Brundle furious as FIA explains British GP Safety Car error
Martin Brundle was not happy with how the British GP ended
Sky F1 commentator Martin Brundle launched a furious reaction after the British Grand Prix ended in confusing fashion.
The FIA has since confirmed that a software glitch caused the ‘Safety Car In This Lap’ message. Brundle, who quipped that the bleep machine may be needed for him, was not happy at all with how the British Grand Prix concluded.
FIA explains British GP Safety Car confusion
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Max Verstappen spinning out of the race at Stowe triggered a late Safety Car. The message came that the Safety Car would come in with one lap to go, setting us up for a grandstand finish to the race.
Leader Charles Leclerc and P3 Lewis Hamilton were on soft tyres, having taken the ‘cheap’ pit stop. George Russell stayed out, and was up to second on his mediums.
The Safety Car did not come in.
Instead, Leclerc led the neutralised pack across the line to take a first win of the season. Brundle, in the Sky F1 commentary box, wanted the bleep machine on standby.
Following the race, the FIA clarified exactly what has happened in that confusing conclusion to the race.
In a statement, the FIA said: “The Safety Car period regulation, Article B5. 13.5, states that one lap must be completed following the unlapping procedure. This process was followed by Race Operations.
“The ‘Safety Car In This Lap’ message was displayed erroneously due to a software error.”
Before the FIA had issued this clarification, Brundle continued his angry reaction to how the British GP had ended.
“Whatever the regulations say, it’s not right, to wait, especially on long circuits. Somewhere like Spa, it takes forever to wait for the lapped cars to get through.
“They should either drop back, or I mean, they were half a lap away… The whole reason that came in, as I said in commentary, was to stop lapped runners getting in the way of a big grandstand finish. That’s what that was all about.
“Also sometimes, it brings players back in, and suddenly they’re part of the race again, so there’s a show element to that as well. But it’s effectively to get them out the way on the restart. You could let them drop back.
“But the regulations say, if the race director considers it safe to do so – it was safe, because it’s a dry day, there’s no pouring rain or bits and pieces, all debris all over the track, or crashed cars everywhere – the message lapped cars may now overtake will be sent to all competitors, and the others must stay on the racing line when they’re going through.
“It then goes on to say, in the many pages of regulations, that having overtaken the F1 cars on the lead lap, the Safety Car will extinguish its light. The drivers, those that are obliged to go around, have been allowed to go through, it says they must respect there might be incidents out there, drive at a safe speed. It doesn’t say they have to be on the back of the queue.
“There is nothing to say you’ve got to wait until they’ve actually arrived around to the back. It just says they’ve got to go and proceed at a reasonable speed. So again, nothing I can see in the regulations. I don’t see the one-lap bit, but there are plenty more to read through as well. But whatever it is, it needs changing.
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“Whatever the regulations say, they’ve got to say something different soon.
“We’re here. We’ve got a fantastic crowd. All the people sitting and watching at home on their devices, TV or online, or whatever, and they deserve a finish to the race. That was the whole point of some of these regulations.
“If you’ve got to red flag it and have a restart, there’s quite a lot of procedure around that, and quite a lot of delay, but I do think there has to be a better way on a long circuit, particularly of sorting the lapped runners out, without it prolonging a Safety Car period, which are already long enough, let’s be honest.”
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