Controversy at the end of the Italian GP: What happened and what should have happened?

The Formula 1 Italian GP It ended in controversy and boos from the public. The date ended without the show expected when Ricciardo suffered a mechanical failure. ANDThe Australian left his McLaren parked on the straight before Lesmo corner 1 with just 6 laps to go. It should be a more than enough time, to continue the appointment in the absence of one or two turns. It seemed like a final battle, with the cars stuck again. Charles Leclerc could try to attack Max and Sainz Russell, all with the same new soft rubber. The outcome was exciting and full of tension, but it didn’t happen. The theory did not come true: Everything was delayed too much and the Race Direction ran out of time to continue the race, which then after the ‘Safety Car’. The match was interrupted.

Who is the culprit? Many factors have accumulated to end something like this.

Complicated zone and car trouble

First and foremost, the FIA ​​must anticipate the possibility of a car stopping at that point in order to know how to act quickly. The problem is that Daniel parked the car in an unexpected place, one of the worst places to quickly take a car, because the cranes are at the other end, outside, because the most likely if there is an accident will be outside car out of the back corner.

In this area, the cranes and the marshals station are at the other end, that is, outside, because it is common for accidents to happen that end up with the competitors in the barrier. And the first exit to remove the vehicles is located a few meters behind. The action protocol should be stricter and safer. Because what was seen later was nonsense.

What they did was very dangerous: Red flag?

“Every effort was made to remove Ricciardo’s car as soon as possible and restart the race. The handlers couldn’t put him in neutral and get him on the escape route. The incident was not significant enough for a red flag,” the FIA ​​said.. It’s true that everything got complicated because the stewards couldn’t put the orange car in ‘neutral’. If they did this, the acquisition time would be much shorter. But it happened. A tractor had to come in to remove the car and something was seen there that will never happen again.

The tractor pulls the car back a few meters to reach the car exit. And he did it while the cars were on the track warming up behind the ‘Safety Car’. There is a video somewhere one of the Williams had to change direction to avoid the tractor. Everyone remembers the death of Jules Bianchi in Japan 2014, when he hit himself with a tractor. Because of this, many demanded that the red flag should have been raised and the cars stopped in the pit lane.

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“The crane is usually in the hole to remove the engine. You can’t get a tractor going in the wrong direction. The red flag should be raised because it’s dangerous. B.Ianchi was killed by a crane going in the wrong direction. This is a security bug. It’s a dangerous situation on the track,” said Marc Gené, as a commentator for ‘Sky Italia’. The red flag is raised in the event of an accident, to attend the pilot, fix the obstacles, because of debris on the track, because it is impractical or because of a very dangerous situation. And the one with the tractor is such a situation.

In short, everything went wrong: Daniel parked in an unusual place, in the worst part of the circuit, with the tow truck far away, and the marshals couldn’t put it in neutral to move it. Later it became clear that there was a serious planning error for getting the tractor overturning the F1s coming from the opposite direction. But here we have to add other mistakes in the direction of the race in those moments.

The race direction is too slow

Ricciardo stopped on lap 47 and Race Direction lasted 50 seconds from when he brought out the yellow flags until he understood that the situation deserved a ‘Safety Car’. By delaying that decision, they don’t have time to comply with vehicle safety procedures and the ‘Safety’ stepped in front of Russell. And between Verstappen (1st) and Leclerc (2nd) Tsunoda and Bottas (13th and 14th) remained out of position. The Race Direction did not give orders for the cars to regain their position when the car was withdrawn. And so the race ended very sadly. “The safety car didn’t get a leader and that caused a big delay for them to catch up and then the cars were released to catch up,” said Horner (Red Bull).

“The FIA ​​was caught sleeping, maybe they are not ready to deal with such situations,” added Mattia.

Is it possible to change the rule?

Mattia Binotto was also asked about the recurring solution in the paddock after what happened this Sunday: Why not change the rules? Many have proposed establishing the obligation to display a red flag if the safety car remains on the track in the absence of a certain number of laps. Binotto disagrees: “No, I don’t think it’s about changing the rules. The rules were discussed, to a large extent, especially after Abu Dhabi last year.

But the most remarkable thing is that the race winners themselves, Max Verstappen and his boss, Christian Horner, complained about that finish. “What we don’t understand is, with the current regulations, which we think are correct, why is it taking them so long to make a decision,” said Max. “You can’t finish behind the safety car, it’s against our principles. If they knew they couldn’t run the car, they should have red-flagged and restarted. after at least one lap of the race, probably two”.

However, McLaren boss Andreas Seidl recalled that after the controversial end of Abu Dhabi 2021, which decided the title in favor of Verstappen, the FIA ​​​​urged them to agree to change the regulations and prevent the termination of a career. after ‘ Safety Vehicle’. But there is no ‘quorum’. “Although the FIA ​​​​and F1 have really pushed all the teams to find a solution, it is up to the teams. We did not agree to find a better solution that is still a fair solution to sports rules,” said the German. , so it is said that now “no one can complain”.

For his part, Toto Wolff, head of Mercedes, took the opportunity to reflect on what happened in Abu Dhabi 2021, where he asked then race director Michael Masi to finish the test after ‘Safety’. “Race Direction has been criticized, but this time they have followed the rules,” he said. The ‘this time’ was not accidental. “Maybe they could have done it a lap earlier or let George pass (the ‘safety’ continued bad procedure because he got into Russell first), but they followed the rules and agreed to finish the race under the safety car. That’s how it should be .” The rules were followed, but it was done poorly and slowly. The biggest loser is the novice.