F1 2022: Italian Grand Prix ends in boos after decision to let race finish under safety car
The Italian Grand Prix ended with boos from the crowd and frustration in pit lane – and Australia’s Daniel Ricciardo was a key catalyst in the farce.
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Furious Formula One fans have unloaded on the sport’s officials after a farcical ending to the Italian Grand Prix overnight.
Instead of racing to the chequered flag, the teams all drove slowly across the line in a boring procession behind the safety car after Australia’s Daniel Ricciardo broke down at the side of the track with a handful of laps to go.
Instead of issuing a red flag – which would have briefly stopped the race while Ricciardo’s stationary McLaren was removed from the circuit – the race stewards controversially decided to deploy a yellow safety car.
That meant that the cars all continued to drive around the iconic Monza track – the fastest on the F1 calendar – in parade formation, unable to hit the accelerator or overtake, ending any hopes of a grandstand finish.
Fans understandably vented their anger at the post match presentation, booing officials as race winner Max Verstappen was handed his trophy but the Dutchman insisted he was not to blame for the flat finish.
“It happens,” he said. “Everyone speaks to me about it with the booing and stuff but at the end of the day I am here to try and win the race which we’ve done.
”Some people cannot appreciate that because they are very passionate fans for a different team. It is what it is.
”It is not going to spoil my day, I am just enjoying the moment.”
Vestappen’s comments won’t come as any surprise because the Red Bull driver was the main beneficiary of the questionable ruling and is now within grasp of winning his second world title.
He won last year’s championship when former race director, Australian Michael Masi, applied a very different strategy, encouraging drivers to race to the finish at the title decider in Abu Dhabi.
Verstappen edges closer to his second title #ItalianGP#F1pic.twitter.com/Le6Z9YHB4V
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 11, 2022
Red Bull in charge ðŸ‚#ItalianGP#F1pic.twitter.com/XxAWSliYzX
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 11, 2022
After being gifted his fifth straight win of the season, the flying Dutchman leads the championship by 116 points with six rounds to go from his nearest rival Charles LeClerc and could wrap up the 2022 title early as the next race in Singapore.
Driving a Ferrari, which meant enjoying the majority of the support of the fanatical Italian fans, LeClerc was starting to close in on Verstappen over the concluding laps when his chances of winning were snatched away from him.
“The end was frustrating,” LeClerc said. “I wish we could have ended up racing. Unfortunately, we were second at that place because of what happened before. It’s a shame.”
Team officials were less diplomatic with Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto slamming officials for making the ‘wrong’ call.
“There was plenty of time for the FIA to act differently. It was fully safe to run on the track towards the end, to wait so much is simply wrong,” he said.
“We need to have discussions on how to improve because the aim should be to restart the race as soon as possible. The FIA need more experience, but they need to do a better job because F1 deserves it.”
There were few people in the paddock disagreeing with the Ferrari team leader – including Red Bull boss Christian Horner – who also believed the race should have been red flagged then restarted
A vocal supporter of the decision by officials last year to let the drivers fight out the result on the track when Masi had the option of finishing behind a safety car, Horner said officials needed to consider the fans as well.
‘We don’t want to win a race under a safety car,” Horner said.
“It’s something we’ve talked about for many many years, that they should finish racing.
‘We had the faster car, we would have liked to win the race on the track, not behind the safety car. We share the disappointment of all the fans, because it took away a grandstand finish.
“It goes against the principles of what we’ve discussed previously. The biggest losers were the fans. We need to look quickly to address that.”
The only team that disagreed was Mercedes, notably Lewis Hamilton, who would have won last year’s title if the season decider had finished behind a safety car.
“It always bring memories back,” said Hamilton. “That is the rule that it should be, right? So only one time, in the history of the sport, that they haven’t done the rule.”
Mighty Max 💪
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 11, 2022
Verstappen wasted no time in going from P7 to P2 after lights out at Monza 🇮🇹#ItalianGP#F1pic.twitter.com/pfmNs0IpBj
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff also took a swipe at the sport’s inconsistent application of the regulations.
“The race direction will be under critics, but this time they followed the rules,” he said.
FIA officials defended their curious decision, saying track workers were unable to move Ricciardo’s McLaren themselves because it was stuck in gear but it was not enough of a hazard to warrant a red flag being issued.
“While every effort was made to recover Car Three quickly and resume racing, the situation developed and marshals were unable to put the car into neutral and push it into the escape road,” an FIA spokesperson said.
“As the safety of the recovery operation is our only priority, and the incident was not significant enough to require a red flag, the race ended under safety car following the procedures agreed between the FIA and all Competitors. The timing of the safety car period within a race has no bearing on this procedure.”
Riccardo, who won last year’s Italian Grand Prix but has struggled this season and had his contract with McLaren cut short, was heading towards a top 10 finish before his car just stopped.
