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F1 risks becoming the global laughing stock for the second time in 10 months after the Italian Grand Prix antics saw the race end under the safety car. This is their solution to the problem.
Formula 1 has a lot of work to do.
The FIA ​​threatens to be the global laughing stock for the second time in 10 months as the FIA ​​urgently needs to address its in-race governance rules after the Italian Grand Prix drama ends Prix​​ is reminiscent of last year’s title-winning saga in Abu Dhabi.
Max Verstappen won his 11th victory of the 2022 season in Italy, but the race ended under the safety car after Daniel Ricciardo’s engine failure caused him to stop on the track.
While the yellow flag was immediately waved, the length of time between Ricardo’s parking and the deployment of the safety car suggested the two leaders were indecisive.
When the safety car finally deployed, there were less than three laps left and the car was out of position, meaning Charles Leclerc had no chance of taking on his Red Bull rival.
While the decision technically followed the rules, it exposed inconsistencies in the sport and the need for an overhaul when events affected the final stages of the game.
Tifosi and Verstappen can be heard booing at the end of the race as Tifosi takes the podium.
The prelude to the deployment of the safety car in Italy echoes events in Abu Dhabi last year, when then race director Michael Masi improvised rules to allow the final lap of the race to allow Verstappen from Lewis · Hamilton (Lewis Hamilton) to win the world championship title.
Hamilton did not forget the irony of what happened in the final laps of Monza.
“It always brings back memories,” he said. “That’s the way it should be, right?
“There’s only one time in the history of the sport that they didn’t play by the rules like they do today, and that time it changed the outcome of the championship. But that’s what it is.”
Hamilton’s views were echoed by his team owner Toto Wolff.
“This time, they followed the rules,” he said. “There are rules, whether I’ve been traumatized by Abu Dhabi or not, those rules are being followed today.
“If a guy is not happy with the rules and you want a big bang show and two laps of racing and chaos, I absolutely do,” he said. “But then we need to change the rules.”
Fans and teams were shocked at how long it took to clear the McLaren and questioned why the race didn’t have a red flag to allow it to restart.
Both Red Bull and Ferrari said after the race that they would prefer to start over.
“Today we have all the conditions to start racing again,” said Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto.
“I don’t know why they waited so long. The FIA ​​was caught falling asleep and maybe they weren’t ready for these situations.”
Verstappen’s Red Bull team principal Christian Horner is also key. “We don’t want to win the race under the safety car,” he said. “It’s something we’ve been talking about for years, they should finish the game. There’s enough time for the game to go on.
“We have the faster car and we want to win the race on the track, not behind the safety car. We are as disappointed as all the fans because it took a grandstand finish.
“It goes against the principles we discussed before. The biggest losers are the fans. We need to fix this as soon as possible.”
Given what happened in Abu Dhabi, the final laps of Monza showed the need to change the existing rules.
While the two race directors were “as stipulated” in Italy, F1 needed to resolve the accident in the final laps and consider any situation in the final five laps to be an automatic red flag situation, forcing a restart.
This would go a long way towards eliminating different interpretations of the rules and preventing anticlimactic endings.
Originally published as F1 safety car farce at Italian Grand Prix exposes need for rule change
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