FIA explains Virtual Safety Car call which thwarted Verstappen’s attack on Leclerc

The FIA has explained why it deployed the Virtual Safety Car which thwarted Max Verstappen’s attempt to take second place at the end of the Mexican Grand Prix.

Verstappen was poised to attack Charles Leclerc for second place when the race was neutralised over parts of the penultimate and final laps. The VSC was deployed after Carlos Sainz Jnr’s Williams came to a stop in the stadium section at the end of the lap.

Little footage of the incident was shown on the world feed during the race. The FIA said in a statement the VSC was used due to concerns of a potential fire on the Williams.

“On lap 70, Sainz spun and stopped in the run-off area on the outside of turn 14,” said the FIA in a statement. “His car came to a halt in an exposed position.

“The car subsequently began smoking and race control received notifications of fire, making it clear that marshal intervention would be required for recovery.

“As is standard procedure when marshals are deployed to recover a car, the race is neutralised, in this case, a Virtual Safety Car (VSC) was triggered until the car was moved to a safe location behind the barriers. The VSC ended as soon as the car was in a protected position, and the race concluded under green flag conditions.”

Leclerc admitted the VSC came as a relief. “I was very happy to see the [Virtual] Safety Car coming out in the last two laps,” he said.

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“I think without it, there was more chance of Max getting past than me staying in front. Especially with those medium tyres, the feeling was just not there from the beginning to the end.”

Verstappen said he was “not really” frustrated by the timing of the VSC. “Sometimes the Safety Car has been very nice to me as well in my career. So sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. It’s how it goes in racing.

“It would have been fun, I think, to the end. Well, maybe a bit more fun for me than for Charles defending, but it would have been a fun ending, I think, for everyone to watch.”

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