THE FIA HAVE CONFIRMED THAT NIELS WITTICH WILL REMAIN AS RACE DIRECTOR FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE SEASON, ENDING THE CONTRAVERSIAL ROTATION SYSTEM WITH EDUARDO FREITAS.
The FIA have concluded the review into the events of the Japanese GP, where recovery vehicles were on the track when Formula 1 cars where still on the track. The situation was not well received within the Formula 1 paddock, with numerous drivers condemning the situation.
The review has been completed under FIA’s Critical Review reflection process, which has determined that a number of procedural recommendations will be implemented.
The review that was carried out by the Remote Operations Center in Geneva immediately after a series of incidents on lap two of the Japanese GP. The ROC that was implemented for the 2022 season, gives support Race Control with procedural, sporting and regulatory matters.
The review panel had members from several FIA departments including ROC, Race Control, Safety, Operational and Technical. The process was overseen by Robert Reid, Deputy President for Sport.
The review has concluded that there were mistakes made with the implementation of the regulations, including the decision to send the recovery vehicles out on track, that is not an unusual in normal conditions, it has agreed that, in hindsight the it was the wrong to recover Carlos Sainz Ferrari, with Formula 1 cars still on the track and the lack of visibility due the poor weather.
The panel determined that in hindsight, as the weather conditions were changing, it would have been prudent to have delayed the deployment of the recovery vehicles on track
FIA report on the Japanese GP
Further to this it was acknowledged that although the FIA has control over cars that are directly behind the Safety Car, however it does not have sufficient control over cars at other areas of the track.
The wet weather tires performance was reviewed with discussions ongoing with Pirelli. Issues regarding advertising and drainage are being discussed with the relevant parties.
As a result of the findings, as of the next race – the United States Grand Prix, the following measures will be implemented:
Information to be provided to the Teams by means of a message via the official messaging system and communicated via the FIA intercom system to notify teams that a recovery vehicle is on track with the obligation from the Teams to inform their Drivers.
Development of a live VSC/SC monitoring window to display the status of all cars, on track, behind SC, in PITS to be used by Race Control and the ROC.
Race Control Procedure Update to better define the allocation of tasks across the Race Control team (including delegation of monitoring tasks to ROC as required) under SC or VSC procedure. In specific relation to this review, the delegation of monitoring of cars entering the Pit Lane under SC conditions and the consequent length of the SC train.
The FIA Race Director will hold a review of the incidents in Suzuka during the United States Grand Prix Drivers’ Briefing to explain what solutions the FIA plans to introduce to avoid a repeat of the situation in the future and to remind the Drivers of the rules relating to Safety Cars and Red Flags.
Dynamic VSC: implementation of a new function that would change the delta speed required for the driver to follow before and in the sectors where there is an incident, this would aid the drivers to know where incidents have been declared.
In conjunction with the teams, a review of penalty precedents for drivers not respecting the rules relating to Yellow, Double Yellow, VSC and SC conditions will take place.
Assessment of the current application of advertising boards, their construction, location and materials used to avoid the potential for them to being torn off and thrown on track
Recommendations from the FIA report
The biggest change to a Formula 1 weekend is the decision to return to a single Race Director, this will hopefully bring consistency with the understanding and implementation of the rules, an issue that has caused some anger and confrontation within the paddock. Another new system is the “dynamic VSC” a hybrid of Formula 1’s VSC and Le Mans 24 hours “slow zones” this should give the drivers and the teams a way of knowing where there is a hazard is on the track.
Finally, the report discussed the confusion over the points awarded at the end of the race, which led to Max Verstappen being crowned the 2022 Drivers’ Champion. The report stated that the regulation and the award of full points was followed correctly, however it does acknowledge that the wording of he regulation needs adjusted to bring further clarity.