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Monza safety car mess will top F1 Summit agenda - Horner

Monza safety car mess will top F1 Summit agenda - Horner

Monza safety car mess will top F1 Summit agenda - Horner

Ian Parkes & Ewan Gale
Monza safety car mess will top F1 Summit agenda - Horner

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner expects the safety car furore at the Italian Grand Prix will be elevated to the top of the agenda at the F1 Sporting Summit.

On Monday, the FIA convenes a meeting with race officials and team managers, chaired by president Mohammed Ben Sulayem, to help shape the future of F1. No meeting of its sort has been held for almost a decade.

The ending at Monza left a sour taste across the paddock, with five laps spurned behind the safety car which denied a grandstand finale between Charles Leclerc and race winner Max Verstappen.

The sport's governing body has come under fire numerous times this season with a number of failures, notably at the Monaco Grand Prix, with an inexperienced race direction taking the brunt of the criticism.

Asked if enough progress had been made by the FIA since the controversial Abu Dhabi season finale last year that prompted the change, Horner replied: "It is all a process and there has been a huge amount of change.

"There are obviously lessons that are being learned. You could hear the displeasure of the crowd.

"They [the FIA] are sitting down with all the team managers, the president is getting involved in that as well to talk about certain aspects and I am sure now that this will be near the top of the agenda.

"Certainly there are a lot of issues on the table. We need to avoid scenarios as we had at the end of the race."

Horner bemoans "anti-climax"

The safety car period secured the victory for Verstappen who had been in a dominant lead despite starting from seventh.

But despite taking the win that puts the Dutch driver within touching distance of his second world title, Horner conceded: "Even winning the race, it was an anti-climax.

"We prefer to win the race under racing conditions despite it being a risk of a restart.

"It is a little bit of an anti-climax when you get that. It was something discussed many years ago to avoid that scenario.

"It just felt like a mistake was made, the wrong car was picked up and that delayed the whole process."

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