Did F1 miss trick with British GP safety-car finish? – Q&AFigure caption, Safety car software error ‘frustrating’Published22 minutes agoCharles Leclerc added a second win for Ferrari in three races at a dramatic British Grand Prix at Silverstone.Mercedes’ George Russell finished second and Leclerc’s team-mate Lewis Hamilton third in their home race.Kimi Antonelli, who won his first sprint on Saturday, ended the race in 16th after car problems, reducing his lead over Russell to 25 points.BBC F1 correspondent Andrew Benson answers your just in questions after a race which finished under the safety car after Max Verstappen crashed out.Did Formula 1 miss a trick with the ending of the British GP? Should they be looking at what happened in a similar situation at this year’s Indy 500? To avoid finishing behind the safety car, they red-flagged the race to enable recovery before then restarting the race and finishing under green-flag conditions – MatthewThis is one of those situations where everyone has their own opinion, each view has its validity, but F1 as a sport has agreed a certain approach based on the lessons of the past. In an ideal world, it would be better in terms of entertainment if races did not finish under a safety car. It can be argued that it is anti-climactic.At the same time, it’s hard to argue that the British Grand Prix lacked drama and excitement, notwithstanding the fact that it ended under caution.Take a step back, and the issue here is the regulations around the safety car and its operation.These have been built up over many years and developed to the point that the FIA, Formula 1 and the teams are satisfied with them, while always being open to improvements.F1 has learned the lessons of Abu Dhabi 2021. The context there was that it had been agreed that it was, in ideal circumstances, preferable for races not to end under a safety car.
The problem in that race was that the race director at the time set about trying to ensure the race ended under a green flag, thinking that was the right thing to do, but he made a series of mistakes in doing so, including ignoring the rules.
I’ve seen people say that the race director is free to operate the safety car as they wish. That’s a misinterpretation – they are free to operate it as they wish under the rules as they stand.
That’s what Michael Masi got wrong in Abu Dhabi. The race director can’t just make up the rules. Otherwise, why have them?
Now, yes, the race director on Sunday at Silverstone could have chosen to red-flag the race when Verstappen crashed at Stowe. Some may well have preferred him to.
But if Verstappen’s incident had happened on, say, lap 25 rather than lap 48, would it have been a red flag? Almost certainly not.
So, why should it be a red flag with four laps to go just because the race might end under the safety car?
There is a question of sporting integrity here. Any choice by a race director in this situation has the potential to change the result.
In this case, George Russell did not stop for tyres, and he gained a place as a result of it. Had the race been red-flagged, everyone would have been free to change tyres, there would have been a re-start. Positions could well have changed again.
Who is to say which of these situations is right or wrong, preferable or not? And even the drivers can be conflicted on this, depending on their own personal situation.
Race-winner Charles Leclerc mentioned: ‘It’s not great for the fans that are here around the track. In the helmet, I was kind of happy that there was not a restart to keep that win.”
Russell mentioned: “Of course it’s a shame for any race to finish under the safety car. But then you go back to Abu Dhabi ’21, and that is just how racing goes.
“Nobody can plan for somebody to have an incident, and the way F1 deal with it and FIA deal with it shouldn’t be any different at the end of the race compared to the start of the race.
“Obviously, there was a lot of chat post-Abu Dhabi ’21. If you actually look at the number of races that have finished under the safety car over the past 20 years, it’s not actually a lot. So, it is a shame, but what can you do? I don’t think it should be different.”
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff mentioned: “Sometimes it doesn’t give for the most exciting finale. Certainly from a spectacle standpoint, everybody would have loved to see Lewis (Hamilton) on a soft (tyre) against us and maybe fighting with Leclerc. But this is a sport. Show follows sport and not the other way around.”
