There were three red flags in last weekend’s (April 2) Australian Grand Prix. Left out of the narrative was the question – were they all necessary?
It’s complicated. As the police at a Mexican airport said of Kyle Busch’s luggage, “There’s a lot to unpack here.”
Two of the red flags – those thrown after Alex Albon’s crash on lap 7 and Kevin Magnussen’s lap 53 incident – were probably not necessary. Most drivers seemed to echo this opinion. Yes, there was plenty of debris as a result of the accidents, but both situations seemed to merit a safety car rather than a red flag. It was oddly reminiscent of the common “debris caution” in NASCAR, which often seems to be conveniently issued by the officials to bunch the cars up for another restart, and tighter racing until the field inevitably spreads out.
Restarts in NASCAR are fun (the rolling variety), but restarts in F1 (the standing variety) are arguably the most exciting part of an F1 race. Australia had three, and together they provided most of the action in a race that otherwise had about as much action as the 2005 United States Grand Prix (the one in which only six cars competed).
The final red flag (after lap 57’s restart carnage) led to the last lap of the race being completed behind the safety car. This appeared unnecessary and anticlimactic, but I’m sure it’s proper procedure in some part of the nebulous Formula 1 regulations encyclopedia; needing to reach official race distance and all.
Ultimately, the decisions were in the hands of new race director Niels Wittich.
I’m not sure why he chose to make the decisions he did, but you can be sure a review of the circumstances would assert that he did it in “good faith.” They may have been wrong, but when things in F1 are done in “good faith,” everything is okay.
Red flags are not the only question coming from the trip to Australia as one that comes to mind is whether Mercedes is happy with Lewis Hamilton’s second-place finish?
The easy answer is, absolutely, but not as happy as Hamilton was as he crossed the finish line behind Max Verstappen. Hamilton was downright overjoyed with the result, and while there’s nothing wrong with that, if you’re that pleased with a second, it tells me you’ve given up any hope of catching Red Bull.
Hamilton said “We can definitely fight the Ferraris and Aston Martins,” but made no mention of Red Bull. Not that this is newsworthy;…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at …