By Alan Baldwin
LONDON (Reuters) – Formula One was accused of putting entertainment before sport in Sunday’s crash-strewn and triple-stopped Australian Grand Prix but whether all those red flags needed to be thrown is a difficult debate.
In defence of race director Niels Wittich, safety always comes first.
Aston Martin principal Mike Krack, whose Spanish driver Fernando Alonso finished third after the final red flag reset the field to grid positions at the last re-start, said it was easy to criticise from the outside.
“Was it safe for the cars to go through the debris? It’s not easy to judge. But the race director has to make a decision and as far as safety is concerned the decision must be respected even if we don’t like it,” he said.
The race was halted early on when Alex Albon’s Williams was stuck on a kerb, with gravel strewn across the track.
The second stoppage came with four laps to go when Kevin Magnussen’s Haas hit the wall, with a tyre ripped off in the impact amid scattered debris.
The third standing start of the day, with two laps of racing to come, then ended in carnage with a third red flag and positions reverting to the previous grid order because the first sector had not been completed.
The field completed the last lap behind the safety car.
“I don’t feel like the second to last red flag was needed,” said McLaren’s Lando Norris. “The last one, I’m sure it was because there was a lot of people in the gravel and things, but the one before, possibly not. Maybe to put on a bit of a show.”
Mercedes’ George Russell, who retired from the race, said the first red flag was “totally unnecessary”.
Red Bull’s double world champion Max Verstappen also criticised the last stoppage and said officials had created a problem for themselves.
Former F1 racer and Sky Sports commentator Martin Brundle offered a different perspective.
“I don’t think there’s any instruction to whiz this show up when required,” he said.
“It’s very easy for us to sit on the sidelines going ‘should have done this, should have done that’. But back in 2009 Felipe Massa nearly died (in Hungary) with a piece of somebody else’s car coming through his cockpit.
“If there are pieces of debris on the track you can’t have them flying through the air at a couple of hundred miles an hour.”
It later emerged that a spectator had suffered a cut to his arm when struck by a piece of debris from Magnussen’s car.
Red flag calls are the responsibility of the race director but the FIA also has new sporting director Steve Nielsen and a remote operations centre to ensure the correct processes are then followed.
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff, so apoplectic after a notorious 2021 Abu Dhabi finale in which a late tweak to safety car procedures cost Lewis Hamilton a record eighth title, agreed the rules were followed but wanted more clarity.
“Restarts are a great entertainment factor, but we need to understand going forward when a red flag is being put out and when it is a safety car or a VSC (virtual safety car). For those incidents you could have applied either,” he said.
“Formula One is so successful because it is sport and we follow the rulebook and that gives great entertainment, as long as it is clear how it is being interpreted.”
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Christian Radnedge)
