sky Sports pundit calls for F1 to change 'UNNECESSARY' rule

verstappen, hungariangp, 2023, hungary, red bull — Photo: © LAT Images

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Sky Sports pundit calls for F1 to change 'UNNECESSARY' rule

There's one rule in particular that David Croft claims will improve competitiveness at the front

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Thursday 17 August 2023 13:57

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David Croft has claimed that getting rid of blue flags in F1 could help to make races more competitive, and potentially stop one team from dominating quite so much.

Current rules state that if a front-runner is coming up on a backmarker to overlap them, the car being lapped must get out of the way and not hamper the race of the faster car.

This rule is policed using blue flags, and if a driver ignores three successive blue flags being waved their way, they may incur penalties.

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Croft claimed that, if lead cars are forced to fairly overtake these backmarkers, it could lead to more entertaining racing, and a more competitive race at the front as overtaking ability would be tested just as much as raw speed.

“We should put the show first occasionally, ban blue flags because if you’re good enough to be leading the race you’re good enough to pass another driver who’s not leading the race, because they're last, without them needing to jump out of the way," Croft told the Sky Sports F1 podcast.

"It might make things a lot more interesting and you could do that without any investment in the sport, without any engineering challenges whatsoever, with a stroke of a flag you could just get rid of something that I just think is unnecessary. Other motorsport categories don't have blue flags."

Funny blue flag moment from 2021 involving Lewis Hamilton

Upsetting traditions

Max Verstappen and his Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez have absolutely dominated the 2023 season so far, winning every single race between them, and it's only a matter of time before Verstappen secures his third world championship.

David Croft did warn against changing rules that have been in place for decades just to try and end Red Bull's dominance.

"It's difficult, we have a tradition and a heritage in Formula 1 that you don't want to upset too much and you want to keep."