Spectators, Albert Park, 2023

Australian Grand Prix track invaders could face bans from future races

RaceFans Round-up

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In the round-up: The Australian Grand Prix Corporation is considering banning spectators who entered the track before the chequered flag of this month’s race at Albert Park.

In brief

Track invaders who breached Albert Park before finish could face bans

The Australian Grand Prix Corporation, which organises the race at Albert Park, admitted multiple “serious” security failures to FIA stewards after fans were seen on the live race track before the chequered flag. The incident has been referred to the FIA’s World Motor Sport Council after the stewards found organisers in breach of Article 12.2.1.h of the FIA’s International Sporting Code, which covers “any unsafe act or failure to take reasonable measures, thus resulting in an unsafe situation”.

The event’s general manager of operations, Tom Mottram, said they have identified fans who breached the track before they were authorised and that they will consider what actions they could take against them under local laws governing the race.

“We’ve identified five or six persons of interest who breached the track early, and we want to be talking to them,” Mottram told The Age. “It’s not something we will ever tolerate or accept and people need to realise this was a very dangerous undertaking that occurred.

“We’ll find out what was the understanding or motive, and whether it’s something they did with malicious intent or they subconsciously found themselves in that position. I wouldn’t want to jump to any conclusions until we’ve had an opportunity to chat to them.”

Prema fined but keep LMP2 pole

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The Prema team have avoided losing their class pole in LMP2 for today’s WEC Six Hours of Portimao after the team were fined for working on their car in the pit lane before qualifying began.

Prema mechanics removed the rear deck of the number 63 LMP2 car in the queue at the end of pit lane prior to the green light. When the session started, the car completed its outlap and immediately pitted for repairs before going on to take pole position by just one-thousandth of a second ahead of Vector Sport.

After an investigation by the stewards, Prema were fined €1,000 for the incident but kept their pole position. The stewards noted that “as the team’s garage was at the opposite end of pit lane, the stewards agree that they would have impeded other competitors if they had pushed the car the entire length of the pit lane.”

More sustainable Firestone tyres a “huge step” for IndyCar – Rossi

Firestone’s ‘green wall’ compound tyres that will be used for all street circuit races this season including this weekend’s Grand Prix of Long Beach is a “huge step” for the series, believes McLaren’s Alexander Rossi.

The composition of the compound, which will be the faster ‘alternate’ softer tyre available to drivers over the weekend, is different to the standard compounds and has so far only been used in Nashville last year as a trial and at the 2023 season opener in St. Petersburg.

Asked by RaceFans about his expectations for the tyre, Rossi said the compound offered identical grip to the traditional compound.

“I think Firestone has done an amazing job in the sense that we have a sustainable tyre that really produces the same level of performance as an non-sustainable tyre,” Rossi said. “I think that was proved in Nashville last year, and that’s why we’re using them on all the street courses this year. So I think it’s a huge step for IndyCar, huge step for Firestone, and something that we should all be very proud to be a part of.

“At the end of every weekend every driver and team, I believe, has a debrief with Firestone going through the pros and cons of the primary and the alternate, and what needs to be adjusted for the future. And I think Firestone takes all of that into account.”

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Social media

Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:

@officialbtrc

When the tire wall and safety fence protects the crowd from @Team Oliver Racing and @Mvcommercial dance on the track at Brands Hatch at the opening round of the 2023 British Truck racing Championship! 📹 credit to Iain Willis #lifeofracing #britishtruckracing #truckcrash #brandshatch #motorsport #racing #truckracing #uktruckracing #race #havingfun #btrc #racingmotorsport #ontrackaction #truckracingcrash #trucksport #fyp #convoytruckevents #convoy2023

♬ original sound – BritishTruckRacingChampionship

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Comment of the day

Do late-race standing restarts belong in F1? Some, like @red-andy, see standing starts as preferable to rolling starts…

I’m not a big fan of rolling starts generally. I tend to think the opposite of those who view standing starts as a bit of a lottery – I think a rolling start gives an unreasonable advantage to drivers in P1, P3 etc who don’t have to worry about a rival alongside them. I would rather see drivers fighting for position into turn one than running in single file.

