Formula 1 used two different Safety Cars during yesterday’s Qatar Grand Prix after a technical problem struck the first.
Race leader Max Verstappen was confused when the warning lights used to signal the status of the race to the pack failed to turn off during the second Safety Car period yesterday.
The FIA confirmed the car’s lights malfunctioned. “All teams were verbally advised that the [Safety Car] would be coming in, so the restart took place in the normal fashion,” the FIA explained in a statement.
“While the reason for the malfunction was identified and fixed, out of caution, the Safety Car was swapped in time for its third deployment.”
The confusion meant Verstappen had to wait until later in the lap before restarting. This allowed Lando Norris behind to briefly attack him. On the other two restarts Verstappen was able to accelerate away sooner and avoid challenges from behind.
The Red Bull driver also said he tried a different approach to his second restart of the race. “On the hard tyres, there’s very little grip,” he explained. “You’ve just come out of the [pit] box so they’re already cold.
“Then immediately, of course, we had the Safety Car. And behind the Safety Car, you can’t warm them up. And then I tried something different out of the last corner where I had no rear grip, basically. So I just struggled for traction out of the corner. Then it got a bit spicy into turn one.”
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F1 uses two different Safety Cars supplied by Mercedes and Aston Martin. The Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series was used yesterday. F1 had to use a replacement Safety Car at the Italian Grand Prix earlier this year after Bernd Maylander crashed the Aston Martin Vantage during a pre-event test.
Verstappen’s radio messages from second restart
| Verstappen | There are still some lights on. I don’t know if that’s… Look. |
| Lambiase | Yeah, all okay. Stand by. |
| Verstappen | I don’t know what to do. |
| Lambiase | Stand by. |
| Lambiase | Okay just brake bias offset for the moment, Max. Assume a restart. |
| Lambiase | Okay the lights’ now off, sorry for the delay. |
| Verstappen | I think the lights malfunctioned. |
| Lambiase | And strat four. I’ll let you know when the Safety Car’s in the pit lane. |
Verstappen’s radio messages from third restart
| Lambiase | Okay Safety Car is in this lap, Max. Tyres are in a slightly better window compared to the previous restart. |
| Lambiase | Okay mode three,… |
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