Max Verstappen believes his crash in one of the fastest sections at the Red Bull Ring should have triggered double yellow flags earlier, with the FIA explaining that the standard procedure was followed.
Verstappen lost control of his RB22 on the entry to Turn 9 after already experiencing a significant snap three corners earlier.
The rear of the Red Bull stepped out immediately on turn-in for Turn 9, resulting in a sizeable impact. Speaking in the media pen, Verstappen said he was physically fine, although he added with a smile: “Well, as good as it can be.”
Aside from Verstappen’s own result, the crash also had consequences for the closing stages of qualifying.
The Dutchman believes he would otherwise have finished third behind both Mercedes drivers, although Andrea Kimi Antonelli abandoned his flying lap following Verstappen’s crash.
The championship leader described that in the media pen as “a mistake”, as he had expected to pass double yellow flags. Verstappen, however, believes that should indeed have been the case.
Asked what he thought of initially just a single yellow flag being shown after a crash in one of the fastest sections of the circuit, the four-time world champion replied: “I only heard about that now. That’s quite crazy.”
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing
Photo by: Peter Fox / Getty Images
The FIA has explained that the standard procedure was followed and at the moment the marshals saw Verstappen lose control while he was still on the track, a single yellow flag was immediately displayed.
Race control then takes some time to assess the situation and the level of danger – once the car has actually hit the barrier – to determine whether the situation needs to be upgraded to double yellows or a red flag.
According to the FIA, that also happened in this case, some 15 to 20 seconds after the first yellow flag was shown. During that intervening period, Russell and Antonelli passed the scene of the accident, meaning that at that point it was still only a single yellow flag.
Russell did not see Verstappen’s car: “Thought he had continued”
Russell unsurprisingly viewed the situation differently from Verstappen. After qualifying, the polesitter said he had not even seen the Red Bull and therefore assumed Verstappen had been able to continue.
“It’s a corner where you can see quite a lot. I just did a huge lift and I was going to assess the situation as soon as I got to the corner, if the car was there. But as it was a single yellow, I was pretty confident there was no danger,” he said.
“And as soon as I turned into the corner, I already saw the green up ahead. I actually thought the car had continued because I didn’t see the car at all. It was so far off the track.
George Russell, Mercedes
Photo by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Images via Getty Images
“It was only when I saw the replay afterwards, I saw that it was well off into the wall. I was glad common sense prevailed there.”
Under the regulations for a single yellow flag, Russell acted correctly. In such a situation, a driver has to make a significant lift – something that needs to be demonstrated in the data compared to previous laps – and must be prepared to change direction.
Under double yellows, Russell would not have been allowed to improve his lap time at all and that lap would have been deleted immediately. According to Russell, however, there was no reason for that.
“I think in that instance, a single yellow was correct. Because as I said, a double yellow is immediate danger,” he reasoned.
“The only reason Verstappen was in the wall that far away is because he was attacking and lost the car. I think the single yellow was correct.
“I think I did everything right to be very much under control. And it’s a very different story to a double.”
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– The Autosport.com Team
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