After five red flags in just 75 minutes of running, Formula 2 drivers say stoppages are inevitable at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit.
The red flags flew twice during the 45-minute free practice session, after Cem Bolukbasi and Theo Pourchaire crashed heavily. The session was abandoned with 8 minutes remaining.
The 30-minute qualifying session was stopped three times. Pourchaire was in trouble again, his car catching fire. Then Logan Sargeant crashed and finally a third red flag was shown in error following a GPS failure on Frederik Vesti’s car.
The interruptions posed an added challenge for teams as Formula 2 has changed its regulations on refuelling this year. Teams are no longer allowed to refuel their cars during sessions, meaning some drivers began to run low after too many aborted attempts.
Teams needed to weigh that risk as part of their strategies, said Richard Verschoor. “Of course you want to have the best performance but on tracks like these you have to also take into…