A sudden, sudden wave of Method 1 drivers ignoring blue flags within the Hungarian Grand Prix was brought on by a system failure.
Flag signalling has developed together with know-how with F1. Beforehand, it was simply bodily flags being waved trackside, however extra seen gentle panels had been subsequently added, and drivers now see blue flags pertaining to them on their steering wheel show.
Nonetheless, in Sunday’s race on the Hungaroring, blue flags had been reported to be proven randomly and with out driver numbers on the sprint, which triggered a variety of shut calls and, at occasions, incidents.
“We did not have any suggestions on the sprint, on the automobiles,” Esteban Ocon defined. “So, we solely had the blue flag panels, however not with our numbers.
“For instance, I used to be racing Isack [Hadjar] exit of pitlane, however I used to be a lap down, I did not know. So, I may need blocked him for 3 corners. However by the point the engineers advised me, ‘Properly, you are not racing him’, you do not know as a result of the blue flag is all the time flashing the entire lap. So, yeah, it is probably not clear.”
Autosport understands the FIA was conscious of the continued problem and due to this fact relied on bodily flags and lightweight panels.
Carlos Sainz, Williams
Photograph by: Liam Fabre
This didn’t stop confusion out on observe, with the highest-profile instance being Carlos Sainz’ collision with Oscar Piastri popping out of Flip 2, which contributed to the McLaren driver shedding the lead of the race to team-mate and eventual winner Lando Norris as he tried to lap the Williams.
“At this stage, I had no thought I used to be about to get lapped, and on high of that I used to be in a giant struggle with Fernando [Alonso], attempting to undercut him into the nook,” Sainz defined.
“I would not have anticipated Oscar to be there. Even when he was there, or I’d have anticipated, he was on my lifeless spot on the angle, so it was not possible, actually, from my aspect to keep away from it.
“In all probability a bit higher communication would have helped, however on the similar time, [it is] a racing factor that typically occurs.”
Sainz nonetheless copped a five-second penalty, with stewards viewing the McLaren’s place within the Spaniard’s blind spot – however not the blue-flag scenario – as a mitigating issue, therefore why it wasn’t a 10-second penalty.
The same sanction went Oliver Bearman’s approach because the Haas driver did not respect blue flags when lapped by Isack Hadjar. The contrite Briton felt it was tough to do higher in these tough circumstances.
Oliver Bearman, Haas F1 Group
Photograph by: Alastair Staley / LAT Photographs through Getty Photographs
“I really feel unhealthy concerning the blue-flag penalty with Hadjar, as a result of actually it was a little bit of a nightmare on the market,” he lamented.
“You undergo principally the infield, you do not have time to verify within the mirrors, and principally each lap I did I had blue-flag screens arising. This race, they weren’t working correctly, so it was robust to know if it was you or the automobile behind or the automobile forward or no matter getting the blue flag.
“Clearly, it wasn’t malicious, I am a lap down, I am not attempting to do something unhealthy, however clearly I really feel unhealthy for anybody’s race that I’ll have compromised.”
Bearman additional defined: “At the beginning of the race, I used to be getting blue flags after six laps, and I believed, ‘Wow, that is unusual. We’re not that sluggish to be lapped in six laps’.
“So from lap six principally till lap 70, there have been some blue flags each single lap, so it was actually robust to know what was actual, what was faux, what was for me, what wasn’t, as a result of usually you could have your quantity, this time it was simply the blue. So, like I stated, nothing malicious, I needed to actually depend on the workforce to assist me by way of these blue flags.”
Extra reporting by Ronald Vording and Stuart Codling
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