Lando Norris has accused F1 and the FIA of ‘putting on a show’ following the chaos that unfolded at the end of the Australian Grand Prix and feels a procedural rethink is required.
For only the fifth time in the past 36 years in the sport’s history there were three red flags, two of which were in the closing stages and far more controversial than the initial one caused by Alex Albon losing his Williams on lap eight.
The desire for a race not to finish behind a safety car has always been viewed as preferential, a decision that has a direct line to the controversial conclusion to the 2021 season.
When Kevin Magnussen clouted a wall at Melbourne’s Albert Park with four laps remaining, breaking a wheel on his Haas – leading to a piece of debris striking a fan – the race was again stopped.
From that restart, however, further mayhem unfolded, with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz clipping Fernando Alonso and sending the Aston Martin into a spin, leading to Alpine duo Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon colliding with one another, sparking the final red flag.
Norris feels end to the race was “bad”
Even Norris has conceded to narrowly avoiding the Haas of Nico Hulkenberg, the near-miss allowing the British driver to score his first points as he took the chequered flag in sixth.
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The concern of the British driver is that entertainment was again placed ahead of the welfare of the drivers.
“It’s tough,” said Norris. “I feel like you can just be so unlucky, and I kind of hate it. A rolling start is better in these situations.
“I don’t like the restarts, I guess maybe in the first quarter of a race, I understand it. The second half, and especially with four laps to go, I feel like you ruin a lot of things.
“And I don’t feel like it’s fair for a lot of people who have done a good job when they then get taken out, and it’s kind of race over.
“I don’t feel the second-to-last red flag (for Magnussen) was needed. I felt like it was just four laps to go, (we) don’t want to finish under the safety car kind of thing, and it just caused a bad end to the race.
“If it had just finished behind the safety car it would have been a bit more straightforward, so a bit annoying from that side.”
Norris ‘perfection’ almost ruined
The matter is almost certain to be reviewed and discussed internally at the FIA, whilst the drivers will also likely question race director Niels Wittich at the next briefing ahead of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Reiterating his point, Norris added: “The whole point of red flagging was just to put on a show.
“I’m the one driving the car and I just feel like I could have been so unlucky for no reason.
“I feel like I easily could have crashed with Hulkenberg at the end because there are people going off and you’re suddenly swerving and things like that.
“To come all the way to Australia, to put in so much hard work, to do 55, 56 laps perfectly, and because they try and put on a show, you just get unlucky and everything can get taken away from you all of a sudden.
“So I just think that side of it, it needs a small rethink. I don’t think it needs to change. It just needs a small rethink, in my opinion.”
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