F1 2025: Australian Grand Prix hit by red flag after UNUSUAL problem

Australian Grand Prix Practice

F1 2025: Australian Grand Prix hit by red flag after UNUSUAL problem

The first red flag of the 2025 season

Originally written by Chris Deeley. This version is a translation.

Friday 14 March 2025 03:00

The first red flag of the 2025 Formula 1 season took just 20 minutes to arrive, thanks to a bizarre issue.

There was no crash or technical issue which meant there was a car or car debris on the track, but some cars dipping their wheels into the gravel trap left gravel all over the racing surface.

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The session was paused for about five minutes while track officials sent out a street sweeper to clear the surface to avoid the chances of any driver losing control on it.

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The unusual red flag continued a trend in 2025 of sessions being stopped for bizarre reasons, with pre-season testing in Bahrain stopped multiples times for one-off incidents.

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Why was Australian Grand Prix FP1 red flagged?

“We’ve had bus on track, we’ve had glass smashing from the race starter’s gantry, we’ve had a power cut – three red flags in testing.

“And now gravel on track and a massive sweeper. Where are the marshals with brooms? Bit of an overkill to have a huge road sweeper! Nobody in the wall yet, nobody breaking down.”

Mercedes Formula 1 McLaren Hamilton Australian Grand Prix