Two races after Formula 1 race control drew criticism for a close call between two marshals and Liam Lawson at the Mexico Grand Prix, the timing of a marshal intervention during a race again became a contentious topic in Las Vegas.
After a multi-car clash at the start of the Vegas night race left debris strewn into the Turn 1 run-off area, marshals were deployed from the marshal post on the outside of the track – on the drivers’ right – to collect the pieces in time for the cars to be streaming past again on the second lap.
After clearing the various pieces of debris, marshals were seen running back towards the barrier by the time leader Max Verstappen was about to cross the start-finish line a few hundred metres before, with race control deciding to stick to a double yellow flag rather than a virtual safety car intervention.
The incident drew criticism from pundits, including subject-matter expert Niels Wittich – Rui Marques’ predecessor as FIA race director before the Portuguese replaced him 12 months ago.
“This must not happen, this is a situation that is absolutely unacceptable,” Wittich told Sky Sports Germany. “Of course, you always have the set-up, especially at Turn 1 at every start you put the marshals in motion or at least on standby. Because that is the biggest controlled gap you have at the start, once the last car has passed, in case there is any debris or parts that need to be picked up.
“But for it to take so long that the cars are basically already coming back around on their flying lap – a double yellow flag is not enough anymore at that point. That is simply wrong, and I can’t understand how this has now happened for the second time this year.”
Marshals clean up debris on track
Photo by: Mark Thompson / Getty Images
Wittich is referring to the most recent Mexico race, when Racing Bulls driver Lawson encountered two marshals in his path as they finished picking up debris. There still hasn’t been a full explanation from that incident, which is expected to be forthcoming soon as officials from the Mexican federation were on-site in Las Vegas to discuss it.
But Autosport understands the FIA views those two incidents very differently. In the case of Turn 1 in Las Vegas, race control was comfortable sending marshals out under double waved yellows because the debris that needed to be collected was fully located off the racing line in the Turn 1 run-off zone – on the same side of the track as the marshal post, meaning the officials didn’t need to cross a live track.
Because the final corner is a blind, flat-out kink, the double waved yellow zone was extended until before the corner to ensure drivers would start slowing down in time.
And while marshals were still returning to their stations as the train of cars approached again, the perspective from Verstappen’s onboard camera satisfied the FIA that upon reviewing the incident, it had made the correct call in hindsight.
The virtual safety car did come out one lap later for debris on the outside of Turn 2, caused by the same start collision. In that case, Autosport understands race control felt double waved yellow flags were no longer sufficient to deal with the incident because the piece of front wing was located close to the racing line and did require marshals to cross the track.
The FIA’s reasoning still doesn’t fully explain why marshals took so long to clear up the debris in Turn 1, and whether race control should still have erred on the side of caution and converted a double-waved yellow into a virtual safety car once it became clear marshals were not going to be back behind the barriers as quickly as desired.
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