“Got away with that one!”: F1 drivers’ unheard reactions to restart chaos

The chaos which broke out after the final standing restart during the Australian Grand Prix produced many winners and losers.

Three separate collisions removed four cars from proceedings and left others counting the cost of crashes they weren’t to blame for.

The carnage cut a swathe threw the field and elevated several drivers to the front. Nico Hulkenberg briefly looked on course for a podium finish.

But when the race director took the contentious decision to restore the original restart order he and several drivers were dismayed to find themselves relegated the rear again. Meanwhile drivers such as Sergio Perez and Lance Stroll avoided the repercussions of having gone off.

Here’s what they said to their teams about the controversial ending to Sunday’s race.

Max Verstappen

After the last standing restart race leader Max Verstappen was concerned by falling light levels at the track:

Verstappen	What is the plan here?
Lambiase	Stand by, Max.
Verstappen	Also the visibility is really poor. I can barely see in front of me if somebody standing in the sun.
Lambiase	Yeah, roger. Okay Max, so just over three minutes. three minutes.
Verstappen	But what is the plan?
Lambiase	When I get an update I will relay that to you mate. We’ve had no update.

Red Bull filled him in on the restart plan while he was out of the car. He led the field to the chequered flag behind the Safety Car, but expressed concern over how slowly it was lapped:

Lambiase	Just over one minute.
Lambiase	Okay Max so plan is Safety Car will enter the pit lane at the end of this lap. You will then take the chequered flag. It’s a rolling start i.e. just take the chequered flag. There is no overtaking until the line.
Verstappen	We are not doing a racing lap, or? I still don’t understand.
Lambiase	Okay, so here it is plain and simple. The Safety Car’s going to peel in, you can accelerate full throttle exit turn 14, take the chequered flag and that’s the end of the race. There is no overtaking.
Verstappen	Ah okay, okay.
Lambiase	Mode three and recharge on.
Verstappen	The Safety Car’s turning the light off and still driving like 120.
Lambiase	Yep, roger that, Max.

Lewis Hamilton

Drivers and teams were unsure whether there might be yet another standing restart. From second on the grid, Lewis Hamilton had failed to beat Verstappen to turn one (though would have lost the position anyway due to the decision to reset the grid) and consulted with his controls engineer Marcelo Martinelli – ‘Mad Dog’ – how to get off the line better next time:

Hamilton	Is this going to be long?
Bonnington	Yeah, they’ve got quite a lot to clear up.
Hamilton	Is that Alonso out, or?
Hamilton	Mad Dog, that start didn’t feel very good. What did I hit target-wise?
Martinelli	[Unclear] Lewis was just missing a little bit of grip.
Hamilton	Yeah. Rears were way out of the window.
Martinelli	Yeah, it was difficult generating temp in the formation lap

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Fernando Alonso

Having run third for most of the race, Fernando Alonso was furious about being knocked into a spin by Carlos Sainz Jnr at the restart, and urged his team to press the case for the running order to be reset:

Cronin	There’s trouble ahead as well.
Cronin	Red flag, slow down. Okay.
Alonso	Fuck me!
Cronin	Yeah, copy.
Alonso	Stupid rule! How the hell you can put a red flag before?
Cronin	Yeah, copy mate.
Alonso	Maybe because we don’t complete a lap, we go back to the same positions? It happened in Silverstone.
Cronin	Yep, we’re looking at that, we’re on that, we’re already on that.
Cronin	Just get the car back. Do you think there’s damage?
Alonso	It’s okay. It’s okay. Okay. Okay. Check this, immediately.
Cronin	So we believe the race is over, but we’re just trying to get confirmation on the classification. So just line up in the pit lane.
Alonso	Yeah. Even that will be okay.

To Alonso and Aston Martin’s relief, he got his position back. Although drivers weren’t allowed to race at the restart, Alonso kept his eye on what Sainz and the others in his mirrors were up to:

Cronin	So just be careful with your… don’t overlap the cars ahead. The cars behind you might be bunching around a bit, but you’ve just got to keep line astern from the car ahead.
Alonso	So I don’t need to take care of the tyres, I guess
Cronin	All okay, there’s no racing. There’s no racing.
Alonso	I have people behind they are warming like crazy, so just to confirm.
Cronin	So just put a bit of brake temp in just in case anything happens. Put some brake temp in so it works properly.

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A red flag was thrown after the chequered flag due to a track invasion. Alonso urged Aston Martin to warn his team mate:

Cronin	So Ferrari got zero points, Sainz was 11th. So we’ve got a red flag. Just keep an eye on your delta, keep it…
Alonso	Yeah, no overtaking. Tell Lance no overtaking
Cronin	Yeah, we’ve told him, Fernando, all good. Apparently there’s people on the tracks so keep a good eye out.

