Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has said the FIA’s race control made “the right call” over the late safety car confusion at the British Grand Prix after comparisons were drawn with Formula 1’s infamous 2021 title decider in Abu Dhabi.
Boos echoed around Silverstone following Sunday’s race after the FIA initially signaled that the safety car would be withdrawn with one lap remaining, only for it to stay on track for the final lap and deprive fans of a charge to the finish.
The governing body later put the confusion down to a “software error,” saying that it complied with the correct procedure under F1’s sporting regulations and that the message on the penultimate lap had been “displayed erroneously.”
The events worked in favour of Mercedes’ George Russell, who secured second place after he opted not to pit under the safety car while Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari ahead of him conceded position to take on fresh tyres.
Had racing got back underway for a final lap shootout, Russell would likely have lost the place to Hamilton, who may also have been able to challenge teammate Charles Leclerc for victory.
The situation drew inevitable comparisons with the 2021 title decider when the race director at the time, Michael Masi, ordered the safety car to come in one lap earlier than it should have under the regulations.
Masi’s actions, for which he was fired two months later, resulted in Hamilton -- then driving for Mercedes -- losing the title to Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
“I would have preferred for this to happen in 2021,” Wolff said after Sunday’s race at Silverstone. “That was more important.
“But it’s good that the regulations have been followed. Sometimes it doesn’t give for the most exciting final, but this is a sport.
“Show follows sport and not the other way around. So it’s good the FIA made that call.”
The parallels with the race in Abu Dhabi were not lost on Russell either.
“I mean, of course it’s a shame for any race to finish into the safety car,” he said. “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, as I said, it is a shame, but what can you do? I don’t think it should be different.”
Hamilton, who was sat next to Russell in the post-race press conference, opted not to elaborate on his feelings about the situation at Silverstone.
“Same as George said. Not really much more to add,” he said.
- Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc takes first victory at British Grand Prix, George Russell second- Lewis Hamilton avoids penalty for yellow flag infringement, keeps third place at British GP- British Grand Prix: Max Verstappen swears repeatedly as Red Bull car spins out of podium place
Sunday’s safety car was deployed four laps from the end of the race when Verstappen lost control of his Red Bull and spun into the gravel at Stowe corner.
After the Red Bull had been removed from the gravel trap, the FIA’s race control issued a message saying lapped cars could overtake the safety car at the start of the penultimate lap.
The timing of that message triggered Article B5.13.5 c) of the Formula 1’s sporting regulations, which states “once the message ‘LAPPED CARS MAY NOW OVERTAKE’ has been sent to all competitors, the safety car will return to the pits at the end of the following lap.”
That meant the safety car could not return to the pits on the penultimate lap as was originally signaled by race control and instead had to wait until the end of the final lap, effectively neutralizing the order and depriving the fans of more racing.
“Certainly from a spectacle standpoint, everybody would have loved to see Lewis on a soft tyres against us and maybe fighting with Leclerc,” Wolff added.
Asked if it was fair for race control’s messaging system to say one thing on the penultimate lap only for another to happen on track, the Mercedes boss added: “That’s OK -- mistakes happen in situations like this.
“It was corrected, so that’s fine.”
