Dangerous invasion
The organizers of the Canadian GP have received a serious ‘telling’ from the race stewards, who pointed the finger at security shortcomings of the event that took place on the Montreal track. In fact, if the action on the track was spectacular, with a fun, unpredictable race full of twists and turns, the ‘outline’ was decidedly more problematic.
It was above all in the sights of the stewards the invasion of the track by fans, which started before the race actually ended. In fact, some spectators have found a way to enter the track during the post-race lap of honourafter the checkered flag had been waved but before all the racing cars had returned to parc fermé, with obvious dangers to the safety of the spectators and drivers themselves.
It is not the first time that something like this has happened in Canada or even in Formula 1, with the recent examples from Melbourne 2022 and 2023 (which led to the ban on track invasions for this season’s GP) and Interlagos 2023.
The commissioners’ document
“The Organizer candidly admitted that the safety measures in force did not achieve the objective of preventing spectators from entering the track – we read in the official note released by the stewards – and shared the report of the FIA Sports Delegate and the Race Director, agreeing that it was a unacceptable situation“.
From what emerges, no fines have been imposed on the organizers, but the FIA is now expecting it concrete steps to avoid the repetition of similar events in the future: “The Promoter must urgently (i.e. by 30 September 2024 at the latest) submit a formal remedy plan to the FIA – it was written again by the stewards – that adequately addresses the serious concerns above. As these are serious safety issues, the Stewards ask the FIA to review and comment on whether the above measures are adequate to address the concerns raised and to state whether further measures need to be taken, as soon as possible. The Sports Stewards – concludes the note – they reiterate that the main objective must be to prevent the recurrence of such an incident and make it clear that, in the event of repetition, a significant financial penalty will be imposed“.
#Canada #postrace #invasion #sights #stewards
