(Motorsport-Total.com) – Changing tires freely when the race is stopped with a red flag has been causing discussions and frustration among drivers in Formula 1 for some time. The randomness of the situation is always complained about by the drivers, who are disadvantaged by the rule because they had recently stopped regularly.
The tire change under the red flag once again caused discussions Zoom Download
At the 2024 Monaco Grand Prix, all drivers who started on the medium-hard tire compound were able to switch to the hard compound free of charge after the cancellation at the start and finish the race. All drivers who started on the hard tires looked into the tube.
At Interlagos, George Russell, Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc lost valuable ground when they switched to fresh tires as the rain increased. After Franco Colapinto’s serious accident, the red flag was given, and anyone who had not yet stopped could change their tires free of charge during the race break.
The apparent luck of the draw is repeatedly criticized, but no one has found a fairer solution – at least since the two halves of the race are no longer added together as they used to be.
At the start of the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Norris was in sixth place when he stopped under safety car conditions due to Mick Schumacher’s accident and fell back to 14th place.
Actually a clever strategy, because everyone in front of him who had to complete their stop under green would have lost more time. But his plan didn’t work when the race was stopped. This allowed all the drivers in front of him to stop freely, and the McLaren driver simply fell back in the classification without having an advantage.
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Afterwards he was as critical as he was on Sunday evening after Brazil: “Of course I’m the most affected, but I think [auch]”It’s just a very unfair rule that should be abolished.”
“I think you should have a mandatory pit stop [zusätzlich zur Verwendung beider Reifenmischungen] prescribe, then it would be acceptable. But that’s how you ruin everything, to be honest. You put in so much work and then it’s taken away because of a stupid rule.”
Why the rule is potentially dangerous
It’s one thing that the situation is unfair in terms of sport, but Sao Paulo has also highlighted another, very worrying aspect: the regulations encourage drivers to stay out as long as possible on unfavorable tires until someone calls for a safety car phase or triggers a race cancellation. That makes things potentially dangerous.
Oscar Piastri sums it up: “We didn’t expect it to rain so heavily and, to be honest, the most difficult part of the race was behind the safety car when we tried to stay on the track,” he said Australian.
“I think it highlighted a little bit the problem we have with wet tires – when everyone is hoping for a red flag but refuses to switch to wet tires because it’s him [im Falle eines Abbruchs] Land costs.”
“It’s a pretty dangerous situation when the cars are literally fighting to stay on the track behind the safety car. But that’s nothing new. Hopefully we can at least try to change that now.”
Race winner Max Verstappen, who came in handy with the red flag, admits it was on a knife edge when he stayed out: “When some people came into the pits and the rain started, we stayed out, which was very risky. Esteban [Ocon] was driving four seconds faster and I just thought I’d be lucky if the car stayed on the track. At some point it just said: We need a red flag. It was simply undriveable, even with the heavy rain tires.”
Ferrari team boss Frederic Vasseur also admits that the teams have to make sure to stay outside and, if possible, not cause the accident themselves that triggers the race being interrupted.
Photos: F1: Brazilian Grand Prix (Sao Paulo) 2024
“Of course, in the end you can always say that it was the right decision to stay on the track and wait for the red flag. But if you cause the accident yourself, you look stupid.”
According to his own statement, McLaren team boss Andrea Stella acted according to the motto: security before competitive advantage. Lando Norris had to pay for this in sporting terms. In the end, Max Verstappen, Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly were three drivers on the podium who had not come into the pits before the stop.
“I congratulate them on their decisions,” says Stella. “But personally I don’t feel comfortable leaving a car outside with pretty worn tires and so much water. Without the red flag we would have had a different race.”
Formula 1 not interested in solutions?
But what to do? Theoretically, drivers could be deterred from taking the risk and continuing to drive with unsuitable tires by prohibiting the free tire changing that is permitted under the regulations.
If the drivers knew that a red flag prohibits a free tire change, they would base their choice of tire solely on the conditions – and not play Russian roulette and gamble on a race being aborted.
Ironically, changing tires under the Red Flag was allowed in the first place for safety reasons, as debris can cause tire damage or other problems in accidents. It would therefore be dangerous to reverse this rule and force drivers to continue driving with old, possibly damaged tires.
Nevertheless, there have been repeated suggestions in the past to make things at least a little fairer. One idea that would work best for dry racing to avoid the possibility of a free stop would be to allow teams to change tires during the stop – albeit with the same compound as before.
This scenario would prevent what happened in Monaco and would ensure that drivers who come into the pits to change tires in busy race conditions are not unfairly penalized.
However, this would not have prevented the drivers from being punished in Brazil, as the intermediate is ultimately the best rain tire – because when the heavy rain tire is used, visibility is usually so bad that no race can be run.
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Another idea would be to allow teams to change tires if they are damaged. But then they would have to line up at the end of the field. This way there would be no incentive to stay out longer than necessary in difficult conditions – because with a red flag the disadvantage could potentially be greater if you have to change the tire.
However, this measure might not solve the first problem when driving on a route where overtaking is difficult. Teams could risk continuing with a potentially defective tire when the alternative is falling back to last place and potentially being unable to overtake.
Or how about Norris’s proposal after Saudi 2021 to change the sporting regulations so that every driver must make a mandatory stop under normal racing conditions, regardless of a red flag?
All of these ideas were discussed and drivers have their own opinions on how to do it better – but unfortunately Formula 1 never took things further.
Asked if he still had hope after Monaco that the teams and the FIA would rethink the red flag tire rule, Norris replied: “I don’t know. There are a lot of things they haven’t changed, probably because they haven’t the drivers hear.”
Five months later, his words from back then seem more relevant than ever.
