Ferrari and Red Bull coincide in criticizing Niels Wittich, race director, who kept the ‘safety car’ and did not allow racing in the last laps.
The long shadow of the 2021 Abu Dhabi GP filtered again for the second consecutive week in the World Championship. To the misfortune of Niels Wittitchrace director, disbelief of charles leclerc and anger of thousands of tifosi. Just seven days after two last-minute mishaps in Zandvoort changed the tide of events, the breakdown of Daniel Ricciardo reopened the box of demons in Monza. The lackluster finish under the safety car I left the triumph on a platter Max Verstappenbooed on the podium by the Italian fans.
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Chronology of events
On lap 47, as Verstappen cruised comfortably to victory, 13 seconds ahead of Leclerc, Ricciardo suffered a mechanical setback and had to park his car midway through turns 6 and 7 (Lesmo 1 and Lesmo 2). After a period of yellow flags, when Wittich realized that the stewards would not be able to get the McLaren out without help, he ordered the car out. safety on lap 48. Almost immediately, George Russell, Carlos SainzLeclerc and Verstappen went through boxes to mount a set of soft tires. Russell returned to the track behind the securitywhere I remained almost three laps.
On lap 51, Wittich allowed the laps to overtake the security, so Verstappen led the pack. However, two bent (Valtteri Bottas Y yuki tsunoda) stood between the leader and Leclerc. By the time everyone went through the Lesmo corners on lap 52, the crane had already removed Ricciardo’s car. At that moment there was a huge distance between Russell, third and Mike Schumacher, the last of the unbent. Instead of returning to action with a relaunched start, Wittich informed the teams that the race would end after the security.
Immediately, Leclerc showed his disagreement through a radio message. “This is a big joke. Come on, please, if the track was clear. This is F1. What are you doing?” lamented the Monegasque, deprived of the option of attacking Verstappen in the last meters. The outrage traveled the perimeter of the Autodromo Nazionale, which received the winner at the finish line with whistles. During the podium ceremony, the Ferrari fans continued with their complaints: “FIA, FIA; vaffanculo!they yelled.
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What were the alternatives?
First, Wittich could have acted more promptly in deciding to enter the safety car. However, as happened with Tsunoda a week ago at Zandvoort, it took him two minutes to make the decision, despite the fact that Ricciardo’s car had run aground in an area of obvious danger.
Having seen the difficulties in retiring the McLaren, the race director could well have decreed a red flag period. In case of choosing this option, all the cars would have returned to boxes so that the crane had the necessary time. In this way, the victory would have been elucidated after a restart, with the usual green flag conditions.
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Fernando Alonso.
Step back from Alpine and another debacle in Aston Martin
Step back from Alpine and another debacle in Aston Martin
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According to the official explanation of the FIA, the incident was not “significant enough” to require the aforementioned red flag. In the opinion of this spokesman, “everything possible” was done to recover the McLaren, but “the situation became complicated and the stewards could not put the car in neutral to push it towards the road.”
illustrious precedents
The closest and most famous example dates back to the aforementioned Abu Dhabi GP 2021. After an accident in Nicholas Latifi with five laps to go, Michael Massithen race director, took out the security and quickly allowed the cars to unfold. Once this procedure was completed, it returned to the green flag, thus opening the possibility for Verstappen to pounce on Lewis Hamiltonto snatch victory and the World Cup.
Since 1993, when the safety car was recovered thanks to the efforts of charlie whitingF1 has seen a further 12 races finish under this safety car. The first was the 1997 Canadian GP, with victory by Michael Schumacher after an accident Olivier Pannisalthough the most remembered was the 2012 Brazilian GP, when Fernando Alonso lost his title options after the crash against the wall of Paul DiResta. The Asturian could no longer reach Jenson Button in the last two laps and Sebastian Vettel they were crowned for the third time.
Over the last two decades, Bernd Maylander has always been in charge of getting behind the wheel of the security. Despite his extensive experience, the German driver did not know how to get ahead of Verstappen in time this time, but stayed ahead of Russell, perhaps thinking that the British was the leader.
Horner, in the Binotto line
Among the reactions of the protagonists, he highlighted, above the rest, that of Mattia Binotto, boss of Ferrari, who launched a harsh barrage against the FIA, whom he accused of “not being up to the task”. “They are still too cautious when making certain decisions,” stressed the main team red, downplaying the whistles of the red fans to Verstappen. “They were going to the FIA,” he pointed out.
Less obvious were the positions of Christian Horner Y toto wolff, their counterparts at Red Bull and Mercedes. Despite Verstappen’s victory, which leaves his leader with a 116-point advantage in the World Cup, Horner regretted the decaffeinated ending. “For many years we have talked about the fact that races should end with a green flag and this time there was time for it,” he endorsed. “We share the disappointment of the fans, because they have deprived us of emotion,” said the Briton.
Wolff’s version turned out to be somewhat more cunning, with the events of Yas Marina still fresh in memory. “This time they followed the rules, as they should,” the Silver Arrows leader stated. “Maybe they could have done it a lap earlier, or let Russell through, but they followed the rules,” confirmed the Austrian.