The unfolding scene cost the AlphaTauri driver two positions, leaving him well behind the drivers he was supposed to be battling.
Following the controversy at last year’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the FIA has decided to automate a system that can identify lapped cars eligible to un-lap themselves during the safety car.
Last year in Abu Dhabi, only a few cars were allowed to overtake leader Lewis Hamilton, leaving no traffic between him and Max Verstappen, while still allowing between the Dutchman and Carlos Sainz His car came in third, protecting him from the Ferrari driver. It was time to start over, giving the Red Bull driver the chance to overtake Hamilton and claim the world title.
An FIA official at the time attributed the lap count error to human error – race director Michael Masi.
To avoid duplication, F1’s timing software is a mod that automatically marks cars that have already been lapped, thus allowing passage before restarting.
When the safety car came out in Brazil, the three cars circled were Tsunoda’s AlphaTauri and Williams pairing Alex Albon and Nicholas Latifi.
Tsunoda was behind leader George Russell when AlphaTauri took the opportunity to pit the Japanese driver for new tires.
In doing so, he actually passed Russell in the pit lane, thus briefly canceling his own lap in the technical – before entering the track in sixth, Behind Russell, a lapped Albon, Lewis Hamilton, Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz. Latifi was right behind him on the third lap.
Tsunoda overtook Russell in the pit lane creating an unexpected situation where he was not eligible to start himself according to the automated system.
Yuki Tsunoda, AlphaTauri AT03
Photo by : Red Bull Content Pool
When the “lap car can now overtake” message appear on the timing screen, it only mentions the numbers of Albon and Latifi.
Tsunoda’s engineer hesitated seeing the message and said, “You are free to overtake… Stand by, stand by.”
Amid the confusion, Tsunoda initially Freed himself from Sainz, but then stopped behind Perez while Latifi, who was battling him for position, passed him and went on to overtake the leading car.
When he asked about overtaking Kakuda, he was told, “No, no overtaking,” to which he replied, “What the fuck are we doing?” Then he got the message, ” Make Yuki stand and don’t overtake.”
He then made Sainz back over and resumed his original position in the queue. As a result, Kakuda still separated Sainz from his pursuers at the restart, led by Charles Leclerc.
Kakuta may have disrupted the race for Leclerc and others by doing so. However, on the restart his engineer wisely told him to let the faster car pass and he nearly stopped on the pit straight to let the whole field pass.
As a result, Tsunoda came last as the only car lapped, losing out to Albon and Latifi. He should beat both of them with his new tires – and if he’s in the right position for the restart, he might even be able to make up some more.
Asked by Motorsport.com what happened, he said: “I’ve been told you have to be consistent. I don’t know why. Probably the FIA thinks I’m fighting a P5 or something like that !”
Nicholas Latifi, Williams FW44, Yuki Tsunoda, AlphaTauri AT03
Photo: Red Bull Content Pool
Visibly frustrated AlphaTauri team boss Franz Tost declined to comment on what happened .
The automated system was never intended to get in the way of the driver in this way, or in this case get the lapped car stuck in the middle of the pack. However, the FIA insists no mistakes have been made.
In a statement, the governing body explained in detail what happened: “All systems are functioning normally as specified. Exceptional circumstances due to the specificities of the particular track and scenario, the following occurred:
“Car 22 was the first to pass SC1 after the safety car was deployed.
“On the following lap, he thus became the first car to cross the SC1 line for a second time, which would normally trigger the system to indicate that he was eligible for lap disqualification.
” However, this time he entered the pit lane and was faster than the team behind the safety car. In doing so, he loosened a lap himself when he crossed the control line in the pit lane.
“When he rejoined the track, the system correctly indicated that he was behind for another lap, but because he had already cleared his own lap once, he was not eligible for another lap when the safety car period expired. Doing so.
“Race Control checked that this was correct with F1 timing and they confirmed that only cars #6 and #23 were able to release themselves. “
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International Automobile The joint noted that the situation will be reviewed and thus potentially resolved in the future: “While this is a highly unusual situation, there is no system or procedural error – it’s one of those unpredictable situations that can happen, and there’s nothing that requires immediate implementation. Change.
“This will of course be discussed at a future Spo to include an Advisory Committee as part of the normal review process.”
