29/07/2016
NEWS STORY
Not for the first time, the F1 paddock is split, with some believing that Nico Rosberg's failure to completely ease off as yellow flags were waved during Q3 in Hungary was wholly unforgivable - though this comes mainly from the drivers who had to slow - and others saying the German followed his 'racer instinct'.
Whatever, the FIA has acted in an attempt to avoid any repeats of the situation whereby a driver can 'legitimately' deliver a fast lap under double-yellows by lifting off "sufficiently".
The FIA's Race Director, Charlie Whiting, today revealed that from this weekend - any situation that warrants double-yellows would result in the session being red-flagged.
"The procedure now would be to simply red-flag any time that there's a double-waved yellow flag, then there will be no discussion," said Whiting. "It will be done routinely if there's a double-waved yellow flag.
"I think most drivers decided to call it a day and stop their attempt at qualifying," he said in reaction to last weekend's incident, "but in Nico's defence, he had only one yellow sector to go through, and that was a short one, whereas the other drivers had two yellow sectors to go through. So there is a difference.
"But I don't want to get into these discussions where you need to try and decide whether a driver has slowed down enough," he added. "If you apply the double waved yellow flag rule absolutely to the letter it says you must be prepared to stop.
"It's a little unfair to those who were in front of Fernando (whose spin caused the yellows) and were trying to complete the lap," he admitted, "but that's what happens when a red flag goes out any time.
"When there's a dangerous situation on the track, you need to attend to it. There could be marshals there, for example. That would have been a double waved yellow flag in that second sector. So if we just say in those circumstances in the future we are going to stop the session, to make sure that the driver and the car can be recovered in complete safety, then that's what we'll do."
Check out our Friday gallery from Hockenheim, here.