FIA pressed to avoid "knee-jerk" response to red-flag debate

Safety car during the Italian Grand Prix — Photo: © LAT Images

Safety cars

FIA pressed to avoid "knee-jerk" response to red-flag debate

Controversy reigned after Italian Grand Prix

Ian Parkes

Wednesday 21 September 2022 15:56

The FIA has been urged to avoid a "knee-jerk" response to the furore that unfolded in the wake of a "miserable" end to the Italian Grand Prix.

The safety-car conclusion to the race at Monza, after Daniel Ricciardo had pulled his McLaren off track with a handful of laps remaining, sparked considerable debate.

Ultimately, race control applied the letter of the law to the scenario, aside from one grey area when it picked up George Russell rather than Max Verstappen in his Red Bull, and the Mercedes driver was not released for two-thirds of a lap.

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Given the similarity in circumstances to last year's controversial ending to the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, it sparked conversation that in such scenarios a race could be red-flagged, allowing drivers to fit fresh tyres and lead to a sprint finish.

The situation would be similar to last year's Azerbaijan Grand Prix when the race was stopped after Max Verstappen suffered a high-speed blow-out, leading to a two-lap sprint ending.

Alpine sporting director Alan Permane can appreciate the suggestion of such possible conclusions in the future should a similar incident occur.

"I'd have to think about that," said Permane. "Off the top of my head, it sounds great.

"A six-lap sprint, everyone has fresh tyres and we go. It's happened before. We did it in Baku last year, and it was good.

"You could write that into the regs, I'd have to have a think but it doesn't sound crazy. I'm sure there will be something we don't like about it.

"But after all, we're here to put a show on and that clearly wasn't acceptable. It was not an ideal finish at all. No-one wants to finish under the safety car.

"It's really miserable for the fans. It wasn't our best that's for sure."

Permane, however, has preached caution and feels it would be more prudent for the FIA to potentially tighten up its current measures.

"Maybe we don't need to knee-jerk and say every time, within 50 kilometres of the end or something, you throw a red flag," added Permane.

"Maybe we just need to make sure we get those safety car procedures right, and we have been working to try and make them quicker.

"The problem is, a safety car later in the race, you've got these lapped cars, and we've had endless discussions on how to improve that situation, and there are definitely many unintended consequences of changing that procedure."