It will be up to the teams to ensure that their cars continue to operate safely even after suffering damage in accidents and to prove this in the event of a race information request from the governing body. The black and orange flag is used as an instruction to the drivers, ordering them to return to the pits for repairs if they suffer damage and their presence on the track is deemed unsafe; the drivers must re-enter at the end of the lap after having received the warning.
Its use in the 2022 season made headlines starting with the 2022 United States Grand Prix, after the Haas team protested the results of Sergio Perez and Fernando Alonso, believing they had finished the race despite being on track with the damaged cars, in contravention of safety rules.
This season, Haas driver Kevin Magnussen has received a black and orange flag in three previous races – Canada, Hungary and Singapore – after suffering damage to his flapping front wing in each of them. FIA officials felt this was unsafe and in those races the driver underwent a repair.
But Haas got angry, believing she was being treated differently from other teams, when this didn’t happen for Perez in the Austin race (her damaged plate fell off five laps after first lap contact with Valtteri Bottas) nor for Alonso, who finished the race despite having covered several laps with the right rear-view mirror that came off and then crashed.
Haas’ protest against Perez was dismissed because Red Bull had provided the FIA with photos showing that the end plate damage was not moving unsafe, which the FIA accepted and the stewards agreed with this decision. But the American team’s protest against Alonso was initially deemed admissible and the Spaniard was given a 30-second penalty that cost him seventh place last weekend.
Fernando Alonso, Alpine A522
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
The decision was later overturned following a long saga of decisions as to why Haas authorized the protest in the first place. In announcing the cancellation of Alonso’s penalty in Austin, it was revealed that FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem has initiated a review on the future use of the black and orange flag.
Motorsport.com learns that this decision was made in unanimous agreement with the Formula 1 teams and follows a statement from the Austin commissioners who said they were “concerned” that Alonso was allowed to continue on track. without the rearview mirror.
This aspect is at the heart of the controversy over the use of the black and orange flag in 2022, as the incidents involving Magnussen follow the wording of the rule on its use in the FIA Sporting Code, but the confusion and anger were the direct consequence. of the non-display of the flag at Alonso in Austin.
The FIA International Sporting Code on the use of the flag states: “This flag must be used to inform the concerned driver that his car has mechanical problems that can endanger himself or others and means that he must stop in his garage at the next lap. When the mechanical problems have been resolved to the satisfaction of the technical commissioner, the car can resume the race “.
The use of the black and orange flag was discussed at a meeting of the managers of the Formula 1 teams at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez ahead of Friday practice of the 2022 Mexico City GP. The ongoing discussion is about how to use the flag in upcoming events, with the understanding that commissioners will now be less inclined to automatically give the warning, as Formula 1 teams have so much data to prove that a piece, even if damaged, will not suddenly become a safety concern.
Formula 1 is therefore in a different situation compared to other categories, where the corresponding lack of data means that the drivers can run unaware of having damage and therefore the burden of having them stopped for repairs is borne by the race marshals. to ensure safety. Apparently, there are no changes to the Formula 1 rules following the review of the FIA, which instead intends to leave the teams the burden of ensuring that their cars always run in safe conditions, even if it will intervene to carry out immediate investigations in the cases where the damage is clearly visible.
A problem with this approach could be the emergence of disagreements over the safety of damaged cars following accidents such as that of Alonso with Lance Stroll in Austin, with drivers naturally inclined to push the limits of the rules and other teams that may object to gain a competitive advantage.
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