The Suzuka race was stopped almost immediately due to worsening weather conditions, and the race was resumed only when there were just under 40 minutes to the maximum of three hours, when it was evident that the entire distance could not be covered. .
But while the teams had a rough idea of how long the race would last, they were taken by surprise regarding the exact lap it would end on.
Under F1’s two-hour limit for the duration of a race, the rules are clear: once the two-hour limit is reached, the leading driver will have to complete another lap before the checkered flag is given.
Article 5.4 of the F1 Sporting Regulations states: “If two hours elapse before the completion of the scheduled race distance, the leader will be shown the end-of-session signal when he crosses the control line (the Line) at the end of the next lap. to that in which the period of two (2) hours has ended, provided that this does not lead to exceeding the expected number of revolutions “.
So some teams had predicted that, once the three hours were over, there would be one more lap before the checkered flag was displayed.
Alpine, for example, had foreseen this eventuality, given that Fernando Alonso had started his comeback after a tire change and was ready to overtake Sebastian Vettel.
Sporting director Alan Permane said his team was taken aback by the fact that the race finished one lap sooner than they expected.
“I think the race was stopped a lap earlier, the checkered flag was given one lap earlier than it should have been,” he said. “I think when Max crossed the line, there were still about five seconds left on the clock, and then the checkered flag was given on the next lap. So I think if the race went as we thought we would have taken Sebastian too.” .
Sebastian Vettel, Aston Martin AMR22, Fernando Alonso, Alpine A522
Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images
Alpine was not alone, as Max Verstappen and Red Bull also seemed taken by surprise by the checkered flag.
Despite the race systems indicating victory and the flag displayed, Verstappen kept pushing because he and his team weren’t sure if the race was over.
After reaching the Degner corners, Verstappen engineer Gianpiero Lambiase said: “Ok, Max, there seems to be some confusion as to whether the race is over. We think so. But take it home.”
Charles Leclerc of Ferrari also asked: “Is it over?”.
Further back, McLaren asked Daniel Ricciardo to maintain speed after the checkered flag because they weren’t entirely sure what had happened.
Team principal Andreas Seidl said: “The checkered flag was displayed at the right time, but we saw that Max Verstappen was still going to sleep after crossing the finish line, so we didn’t know exactly what was going on.”
“We all agreed on the pit wall that that was the checkered flag. But since Max was still pushing, we initially told our riders to play it safe, but keep pushing, because maybe there was something there. had escaped “.
In the end, the answer to why the checkered flag came out earlier than expected by some teams was given by the specific wording of the rules.
While the regulation two hour limit mentioned the extra lap, the three hour limit for an event represents a forced stop.
In discussing the time limits, Article 5.b states that: “If the match is suspended (see Article 57), the duration of the suspension will be added to this period up to a maximum total match time of three (3) hours”.
With no reference to the need for an extra lap, the three-hour window means that as soon as the time limit is reached, the checkered flag must be displayed to the race leader, and that’s exactly what happened.
However, just like the confusion over the points allocation that plagued the subsequent stages of the Japanese GP, this three-hour rule could be changed over the course of the winter to be in line with the management of the two-hour limit.
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