‘The car just switched off,” he said.
“I don’t know the details but in simple terms everything shut off. If I could have done anything else I would have.
George Russell finished third for Mercedes while Carlos Sainz was fourth for Ferrari,
Hamilton was fifth and Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez sixth.
RESULTS AND CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS AFTER THE ITALIAN GRAND PRIX AT MONZA on Sunday:
RESULT 1. Max Verstappen (NED/Red Bull) 1hr 20min 27.511sec, 2. Charles Leclerc (MON/Ferrari) at 2.446, 3. George Russell (GBR/Mercedes) 3.405, 4. Carlos Sainz Jr (ESP/Ferrari) 5.061, 5. Lewis Hamilton (GBR/Mercedes) 5.380, 6. Sergio Perez (MEX/Red Bull) 6.091, 7. Lando Norris (GBR/McLaren-Mercedes) 6.207, 8. Pierre Gasly (FRA/AlphaTauri-Red Bull) 6.396, 9. Nyck de Vries (NED/Williams-Mercedes) 7.122, 10. Zhou Guanyu (CHN/Alfa Romeo) 7.910, 11. Esteban Ocon (FRA/Alpine-Renault) 8.323, 12. Mick Schumacher (GER/Haas-Ferrari) 8.549, 13. Valtteri Bottas (FIN/Alfa Romeo) one lap, 14. Yuki Tsunoda (JPN/AlphaTauri-Red Bull) one lap, 15. Nicholas Latifi (CAN/Williams-Mercedes) one lap, 16. Kevin Magnussen (DEN/Haas-Ferrari) one lap
DRIVERS CHAMPIONSHIP 1. Max Verstappen (NED) 335 pts, 2. Charles Leclerc (MON) 219, 3. Sergio Perez (MEX) 210, 4. George Russell (GBR) 203, 5. Carlos Sainz Jr (ESP) 187, 6. Lewis Hamilton (GBR) 168, 7. Lando Norris (GBR) 88, 8. Esteban Ocon (FRA) 66, 9. Fernando Alonso (ESP) 59, 10. Valtteri Bottas (FIN) 46, 11. Pierre Gasly (FRA) 22, 12. Kevin Magnussen (DEN) 22, 13. Sebastian Vettel (GER) 20, 14. Daniel Ricciardo (AUS) 19, 15. Mick Schumacher (GER) 12, 16. Yuki Tsunoda (JPN) 11, 17. Zhou Guanyu (CHN) 6, 18. Lance Stroll (CAN) 5, 19. Alexander Albon (THA) 4, 20. Nyck de Vries (NED) 2, 21. Nicholas Latifi (CAN) 0, 22. Nico Hulkenberg (GER) 0
CONSTRUCTORS 1. Red Bull 545 pts, 2. Ferrari 406, 3. Mercedes 371, 4. Alpine-Renault 125, 5. McLaren-Mercedes 107, 6. Alfa Romeo 52, 7. Haas-Ferrari 34, 8. AlphaTauri-Red Bull 33, 9. Aston Martin-Mercedes 25, 10. Williams-Mercedes 6
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Luxury carmaker giant joining F1 circus hits the skids
Porsche said its negotiations with Red Bull for a partnership that would allow the German luxury carmaker to enter Formula One had failed.
“Both companies have jointly come to the conclusion that these talks will not continue,” Porsche said in a statement.
No details had been given about the deal but reports had suggested that it would involve Porsche buying a 50 per cent stake in Red Bull’s team and become engine suppliers.
Friday’s statement came as a surprise as a deal by Porsche had been seen as imminent after fellow German automobile giant Audi announced that it will become an engine supplier in Formula One for the first time in the 2026 season.
But Porsche underlined that the premise for a deal was “always a partnership on an equal footing that covers an engine partnership and the team”.
“But this could not be realised,” it said, adding however that company will keep “observing” the car-racing field which remains “an attractive environment”.
Porsche, unlike Audi, have raced in Formula One.
They had a team from 1957-62, although they only raced in two complete seasons 1961/62, with their only victory Dan Gurney’s in the 1962 French Grand Prix.
They returned to the circuit in 1983 providing the engines for the McLaren team and enjoyed great success — McLaren won two successive constructors championships in 1984 and 1985.
McLaren ditched them for Honda in 1988 and Porsche’s last contribution to F1 was a brief return in 1991 powering the Footwork team.
However, after a disastrous first part of the season Footwork switched to Ford engines.
Audi will announce the team they will supply by the end of the year although it is widely expected to be Sauber, who presently race as Alfa Romeo with a Ferrari engine.
Audi’s decision came shortly after it was agreed at FIA’s World Motor Sport Council that new engines, or power units (PU), would be required in Formula 1 by 2026, aimed at greater sustainability.
The new motors will increase electrical power by up to 50 per cent and use 100 per cent sustainable fuel.
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