Formula 1 race director Rui Marques’s decision not to neutralise the Qatar Grand Prix to allow a piece of debris to be removed prompted some criticism.
Not least from McLaren team principal Andrea Stella, whose driver Lando Norris was penalised for failing to slow for yellow flags which were shown when Alexander Albon’s Williams shed its right-hand wing mirror approaching turn one.Norris was handed a rare, 10-second stop-go penalty for failing to lift in under a double waved yellow flags.
Why, asked Stella, were the yellow flags displayed then withdrawn before the mirror had been collected? The debris was later hit by Valtteri Bottas’s Sauber, and soon afterwards two drivers sustained punctures, potentially as a consequence.
The situation began to unfold on lap 29 when Albon’s mirror suddenly fell off as he passed by the exit of the pit lane, and came to a rest on the circuit. Just under 30 seconds later, race leader Max Verstappen crossed the timing line to begin lap 30.
As Verstappen approached the debris, trackside marshals were waving double yellow flags, but the LED marshal boards were not yet illuminated. Verstappen lifted entirely off the throttle in reaction to the flags as he passed the scene.
Behind the Red Bull driver, Norris had just lapped Bottas, which allowed him to use his DRS along the pit straight. At the time, Norris was conversing with race engineer Will Joseph on his radio. Like Verstappen, Norris passed by the double waved yellows, but unlike his rival he did not lift.
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As Norris passed by, the LED marshal boards came on to warn for the debris, triggering the yellow flag zone on the FIA’s race control living timing system. Norris had gained eight tenths of a second to Verstappen from the exit of the final corner to the exit of turn two, prompting Verstappen to immediately ask race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase to “check if he lifted for the yellow.”
At the start of lap 33, the marshal board had been turned off, indicating the track was all clear. However, the debris remained on the track.
Cars continued to pass the debris in the middle of the track until lap 34, when Bottas moved to the inside on the approach to turn one to allow Charles Leclerc to pass under blue flags. Bottas struck the mirror, which shattered, spreading debris over the circuit.
Did the scattering of debris across the track approaching turn one lead to the subsequent punctures suffered by Carlos Sainz Jnr and Lewis Hamilton? Sainz was the first driver to pass through the enlarged debris field seconds later, with Sergio Perez and Hamilton around ten seconds behind.
However, even before Sainz rounded the final corner, he was already reporting concerns that his front left tyre was punctured. There were no yellow flags when Perez and Hamilton arrived on the scene, and the Mercedes driver also reported a front-left puncture shortly before he drove through the debris field. Both Sainz and Hamilton recovered to the pit lane with their developing punctures.
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Sainz told Ferrari “it should be Safety Car, no?” before entering the pit lane at the end of the lap. As Sainz left the pit lane and Hamilton entered it, the Safety Car was finally deployed as race leader Verstappen rounded the final corner to pit at the end of lap 35.
Later in the race, Norris was investigated and punished with a ten second stop-go penalty for failing to respect double yellow flags. His team principal admitted his driver had failed to lift passing the double yellow flags.
“Effectively, Lando stayed flat-out,” Stella told Sky. “We have to say that the sector appeared yellow as soon as Lando had entered the sector, but the requirement is very clear. You need to lift and it’s the responsibility of the driver to recognise that you are in the yellow sector and you need to back off.”
At the same time, Stella was puzzled by Marques’ handling of the situation. “At the same time, I think it’s quite peculiar that the yellow flag was deployed and then was removed, but actually the situation in that sector was the same.
“There was debris on track, but at some time it deserved a yellow flag and then a few seconds after, it didn’t. Which is just unfortunate, I would say.”
However not everyone agreed the race should have been neutralised. George Russell, who made his pit stop before the Safety Car was deployed, said doing so would have handed some drivers an advantage.
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“I was right up behind Fernando [Alonso], so I didn’t actually see the debris,” he said. “It’s easy in hindsight to say that it should have been cleared.
“But the problem is you can’t put a Virtual Safety Car because the cars are all spread evenly around the track, and then it’s probably too extreme to put a Safety Car for the tiny bit of debris. So it’s not an easy call.”
