Max Verstappen and George Russell lead fierce driver criticism of ‘totally unnecessary’ red flags

Max Verstappen has questioned the number of red flags shown in Sunday’s chaotic Australian Grand Prix, describing the race as “a bit of a mess” in general. Red Bull’s double world champion, who eventually won from Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton to stretch his lead in the drivers’ championship, added that the FIA’s stewards “created the problems themselves”.

It was unclear exactly what Red Bull’s double world champion meant by that remark. But there are sure to be questions asked about whether Formula One is putting entertainment ahead of sport following a race that featured three red flags and two grid restarts, the second one only two laps from the finish.

That second restart produced a chaotic and extremely confusing finish to the race as a number of crashes ensued, causing a final red flag. The race then finished behind a safety car.

The restart procedure was officially placed under investigation by the stewards, but effectively it stemmed from a desire on the part of the sport as a whole to finish races “under race conditions”.

It was that same desire that led to the infamous 2021 title denouement in Abu Dhabi, when ex-FIA race director Michael Masi allowed a one-lap sprint to the line following a late safety car, a decision that ultimately cost Hamilton a record eighth world championship. Masi was later found to have made a mistake in restarting the race and was relieved of his post.

This time Verstappen rather than Hamilton was in the position of being the lead driver. The Dutchman had controlled the race despite losing the lead at the start, and looked to be cruising to the finish line.

Instead, a crash by Haas’ Kevin Magnussen four laps from the finish brought out a red flag with race director Steve Nielsen opting for a grid restart which caused carnage.

“I am very happy to have won the race but the race towards the end was a bit of a mess with all the calls,” Verstappen said. “I don’t think we needed that second red flag, that could have been done with a VSC, or a safety car at worst. It left a lot of drivers confused as to why we needed a second red flag. Today was quite messy.

“If we had a safety car and then a normal rolling start we would not have had all these shunts, and we would have had a normal finish. So, they created the problems themselves.”

Verstappen’s thoughts on the red flags were echoed by other drivers including Mercedes’ George Russell and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso.

Russell unsurprisingly had more of an issue with the first red flag, which was extremely costly for him as he had decided to pit for new tyres following Alex Albon’s crash on lap seven, only to see a safety car upgraded to a red flag.

“I thought the red flag was totally unnecessary,” Russell said. “There was obviously quite a lot of gravel on the track on the racing line. [But] we’ve seen it far worse in the past.

“It was reminiscent of the decision last week in Saudi [Arabia] when the safety car came out when the car [Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin] was totally off the track.

“I don’t really know what’s going on with some of the decisions at the moment.

“We’re all trying to work together with the FIA to improve things but it’s seemingly a bit of a challenge.”

Alonso, like Verstappen, had more of an issue with the second red flag. "Stupid rule! How the hell you can put a red flag the lap before [the finish],” he told his team over the radio at the time.

Expanding on his thoughts after the race, the Aston Martin driver, who finished third, added: “I was surprised with all the red flags. The first one was because of a Williams in Turn 6. But we went through there one lap behind the safety car and there was a little bit of gravel on the track but nothing really too bad. Apparently one barrier wasn’t fitted there. The FIA has more information than us so if there is a red flag it has to be for a reason.

“We will ask in Baku what was the reason for the second red flag. I know there was a piece of tyre debris in the straight but the car was on the inside of Turn 4 so it felt quite safe there and the safety car is for those kinds of reasons. It was a different opinion for us but the FIA has all the cards on the table so we have to trust them in those kinds of situations.”

Red Bull’s team principal Christian Horner said it was the “right thing to red flag” the race towards the finish: “The problem is that when you're the lead car and you've been controlling a 10-second lead all afternoon, suddenly, you know, it's a massive variable. It becomes a bit of a lottery.

“[But] I think when you look at it, it was the right thing to red flag it. The problem was it was only two laps to the end of the race. You're always going to get winners and losers out there.”