Lance Stroll

The reset was also good news for Stroll. He had skidded off at turn three by himself at the standing restart and fell to 12th place. The decision to reorder the cars meant his mistake was undone:

Michell	So Lance they’re still trying to decide what the grid should be so we’re standing by.
Michell	So Lance restart order P3 for Alonso P5 for us. So P5 for us restart order.
Stroll	But, so are we doing a start now? Or no? Just going to be ’round?
Stroll	So can you confirm, are we doing a proper standing start and a lap of racing or are we just following the Safety Car to the finish line because it’s the last lap?
Michell	So Lance the feedback is that we will go out of this order behind the Safety Car, take the flag with no overtaking.
Michell	Okay Lance, to be clear, we go out behind the Safety Car. Safety car will come into the pits. You will stay on track and take the chequered flag with no overtaking.
Stroll	Okay.

Stroll expressed his relief at getting his position back after taking the chequered flag:

Michell	Okay Lance that’s chequered flag. That’s chequered flag, Lance. That’s P4. Fernando… P4 for you, well done. Out one.
Stroll	Good job, team. Got away with that one!
Michell	It was good pace at the end when Gasly was dropping off so good job, mate, well done.

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Sergio Perez

Sergio Perez was in a similar position to Stroll. After going off at turn the timing screens showed he was in 10th place. However he restarted in sixth and finished one place higher than that after Sainz was given a five-second time penalty:

Perez	Are we’re going back to our original positions?
Bird	No updates as of yet. Just into the pit lane.

Lando Norris

The red flag which led to the standing restart was triggered by Kevin Magnussen when he hit the wall at turn two, leaving a tyre on the track. McLaren initially considered pitting Lando Norris in response, then thought better of it:

Joseph	And the safety car window is closed. The safety car window is closed.
Joseph	Lando possible debris between two and three. There’s a tyre. There’s a tyre. There’s a tyre on the left-hand side somewhere.
Norris	Yeah, a lot of debris. If they can just remove the tyre it’s fine. There’s not actually that much debris.
Joseph	And safety car deployed. Safety car deployed. Minor Purple C2 position nine. Minor purple C2 position nine. Lando. What are your thoughts?
Norris	What’s the gap? If I can take it, 100%.
Joseph	We will stay out. Stay out.
Norris	If it’s for one lost position, I think I’d still take it.
Joseph	Lando stay out
Norris	I would take it.
Joseph	Stay out.
Joseph	And Lando there is a recovery vehicle on track in turn three.
Joseph	Red flag. Red flag.
Norris	Ah ha. Okay.

McLaren used the opportunity provided by the red flag to remove a loose item from underneath Norris’ feet in his car.

Joseph	Lando the thing in the cockpit, is it still there?
Norris	Yeah, it was. It was like on my heels.
Joseph	Was it bothering you?
Norris	I mean, I got used to it in the end. If you want to just leave it, you can just leave it.
Joseph	Okay Lando we’re going to take the hatch off, have a look, see if we can find this thing. We believe there will be one formation lap, a standing start and two racing laps.

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After taking the standing restart and moving up to sixth place, Norris was hopeful there wouldn’t be another standing restart. There wasn’t, and although other drivers swapped places around him he kept his sixth place:

Norris	It’s finished, right?
Joseph	Well, I think so, yeah. But we’re just checking.
Norris	It has to be, must be finished.
Other voice	Lando feedback from the launch. You were on target. Pete just says do the same. The wheelspin was a little bit too much throttle.
Norris	It doesn’t matter, there can’t be another start, so…
Other voice	Yep, understood
Joseph	Lando apparently they are planning on resuming.
Norris	But… Okay.
Norris	There’s not been a ten minute warning or anything?
Joseph	There’s been nothing. Just stand by.

Nico Hulkenberg

Haas were so unhappy with the decision to change the order they protested the result of the race, but were unsuccessful. It dropped Nico Hulkenberg from fourth to eighth, which became seventh after Sainz’s penalty:

Gannon	Okay. They’ve just published a restart order and we’re back in eighth. I don’t understand why, but that’s where we are. So we’ll be reshuffling the cars. Who was in front of Norris?
Hulkenberg	You tell me!
Gannon	Yeah, fine
Gannon	Okay. Okay. So we’re rolling back to eighth because they’re taking the start from before the last restart, and then there’ll be one lap and it’ll just go round to take the chequer under the Safety Car. That’s it.
Hulkenberg	But, I was ninth, no?
Gannon	Yeah but one car is out so now you’re eight.
Hulkenberg	Okay. So no more racing
Gannon	No more racing. So we’re just going to get positioned correctly and then they’ll give us a restart time. And we’ll still fit the fresh tyres.

