How F1 rules ignored in Abu Dhabi meant no Italian GP restart

The race at Monza finished behind the safety car due to the FIA strictly following the procedures laid down in the rule book – something that did not happen at last year’s F1 season finale.

And while the governing body will inevitably review what happened to see if there were things it could have done better to allow at least a one-lap shootout restart on Sunday, what it can be in no doubt about is that it followed the regulations to the letter.

The rules in play

F1’s safety car rules form a whole segment – Article 55 – of F1’s sporting regulations.

Here it is laid out how and when the safety car will be brought out, and the procedures that competitors and the safety car driver must follow.

A lot has been made in the wake of the race about how the safety car picked up the wrong car – with it running ahead of third-placed George Russell rather than race leader Max Verstappen.

Interestingly, however, the rules do not dictate that the safety car only exits the pits to pick up the leader.

Instead, Article 55.6 says: “The safety car will join the track with its orange lights illuminated and will do so regardless of where the leader is.”

So there was nothing wrong with it initially getting ahead of Russell, who had used the calling of the safety car on lap 48 to dive in to the pits.

Normal procedure then is for the lights on the top of the safety car to be switched from orange to green, to signal that any car running in front of the leader can overtake it.

This then shuffles the lead car forwards to head the pack, while everyone else eventually forms up in a queue behind.

Critically this was delayed at Monza, which is believed to be due to the complications the marshals were having in retrieving Ricciardo’s car.

The McLaren was stuck in gear and there was no way for marshals to be able to push it clear to the nearest gap.

That meant the use of a crane, which was located on the opposite side of the circuit and needed to cross the track.

The best way to achieve this safely was to ensure that there was a big enough gap in the traffic to give the crane suitable clear time – so it mean trying to hold back the train to produce this buffer.

Amid the delay, Russell queried about whether or not he could overtake the safety car, but the orange lights were still on meaning he could…