During the Grand Prix of Brazil held on Sunday, during the Safety Car period to recover Norris' car, the race direction authorized the cars of Albon and Latifi to double up, but not that of Tsunoda, who was in turn one lap behind the leader. There have been many questions and concerns about it, especially after controversy related to Abu Dhabi when only a few cars were doubled.
Tsunoda case, here's what happened
La FIAthrough its spokesperson, explained to Race fans what happened from their point of view.
“An unusual situation has arisen due to the idiosyncrasies of the circuit type and the scenario. Tsunoda was the first to cross the Safety Car 1 line after the safety exit, crossing it again one lap later. This situation would have made him eligible for the unlap procedure. However, Tsunoda pitted and in doing so was quicker than the cars lined up behind the Safety Car. In this way, the Japanese crossed the finish line in the pits before the others on the track”.
“When he came out of the pit lane, the system correctly indicated that Tsunoda was lapped by one lap again, but as the system had already lapped him he could not make up the lap again at the end of the Safety Car period. Race Direction checked with F1 Timing and confirmed that only cars 6 and 23 could split. There were no procedural or system errors, everything worked fine, but this is one of those unusual scenarios that can happen, and there are no implementation changes required. We will discuss what happened later in the normal review procedures”.
Race to forget
The disappointment remains for Tsunoda who could have tried to fight in the closing laps, even if for the last positions, but above all the perplexity regarding the splitting process following the Safety Car remains. The removal of the human control element, the cause of so much controversy, only seems to have created a further situation of confusion, and it is therefore at least perplexing that a verification phase by an FIA delegate is not foreseen in this regard.
ARTICLE BY FABIO SEGETTA
