Analysis: Was F1 race director right not to neutralise race despite debris on track?

Formula 1 race director Rui Marques’s decision not to neutralise the Qatar Grand Prix to allow a piece of debris to be removed prompted some criticism.

Not least from McLaren team principal Andrea Stella, whose driver Lando Norris was penalised for failing to slow for yellow flags which were shown when Alexander Albon’s Williams shed its right-hand wing mirror approaching turn one.

Norris was handed a rare, 10-second stop-go penalty for failing to lift in under a double waved yellow flags.

Why, asked Stella, were the yellow flags displayed then withdrawn before the mirror had been collected? The debris was later hit by Valtteri Bottas’s Sauber, and soon afterwards two drivers sustained punctures, potentially as a consequence.

The situation began to unfold on lap 29 when Albon’s mirror suddenly fell off as he passed by the exit of the pit lane, and came to a rest on the circuit. Just under 30 seconds later, race leader Max Verstappen crossed the timing line to begin lap 30.

As Verstappen approached the debris, trackside marshals were waving double yellow flags, but the LED marshal boards were not yet illuminated. Verstappen lifted entirely off the throttle in reaction to the flags as he passed the scene.

Behind the Red Bull driver, Norris had just lapped Bottas, which allowed him to use his DRS along the pit straight. At the time, Norris was conversing with race engineer Will Joseph on his radio. Like Verstappen, Norris passed by the double waved yellows, but unlike his rival he did not lift.

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As Norris passed by, the LED marshal boards came on to warn for the debris, triggering the yellow flag zone on the FIA’s race control living timing system. Norris had gained eight tenths of a second to Verstappen from the exit of the final corner to the exit of turn two, prompting Verstappen to immediately ask race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase to “check if he lifted for the yellow.”

The yellow flag was removed from race control’s system, but a single yellow marshal board remained as Verstappen passed by on lap 31. The mirror remained on circuit at the start of lap 32, with Verstappen being told that the “track is clear”. However, the marshals board continued to show a yellow flag.

At the start of lap 33, the marshal board had been turned off, indicating the track was all clear. However, the debris remained on the track.

Cars continued to pass the debris in the middle of the track until lap 34, when Bottas moved to the inside on the approach to turn one to allow Charles Leclerc to pass under blue flags. Bottas struck the mirror, which shattered, spreading debris over the circuit.

Did the scattering of debris across the track approaching turn one lead to the subsequent punctures suffered by Carlos Sainz Jnr and Lewis Hamilton? Sainz was the first driver to pass through the enlarged debris field seconds later, with Sergio Perez and Hamilton around ten seconds behind.

However, even before Sainz rounded the final corner, he was already reporting concerns that his front left tyre was punctured. There were no yellow flags when Perez and Hamilton arrived on the scene, and the Mercedes driver also reported a front-left puncture shortly before he drove through the debris field. Both Sainz and Hamilton recovered to the pit lane with their developing punctures.

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Sainz told Ferrari “it should be Safety Car, no?” before entering the pit lane at the end of the lap. As Sainz left the pit lane and Hamilton entered it, the Safety Car was finally deployed as race leader Verstappen rounded the final corner to pit at the end of lap 35.

Later in the race, Norris was investigated and punished with a ten second stop-go penalty for failing to respect double yellow flags. His team principal admitted his driver had failed to lift passing the double yellow flags.

“Effectively, Lando stayed flat-out,” Stella told Sky. “We have to say that the sector appeared yellow as soon as Lando had entered the sector, but the requirement is very clear. You need to lift and it’s the responsibility of the driver to recognise that you are in the yellow sector and you need to back off.”

At the same time, Stella was puzzled by Marques’ handling of the situation. “At the same time, I think it’s quite peculiar that the yellow flag was deployed and then was removed, but actually the situation in that sector was the same.

“There was debris on track, but at some time it deserved a yellow flag and then a few seconds after, it didn’t. Which is just unfortunate, I would say.”

However not everyone agreed the race should have been neutralised. George Russell, who made his pit stop before the Safety Car was deployed, said doing so would have handed some drivers an advantage.

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“I was right up behind Fernando [Alonso], so I didn’t actually see the debris,” he said. “It’s easy in hindsight to say that it should have been cleared.

“But the problem is you can’t put a Virtual Safety Car because the cars are all spread evenly around the track, and then it’s probably too extreme to put a Safety Car for the tiny bit of debris. So it’s not an easy call.”

Track status and driver reactions at start of lap 30

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