On his way back into the pits Hulkenberg suffered a power unit failure which forced him to stop. Haas told him to jump out of the car as it was potentially in an electrically unsafe condition.

Meanwhile the race had been red-flagged due to a track invasion. As the stewards later noted, this created a potentially dangerous situation, as Hulkenberg’s race engineer spotted:

Hulkenberg	Fuck, I lost the engine! I lost the engine! Okay, I think it’s okay again.
Gannon	It’s okay to go to the end. It’s okay to go to the end.
Hulkenberg	I think I lost the gear sync.
Gannon	Chequered flag, Nico chequered flag. Mode slow and you were three seconds behind Sainz. All right, Nico, stop the car. We need to stop the car. Find somewhere safe. Stop the car. Stop the car as soon as possible then P1 then wait five seconds then P zero.
Hulkenberg	[Unclear] guys. Good effort.
Gannon	Okay. Yeah. Good job. Nico you need to do an ERS jump out because the car is not safe, So just step on the bonnet and then jump.
Gannon	Why are they touching the car? Anyway tell them not to touch the car. You go on the bonnet and just jump off the car. Okay?

Zhou Guanyu

Zhou Guanyu was especially unimpressed by the restart antics, saying drivers hadn’t been able to warm their tyres sufficiently:

Becker	Red
Zhou	This is fucking ridiculous. We have no heat. Fucking cold.
Becker	So calm down, Zhou, calm down.
Zhou	Just for your info.

The wait for a restart tested his patience somewhat:

Zhou	Where are we? On the grid.
Becker	We are at the moment in P8
Zhou	Yeah. I don’t know what you guys do, but it was literally zero temperature, like 60 degrees. Does it take long? Can I jump off toilet or not?
Becker	No, [unclear], Zhou.
Zhou	Okay, I’ll wait.

Once the plan for the restart explained to him, Zhou was dismayed to learn some of his rivals would regain positions they had lost by making mistakes:

Zhou	We finish behind Safety Car? Or we do a standing start
Becker	We’ll be behind the Safety Car.
Speaker 2	It will be one lap, one lap behind the safety car. The safety car is coming into the pit lane and it just crossed the finish line. The race is over.
Zhou	Yeah, but you know my position? Or not
Becker	I know. Yes.
Zhou	Where?
Becker	P10.
Zhou	Okay. Not too bad, but…
Becker	It’s no good for the team.
Zhou	I don’t know why once Stroll goes straight, he still gets the position back, into turn four?
Becker	I can explain you later. It has something to do with timing loops and the last position we can establish the order.
Zhou	Okay.

Valtteri Bottas

Like Perez, Valtteri Bottas started the race in the pits and worked he way forward. The crash at the final standing restart elevated him to ninth place, but when the field was reordered he found himself back outside the points, where he finished.

Chan	Okay guys now we’re going to have a shuffle in the pit lane. So as it is the last lap it’s going to be a lap behind the Safety Car to finish the race.
Bottas	How come I go back to 12?
Chan	This was the last point the timing was established.
Bottas	Yeah, but if some people go off, you know, they shouldn’t be able to get back.

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Carlos Sainz Jnr

Having been given a five-second time penalty, Sainz tried to leave his rivals far enough behind at the finishing line that he would not drop out of the points. He failed, by just half a second.

Furious at the decision, Sainz initially hasten his return to the pits, but had to slow down when the red flag was waved due to a track invasion.

Adami	You can open 10 car lengths to Alonso, can open 10 car lengths to Alonso now and then push. Open 10 car lengths and then push, closing the gap at the second.
Adami	Good job.
Automatic voice	Chequered flag.
Automatic voice	Red flag. Stay positive.
Adami	Why red flag now
Adami	I don’t know.
Adami	What is going on?
Adami	Track invasion, track invasion for spectators, we believe, possible. Just watch out.
Adami	Going too fast, here, too fast.
Adami	P0

Esteban Ocon

The Alpine drivers bit their tongues after both retired when they collided at the restart:

Ocon	That’s it.
Peckett	P0.
Ocon	Okay.

Nyck de Vries

Like Ocon, Nyck de Vries was also blamelessly eliminated, though in his case his team mate was not the culprit, but Logan Sargeant instead:

Hamelin	Right inside. Okay with this situation. Okay. If you’re beached…
De Vries	Yeah.
Hamelin	P1 and P0 please. Someone hit you from behind
De Vries	Yeah. Anyway. Ugh, mamma mia. Okay, I’ll jump out.
Hamelin	Yeah a reminder for P0 please. Yeah. Someone hit you there. Sorry for that.

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