Formula 1 is to blame for the “WTF” moments of the Japanese Grand Prix

From Pierre Gasly’s close encounter with a recovery vehicle to Max Verstappen’s championship win, Formula One followed the rules as written at the Japanese Grand Prix.

And yet a driver could have been seriously injured, and a championship was lost and won on the basis of three words.

It was a shambles: one that could have been avoided with a little common sense and a lot more communication.

Under the new management, Formula 1 sacking Michael Masi and sharing his seat between Niels Wittich and Eduardo Freitas, Formula 1 should have turned a page of absurd decision-making.

But there was no sign of that in Suzuka on Sunday. In fact, unfortunately, it was exactly the opposite.

Perhaps in response to criticism of what appeared to be an overly cautiously delayed start to the Singapore Grand Prix, lap 18 got off to a good start in the rain, with the entire field opting for the Intermediate Pirellis.

But once they got on the grid and more rain fell it quickly became clear that the conditions at the border were too dangerous as there was almost no visibility in the spray.

Carlos Sainz fell badly when he aquaplaned off the track and detached a piece of a billboard that Pierre Gasly had collected, Alex Albon was tagged and discarded on the side of the track, and still others spun.

Race control deployed the safety car while Gasly made his way back to the pits to have the board removed. He then joined the action, going into lap 2 and setting out to catch the safety car.

Don’t lie, he was wrong too. Driving a 250 when you can barely see the front wing isn’t very smart, but neither is having a recovery vehicle on the track—not even on the side…on it.

This is just terrifying why is this marshal on track when ANY cars go by, you can’t play with people’s lives like that just because a safety car is out, in these conditions it doesn’t mean anything https://t. co /L2pugpFGMC

– Aldas🇱🇹 (@Aldas001) October 9, 2022

Race officials allowed a recovery vehicle to drive onto the track to pick up Sainz’s car. This is allowed under the rules as the race was held under safety car conditions and all drivers were, or should have been, driving slowly.

One by one they passed the field running behind the safety car, the recovery vehicle, and pretty much everyone said “WTF” as Lando Norris so aptly put it.

The drivers could see nothing, only the lights of the recovery vehicle. If they had been to the left of the track, they would have hit it. If they had hydroplaned right now, they would have hit it. If one of them had made a mistake, they could have met him together.

It’s amazing that Formula 1 is doing it again, eight years after Jules Bianchi crashed into a recovery vehicle – one that was in the gravel, not even on the track – in an accident that claimed his life.

There’s so much to argue that it’s allowed in the rules, and you can blame Gasly, but the point is, when a driver can barely see the flashing red light of the car in front of them, how can F1 assess those conditions ? safe enough to get a recovery vehicle onto the track.

As? There is no answer, there is no apology. Race Control made incredible mistakes.

📻 | Charles during the safety car and red flag:

“Guys… what the hell is that crane?” pic.twitter.com/Y4amMRSWF7

– Ferrari News 🐎 (@FanaticsFerrari) October 9, 2022

But wait, there’s more…

Verstappen won the 28-lap Japanese Grand Prix, with the Red Bull driver crossing the finish line believing he was just a point shy of winning the title as less than 75 per cent of the race’s distance had been covered.

That meant he only scored 19 points, according to the columns, which F1 opted for after last year’s farce Belgian Grand Prix. So be it and move to Austin and win the championship there instead.

Minutes later, Formula 1 declared him the world title, the Dutchman as confused as the rest of us. When we got back to the calculators, the math was done again, and he was still a dot off.

But then F1 insisted it was a full points race and it all comes down to three words in the rules overwriting the columns: ‘cannot resume’.

The columns appear to only apply when a race is abandoned, not when it is abandoned and then restarted. To quote Norris, “WTF!”

Had the FIA ​​simply stated when racing resumed that it was now a full points race, they would have avoided the confusion, complaints and criticism of this particular slip-up.

But the FIA ​​is not solely to blame for this, as several team bosses have admitted they missed the wording when the rule was written and left it open to interpretation.

Congratulations Max on possibly the funniest championship cool room ever (Charles Leclerc is a paid actor) pic.twitter.com/Fi8MmeeGke

— Formula whatever (@formulawhatever) October 9, 2022

Although no one objected to Verstappen’s title win – it was always his business, it was just a matter of when, not if – Formula 1 once again managed to confuse Formula 1 and confuse every single viewer, well, unfortunately that is become as predictable as Ferrari throwing away a win.

And all of this happened just a day before the FIA ​​is due to release its findings on teams’ spending in 2021 with FIA Vice President for Sport Robert Reid already using the words ‘grey area’, ‘optimization’ and ‘some unintended or unrealized consequences in the way things are used are written”.

It won’t be the best 24 hours of Formula 1…