Magnussen near-miss prompts call for review of F1’s standing restart procedure · RaceFans

The Australian Grand Prix stewards have suggested the formation lap procedure before standing restarts should be reviewed after a near-miss involving several drivers.

Prior to the first standing restart, following the red flag for Alexander Albon’s crash, multiple cars bunched up under Safety Car at turn six. Some slowed to a stop, leading to Kevin Magnussen taking avoiding action and running over the gravel as he arrived at the scene.

Following the race, the stewards investigated the Safety Car procedure to determine whether any of drivers had failed to follow the restart procedure correctly, but ultimately decided to take no further action.

The stewards’ investigation revealed a slow getaway from the pits by George Russell inadvertently played a role in the confusion. As the field left the pit lane behind the Safety Car for the first restart, Russell sat in seventh place, behind Nico Hulkenberg’s Haas.

Russell was slow to pull away from the pit lane, with Hulkenberg already rounding turn three by the time Russell joined the race track. As a consequence, the rest of the field was strung out widely as cars made their way through the first sector, with 18th and last placed Kevin Magnussen the final car to leave the pit lane while leader Hamilton was already navigating turn seven.

When the Safety Car lights extinguished at turn six, Hamilton assumed control of the pace and slowed down heavily to bunch the pack up. With Russell having sped up to catch the cars ahead, he eventually pulled up behind Hulkenberg on the entry of turn six. Russell’s efforts to catch the cars ahead resulted in a significant speed difference for the cars behind as they caught up to each other.

Several cars bunched up at turn six, which has a blind entry due to the barrier on the inside. Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri, Carlos Sainz Jnr, Nyck de Vries, Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez all slowed to a crawl through the corner to hold position, while Zhou Guanyu, Valtteri Bottas, Logan Sargeant and Magnussen arrived at speeds above 200km/h and had to brake suddenly when confronted with a pack of slow cars ahead.

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Zhou swerved to avoid hitting Perez. Sargeant missed Bottas by almost running off the track, then Magnussen ran onto the gravel to avoid all of them.

“Why do they stop, these guys?,” Perez said over team radio. “It’s very…