During the Miami GP there was a strange moment when the safety car was sent onto the track and the first car behind it was Max Verstappen instead of Lando Norris. There was criticism of the use of the safety car during and after the race, but the FIA has now provided an explanation of what exactly happened.
It was indeed strange, the safety car with Max Verstappen as the ‘first car’ behind him while race leader Lando Norris drove on the track in front of the safety car and was able to drive away towards the pit lane to make a pit stop. Basically it came down to Lando Norris getting a kind of ‘free pit stop’ and being able to stay in the lead of the race.
The FIA has now stated that it was only decided very late to send the safety car onto the track and that Lando Norris was just not stopped.
“It was a very late call to send the safety car on track, they missed Lando Norris by about 20 meters,” the FIA told ‘Racingnews365’.
“Then the race management decided to have the safety car do a slow lap so that all the cars came together and the marshals could take the car off the track, which would not have been possible if they had let all the cars pass the safety car immediately . They therefore waited to let all the cars come together first before letting them pass.”
At the restart, Lando Norris was then able to remain in the lead of the race, pulling away from Max Verstappen and winning the race.
Tags: FIA explains strange situation safety car Miami F1journaal .be
