Power outage on grid delayed Monaco start, prevented standing restarts

Rain in the build-up to the planned start time of 3pm for the Monaco Grand Prix led to the start procedure being suspended just minutes away from the intended start of the formation lap.

The formation lap was initially rescheduled for 3:09pm local time in Monaco, but the start was then delayed again by the FIA to 3:16pm, beginning the race behind the safety car.

After completing two laps behind the safety car, heavy rain then led to the race being red flagged.

But it has now emerged that the initial decision to delay the start of the race was due to a power outage that caused the starting systems to fail on the grid.

Although they had recovered in time for the race to get underway behind the safety car, it was decided that the issues with the lights and panels on the main straight meant there would be no standing restarts during the race.

Mercedes driver and seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton said after the race he thought two standing starts would have been possible, but acknowledged that the “spray was crazy” after the rain shower, making a rolling start “the best thing to do”.

In a new rule introduced ahead of the 2020 season, races can resume via a standing restart on the grid after a red flag if the race director deems it appropriate.

This could have been applicable for the restart after the first red flag for rain, which halted proceedings by almost an hour, as well as the second restart on Lap 31 following the red flag for Mick Schumacher’s sizeable crash at the exit of the Swimming Pool chicane.

A number of drivers were left confused why the race didn’t start as planned at 3pm, believing they could have handled the wet weather that hit the circuit.

The FIA said that race control was “monitoring a severe downpour that was rapidly approaching the circuit” and the decision to suspend the start procedure was “done…