Track status and driver reactions at start of lap 30
| Order passing incident | Driver | Track status | Lifted? |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Max Verstappen | Double yellow flags | Yes |
| 2 | Lando Norris | Double yellow flags | No |
| 3 | Valtteri Bottas | Double yellow flags | Yes |
| 4 | Oscar Piastri | Double yellow flags | Yes |
| 5 | Charles Leclerc | Double yellow flags | Yes |
| 6 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Double yellow flags | Yes |
| 7 | Sergio Perez | Double yellow flag removed before arriving | No |
| 8 | Lewis Hamilton | Slippery surface marshal board | No |
| 9 | Pierre Gasly | Slippery surface marshal board | No |
| 10 | Fernando Alonso | Slippery surface marshal board | No |
| 11 | George Russell | Slippery surface marshal board | No |
| 12 | Zhou Guanyu | Slippery surface marshal board | No |
| 13 | Yuki Tsunoda | Slippery surface marshal board (told “double yellow” by team) | Yes |
| 14 | Alexander Albon | Slippery surface marshal board | No |
| 15 | Nico Hulkenberg | Slippery surface marshal board | No |
| 16 | Liam Lawson | Slippery surface marshal board | No |
| 17 | Kevin Magnussen | Slippery surface marshal board | No |
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2024 Qatar Grand Prix
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Edvaldo
1st December 2024, 20:24
This alone should put this new guy on probation time. It was dangerous and probably caused some avoidable damage to Bottas’s car.
drmouse (@drmouse)
1st December 2024, 20:26
It was a full wing mirror on the fastest part of the track, at the end of the DRS zone, right where an overtaking driver would end be. It was only a matter of time before a driver hit it, the best case scenario of which was that a large account of debris was scattered all over the track in that high speed part…
I’m flabbergasted that there was no SC or VSC to get it out of the way. There was a decent enough gap to send someone out to grab the mirror even just with a VSC, but if that was to tight a full SC was the right call.
anon
1st December 2024, 21:52
@drmouse at a minimum, you would have expected them to continue showing yellow flags to indicate that debris was still on the track, rather than withdrawing it and giving the drivers the impression that the track was now clear.
If anything, it may even have made the situation worse by encouraging the drivers to think that the debris had been removed and therefore it was safe to move off the racing line. Once struck, it then meant that a full safety car was needed to deal with the additional fragments created by that impact, rather than simply dealing with a single piece of debris that could have been more easily dealt with.
I guess it depends on what exactly were the gaps between drivers, but it does feel as if this is the sort of event that a VSC would be well suited to dealing with.
Jere (@jerejj)
1st December 2024, 20:28
Rui Marques could’ve neutralized sooner, but this time around, I was okay with him not being hasty, & Checo was lucky that double yellows were lifted before he reached the relevant light panel interval, while single yellow is a different matter.
Therefore, only Lando fell foul, although I initially mistook the light panel light as orange, especially as it remained static instead of flashing, which always happens with even single, as a general warning for debris or, for example, oil on track.
Miane
1st December 2024, 20:34
I don’t think it was a imediate call for a safety car, but it was a VSC for sure, and then if the time gap needed to clear the debris wasn’t enough, then you call in the safety car.
It was a mess in F2 too. When Antonelli got stuck, it was a imediate call for a safety car, no way he could get out of there alone, but his choice first was a VSC for some reason (and almost ruined Bortoleto race)…
Red Andy (@red-andy)
1st December 2024, 20:44
For a guy who is supposed to be a GPDA director, and therefore more tuned in to safety matters than most, Russell’s comments are unbelievable. It doesn’t matter if a VSC hands certain drivers an advantage. That shouldn’t factor into the equation at all. If the situation demands the race be neutralised, then that should be what happens, regardless of whether some drivers win or lose as a result.
Mike Davies (@nanotech)
1st December 2024, 20:56
Hopefully his peers agree and replace him. He’s not representing their interests all that well, to say the least…
BenHur
1st December 2024, 22:51
GR’s comments unbelievable? Not at all. Totally previsible, that’s the kind of guy GR is.
asz
1st December 2024, 20:53
During the television broadcast, Sector 1 switched to yellow and back to green four times within, like, 15 seconds. Perhaps there was some technical glitch somewhere in the system.
Jim from US (@jimfromus)
1st December 2024, 21:04
Horrible. VSC is a no brainer since it maintains the intervals between drivers and provides for safety. Then you can assess the situation if a safety car is needed. Instead we got single yellow, double yellow, nothing, and then when it was too late for 20% of the field, a safety car.
Elvira
2nd December 2024, 3:06
+1
+MBS
Jack
1st December 2024, 21:44
I couldn’t understand why they didn’t close the pit lane, then allow a couple of marshals to go to the end of the pit lane and wait for a gap to get the mirror.
A VSC and all drivers told to keep to the left of the straight would have been sufficient.
Bottas though decided to spice things up.
slowmo (@slowmo)
2nd December 2024, 0:23
The days of Marshalls risking their lives running onto live race tracks is over and rightly so. Nobody on the Marshalls team should be risking their safety because it makes the race fairer for drivers. Safety cars and red flags are part of F1 history and that element of luck is the only chance some teams have to excel.
ritesh (@argeepea)
2nd December 2024, 6:19
TBF to Bottas he had to move out of the way due to the blue flag, perhaps they should not have waved one in that area of the circuit where they knew there was some debris on the track.