So I support the current system, where the presumption is that a standing start will be used as long as the track conditions make it safe to do so. Double-file restarts, though…
Red Andy

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday to Andrewtanner, Solid, Braddersf1, Rumfresh and Cristian Ingles!

Author information

Will Wood
Will has been a RaceFans contributor since 2012 during which time he has covered F1 test sessions, launch events and interviewed drivers. He mainly...

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8 comments on “Australian Grand Prix track invaders could face bans from future races”

  1. Profile Photo

    ferrox glideh (@ferrox-glideh)
    16th April 2023, 1:59

    I guess the Craig Breen Obituary will be available here tomorrow? Craig Breen was the kind of driver that F1 would have been totally delighted to have, heart on sleeve and fully committed. Rally is No Joke, seriously technical driving, and Breen was an artist, on the podium more than most, and always enthusiastic. I can’t even, his friends and family. So sorry…

  2. Profile Photo

    Jere (@jerejj)
    16th April 2023, 4:52

    Good thing they managed to identify a few individuals among many.

    A wedding at a race track is something I never knew about before & probably a thing only in Imola.

    Good artwork.

    Assuming the Miami GP Twitter images are from recent days, the water has got entirely removed, which is good news for the race weekend.

    1. Jonathan Parkin
      16th April 2023, 5:47

      I remember reading (not sure how true this is though) that the reason Graham Beveridge was where he was when he died was because he was taking fans away from a restricted area.

  3. Profile Photo

    Crawliin-from-the-wreckage (@davedai)
    16th April 2023, 9:38

    any unsafe act or failure to take reasonable measures, thus resulting in an unsafe situation”.

    A few drivers and teams must be glad this doesn’t apply to them

  4. Profile Photo

    black (@black)
    16th April 2023, 10:43

    Re COTD

    I think a rolling start gives an unreasonable advantage to drivers in P1, P3 etc

    We’ve gotten to a point to think that if a driver in P1 is capable enough to drive into the sunset and create a 10-20-30 sec buffer from the driver in P2 and then an irrelevant crash in the midfield happens, not only that advantage is gone as a SC/red flag comes out and the gaps between the drivers go to zero, but also at the restart we should also “punish” that driver in P1 but forcing him (and all the others) to an artificial standing start that can create more unsafe situations?

    I do like standing starts in general, I’m not going to lie, it’s one of the most exciting part of the F1 weekend. But just like the number of races, sprint races and other things, Liberty just doesn’t know when to stop!!! Quantity ≠ Quality!!! Even without an incident, we could have standing starts at random points in the races (+ we can also open the sprinkles to make it more dramatic)… that wouldn’t make it more exciting, it would make F1 more of a joke…

    When there’s an incident on track, whether we like it or not, it gives some drivers the option for a cheap pit stop. In VSC at least the gaps are maintained, in SC the gaps go to zero, and in red flags the gaps go to zero and essentially drivers get to have a free pit stop. It’s not 100% fair, maybe the rules need to be ajusted, but nothing ground breaking can be done (such as closing the pit lane) because that would create other problems as we’ve seen in the past (Singapore 2008). But bringing out the red flag for every possible minor incident on track (honestly I dont remember that many red flags prior to 2018) and forcing the drivers to have a standing restart, is beyond ridiculous. And I remember back in 2018-19 they briefly pass a new rule that would make every SC restart, a standing restart… until they took it back and just increased the number of red flags…

  5. Profile Photo

    elchinero (@elchinero)
    16th April 2023, 13:40

    “we’ve had an opportunity to chat to them” oOooo … a very serious penalty, indeed. Whack their knuckles, stand in the corner.

  6. Profile Photo

    GeeMac (@geemac)
    17th April 2023, 6:37

    It says a lot when a team boss has a cleaner, more distinctive helmet livery than either of his drivers…

    1. some1
      17th April 2023, 11:34

      Absolutely!! I would love to see more designs like this, and drivers sticking to them. Nowadays most helmet desings have missed the point… designs of the past were much more recognisable.

Comments are closed.