Opinion
The 2023 Australian Grand Prix was a massive success of an event, attracting a record 444,631 people across a blockbuster four days, though the race won by Max Verstappen on Sunday will sadly be remembered for the wrong reasons.
An incident strewn conclusion to the 58-lap race in Melbourne saw the FIA again in the firing line, as it elected to attempt having a racing finish with two-laps to go after a red flag suspended the race on Lap 55.
The right-rear wheel of Kevin Magnussen’s Haas struck the wall on the out of Turn 2 and damaged the suspension and sent the tyre itself on a trip down the straight.
With debris and gravel on track being cited by the FIA as the reason for the red flag, it took 13-minutes before the drivers exited pit-lane to reform the grid and restart the race – following a solitary out-lap with cold tyres.
What ensued at the restart was then utter chaos. Third placed Fernando Alonso was hit and spun by compatriot Carlos Sainz at Turn 1, the Alpine duo of Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly crashed into each other coming out of Turn 2, as well as rookie Logan Sargeant rearending Nyck De Vries. Sergio Perez and Lance Stroll also ended up in the gravel separately.
This inevitably forced Race Control to suspend the race again, this time on Lap 57 of 58. Unknown too for 15-minutes was what the order of the field would be, given a change of position of various drivers and the ones who were eliminated amongst the restart chaos.
The stewards set the field in the order in which they made the restart. This was because the field had not reached the end of Sector 1 when the red flag was shown and it is to the steward’s discretion, but not mandatory to use the SC2 line to set the order. Something that Haas protested against post-race.
Max Verstappen. (Photo by Lars Baron/Getty Images)
A rolling restart with the Safety Car peeling off into the pits after their parade lap out of pit-lane when the final restart took place, was just to satisfy the 58-laps – even if it was just going to be Verstappen leading Lewis Hamilton and Alonso to the line, as well as the rest of the surviving runners.
Though for Sainz, he was penalised five seconds for causing the collision with Alonso on the previous restart. Baffling considering when the final red flag came out and the stewards elected to set the field with that restart order – the lap officially doesn’t count. Neither Alpine driver was penalised too, despite both Frenchmen being summoned to the stewards.
Shambolic is the best term to describe what unfolded. How is it that in the aftermath of Abu Dhabi 2021, the FIA continue to have outcomes like this? All in the name of setting up an entertaining, green flag end to the race?
Ironic enough as it was that former Race Director Michael Masi now Supercars Commission Chairman was present in the paddock for the first time since Abu Dhabi and garnering repulsive vitriol again from social media. What transpired in Australia, exposes clearly the problem lies with the FIA rather than an individual – even if the 2021 controversial call was attributed to said ex-Race Director.
Race winner and reigning world champion Verstappen said in the post-race press conference that “I think if you would have had a Safety Car and then just had a normal rolling start we wouldn’t have had all these shunts and then you have a normal finish. So they [the FIA] created the problems themselves at the end of the day.”
Yes the FIA are in between a rock and a hard place here; if they chose to see a Safety Car finish to the race like in Monza last year, the sport would be criticised for being boring. But because the precedent of Baku 2021 is there in setting up a thrilling one or two lap sprint, they’ll elect to try that to appease the crowd opposing the former.
But in using that mindset, you get outcomes such as Abu Dhabi 2021 and now Melbourne on the weekend – which ends up throwing spectators and stakeholders offside anyway. Particularly too when, as Ocon described that some drivers were ‘suicidal’ going into Turn 1 on the restart. No amount of entertainment trumps driver safety and if the drivers themselves cannot be trusted with their driving standards, then don’t give them the opportunity.
It is also a matter of consistency too. The FIA need to make their bed and sleep in it, instead of being the proverbial Goldilocks and trying to sleep in all of them. Monza they elect to have a Safety Car finish last year, but then decide to go green for a finish in Melbourne.
A massive rethinking is sorely needed. As much as Abu Dhabi 2021 was about ref-bashing Masi for many (and seems to still be), has his removal actually really fixed the governance and application of Formula One’s sporting regulations? Or are we still wafting through the grey shades of interpretation in a sport considered to be the pinnacle of racing.
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