Ruis Marques was minding his own business running the FIA junior racing categories when out of the blue he received a call up on high from Formula One. Neils Wittich who had been recruited to replace Michael Massi following uproar from Mercedes who believed the Australian race director manipulated the result of the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

The role of F1 race director has come under increased scrutiny since the passing of long standing FIA official Charlie Whiting one the eve of the 2019 Australian Grand Prix. Marques is the fifth race director of the sport in five years and appeared to handle his opening weekend in Las Vegas with aplomb.

Drivers spoke positively about the new man in charge following their briefing with race control where they requested a couple of changes to track limits which didn’t make sense with the walls defining the edge of the circuit along the Strip.

 

 

 

Drivers positive over new F1 race director in Vegas

As spokesperson for the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association, George Russell revealed the mood in the camp following there first encounter with Ruis Marques. “Positive, to be honest. We’ve been through a little bit of an era where our comments are taken on board, but very little change happens.

“For example, a number of drivers spoke about the track limits at Turn 4. We felt it was a little bit unnecessary on a street circuit and he made a change to it in the moment. That is what we want to see as drivers, we all want to be heard and we want to see action taken straightaway – so far it has been positive,” concluded Russell.

Yet your only as good as your last race, so the saying goes and Ruis Marques faced a whole different set of issues come the Qatar weekend. The new F1 race director avoided the controversy over Max demotion from pole position, given this was a decision made by the stewards.

Come the race in Qatar, the steady hands in race control faltered. On lap 31 a wing mirror fell from the Williams of Alex Albon and lay off the racing line near to the pit lane exit which is when the chaos began.

Verstappen crazy penalty

 

 

 

F1 Race control dithers with debris

As the leaders passed by the following lap, Max Verstappen radio in, “Check if he [Norris] lifted for the yellow. There was a yellow in the middle of the straight.” His engineer GP was quick to respond, “Lando – did – not – lift.”

The cars continued to circulate for several laps with ex-F1 champion on commentary calling for action. “They’ve got to do something here because you can’t just do the rest of the race with a yellow (lap 32/57) on the straight because that takes away the only opportunity to overtake – so we’re basically going to finish in the positions we’re in.

Lead Sky commentator added: “It seems strange to me they’ve not moved it.” Ex-team strategists and now Sky co-commentator Bernie Collins noted there was quite a big gap between Verstappen and Magnussen in last, which may be what race control were looking at to send out a marshal and revoker the stricken wing mirror

Footage showed that as Norris travelled along the straight, a single solid yellow light was on display near the start finish line. As he approached the corner its just possible to see a marshal waving two yellow flags in contradiction with the previous solid single yellow light.

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Confused yellow flags displayed

Clearly the signs being displayed from race control were not synchronised. The solid light is a single waved yellow, but the marshal was waving two yellow flags. Then the inevitable occurred, Valtteri Bottas moving out of the way for a passing Ferrari, hit the wing mirror which sent thousands of carbon fibre shards across the the asphalt.

On commentary for Sky, David Croft said despairingly, “I don’t know why that piece of debris wasn’t removed either under a safety car or a virtual safety car. It seemed far safer to do that.” Then Croft laughed at the irony of the fact race control had switched the yellow light sign off on the main straight completely. “There are no yellow flags down the main straight at the moment,” he said.

“That could’ve destroyed someone’s race,” reasoned Jenson Button in what was to prove to be a prophetic utterance.

The drama was just beginning as Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz both suffered punctures within metres of crossing the debris littered circuit. Croft again demanded, “The question has to be asked. Why was’t this dealt with a lot sooner?”

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“It has destroyed two drivers drives”

Another lap went by and several pit stops were initiated when finally race control decided it was time to deploy the safety car. “Now finally we get a safety car… Thats about four laps too late,” said Croft accusing race control of dithering. 

Jenson added that: “It has destroyed two drivers races. I don’t know what they were waiting for”

“I mean its a safety thing. They’re doing over 200 mph at that point of the circuit. To then get a puncture…. Its dangerous and so disappointing for these guys, fighting out there giving their all and then its taken away by a rogue piece of debris on the circuit that shouldn’t have been there,” concluded the 2009 F1 world champion.

Norris then received the rarified penalty of a ten second stop and go which he served not long after the safety car was recalled. With the pack bunched up from being behind the safety car, this saw Lando roll around at the back having served his punishment.

Drivers call for FIA action ahead of Qatar GP

 

 

 

FIA offer olive branch

Norris may feel hard done by given the confusion of the lights and flags being displayed by race control, yet the severity of his punishment was based on there being a double waved yellow flag. Failing to slow under a single yellow is a less serious punishment. McLaren have called for a review as to the severity of the penalty Norris was administered with.

“The penalty was in accordance with the penalty guidelines circulated to the teams on 19 February 2024,” a statement read on Monday. “A double yellow flag infringement is considered a serious compromise of safety, which is why such offences carry such a severe penalty.”

The FIA also gave an explanation as to why the wing mirror remained on the track for so long without being recovered. “Normal practice is for the safety car not to be deployed if there is a small amount of debris, and off the racing line,” the FIA said.

“The extensive debris after a car hit the mirror and the punctures that occurred shortly after forced the decision on a safety car,” it read.

Of course Jenson’s comments that the race couldn’t continue for 25 more laps with a yellow covering the incident still stand. However, the only sop from F1’s governing body is that, “The FIA constantly reviews its methods and processes and will analyse further the specific scenario, and discuss it with the teams, in order to see whether in the future a different course of action needs to be taken,” concluded the statement.

Russell breaks silence after Verstappen fallout

 

 

 

F1 driver shoves FIA president Ben Sulayem out of his way

The Formula One drivers association took the unusual step recently of issuing an open letter to the FIA following the fallout of ‘sweargate’ in Singapore. Max Verstappen had dropped the F-bomb in the Thursday official FIA press conference and was later hit by the stewards with a headline penalty of community service.

All this followed comments made by FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem which had likened the swearing of the F1 drivers to that of “rappers,” something which Lewis Hamilton took great exception to.

Hamilton argued this was a racist trope and stated the president of the FIA should choose his words more carefully, something the drivers highlighted in their open correspondence… READ MORE