24/05/2024
NEWS STORY
In the wake of a number of incidents, drivers are calling for those who cause a red flag stoppage during qualifying to have their best time deleted.
The most obvious examples of the practice that spring to mind are 2006, when Michael Schumacher essentially parked his car at Rascasse and brought qualifying to an end thereby preventing Fernando Alonso from improving his time.
In 2014, Nico Rosberg caused a dubious stoppage when he went off at Mirabeau, bringing out the yellow flags that thwarted teammate Lewis Hamilton's bid for pole.
And Max Verstappen clearly still bears a grudge from 2022 when teammate Sergio Perez went into the barrier at Portier, preventing the Dutchman from claiming the vital front row spot.
Asked if at tracks like Monaco, where overtaking is nigh impossible, hence the importance of a good grid position, whether drivers who cause stoppages should have their best times deleted, thereby removing the temptation to prevent rivals from beating them, Esteban Ocon said: "If I'm correct, that's being looked at by the FIA.
"I think recently we've discussed that in some drivers' meetings, that a situation where a driver would cause a red flag would be monitored," he added. "So I think that should be something sensible to be doing because we've seen in the past drivers causing issues and the others not being able to do a lap. Yeah, that should be something that the FA monitors, I think."
"I agree," added GPDA director, George Russell. "We obviously have laps deleted all the time in qualifying for track limits. I think if you were to cause a yellow flag or red flag, you should probably have your best lap deleted. Yeah, nothing more to say about that."
"I think it's a good idea," agreed Verstappen.
"There have been very clear cases in street circuits where, between us drivers, we've spotted people on purpose generating red flags," said Carlos Sainz. "The FIA hasn't been maybe as convinced about them being on purpose, because as drivers we know what's on purpose and what's not.
"So, it will be interesting to see what approach they take into this weekend.
"It's always a topic around Monaco. I just hope that for the benefit of the show and the fair play and fair racing, we all go out there in Q1 and Q3, giving it all without taking unnecessary risks."
Check out our Friday gallery from Monaco here.