Sham (@sham)
1st December 2024, 21:57
Could have been very nasty with a relatively large piece of debris – a VSC was no-brainer while they figured out whether it could be retrieved safely or a full safety car was needed. With most of the field likely to put, it would have probably been easy to retrieve under VSC.
Very poor from race control, very poor indeed.
Sham (@sham)
1st December 2024, 22:01
Put=pit – sorry for the typo.
uzsjgb (@uzsjgb)
1st December 2024, 22:07
My initial thought was that this was an IndyCar situation. The pit cycle had started and race control may not have wanted to deploy a safety car to avoid giving any driver an advantage. The changing flag situation is surely down to the teams having enough time to warn their drivers about the debris. It would be interesting to hear from Bottas why he drove over it anyway.
Craig
2nd December 2024, 8:46
With the flags withdrawn he likely thought it was safe to move aside when he was being lapped.
bull mello (@bullmello)
1st December 2024, 22:14
We could see the problem on TV, before the mirror was hit and afterwards too.
We knew it should called right away. VSC or Safety Car, either way would get the problem off the track.
No Safety Car or VSC, until laps later, then it was hit and it was then a mess for numerous drivers.
That should not happen.
This is now a problem and an issue with the Race Director and the people in charge of him.
Ajaxn
1st December 2024, 22:18
Here’s the thing. The teams knew the debris would have to be collected so they extended their stints waiting for the safety car. Its the extended stints which lead to the punctures.
Eventually, Bottos drove over that item sending carbon fibre shards all over the track. The sparks we saw under the punctured cars was very likely because the skid board was so much lower to the track.
RandomMallard
1st December 2024, 22:32
A lot of focus here on the (lack of) VSC/SC call, which is completely correct – in my opinion it should have happened much earlier – but the most notable thing for me is that it took 30 seconds to display the double yellow on the flag panel. Surely they’re meant to be illuminated immediately, especially when another marshal is already waving double yellows, as they’re meant to give two more ways of communicating the danger to the drivers (flag panel, and lights on the wheel)? Why did it take so long to display on the panels?
Lee1
1st December 2024, 23:40
Especially at a night race where it is harder to see flags being waived…
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
2nd December 2024, 0:25
Also, if Norris could not see the flags, could the marshalls see the flag on their adjacent posts? If not, then technically the race should have stopped while whatever technical problem made that happen in a floodlit night race was fixed.
stefano (@alfa145)
1st December 2024, 23:30
is the possibility of a VSC with mandatory pit lane (like they do sometimes under normal SC) contemplated? It would have been a fitting solution
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
2nd December 2024, 0:24
I am concerned that the race director did not allow the necessary conditions for the marshals to make the track safe. Much of what went wrong with this race can be traced back to a refusal to make the necessary calls for safety reasons.
I’ve seen this movie before and I hated the ending.
The Dolphins
2nd December 2024, 4:54
Going from double yellow to single was a mistake since the danger was not lessened nor was the debris off track to warrant the change in flag. It would have been wise to issue a VSC and if necessary have the drivers go through the pits for one lap to allow a gap for the marshals to clear the debris.
Paul
2nd December 2024, 8:38
A thing I HAVEN’T seen being mentioned is the consideration that this was back to back races, very different time zones, new race director, having to cover THREE different formulas (F1, F2 and F1A).
It was too big a load for 1 person to carry and the fault of that lays with the head of the FIA, Mohammed Ben Sulayem.
Craig
2nd December 2024, 8:49
It’s certainly something to be considered, not to mention if there was pressure behind the scenes for one reason or another.
Moshambles (@moshambles)
2nd December 2024, 11:03
I saw shocked (shouting at the TV) that the safety car wasn’t deployed immediately after the mirror was visible to everyone, in the middle of the track. It was an obviously safety concern, being a relatively heavy object in the overtaking zone. Then, after a few laps, when the inevitable happened, and shrapnel was strewn across the track, it took far too long again for the eventual and obvious safety car was finally be deployed.
Moshambles (@moshambles)
2nd December 2024, 11:08
Also, as mentioned above, a VSC with clear instruction to for drivers to keep to the left along the straight, while a marshal retrieved the mirror, would have worked too.
sam
2nd December 2024, 16:19
so in the 30 seconds since this happened, and upon Norris’ arrival, where he was conversing with his engineer, why didn’t they tell him there was double waved yellows?
seems like it’s not just Norris that didn’t react. the whole team had 30 seconds to tell him he needed to watch for double waved yellows and lift if they were still there.