A strange decision-making process at the end of the Australian Grand Prix left several Formula 1 teams miffed, and rightfully so.
Formula 1‘s decision to red flag Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park Circuit was clearly aimed at having a green flag finish instead of a finish behind the safety car. It was the right decision on paper, as nobody ever wants to see a race end under yellow.
But it ultimately went wrong for a number of reasons, and it led to a string of further strange decisions that left several teams ticked off.
Here are three teams that Formula 1 totally screwed over in Melbourne.
Three teams Formula 1 screwed over: No. 1 – Ferrari
Ferrari’s horrible start to the 2023 season got worse on the opening lap of the race, with Charles Leclerc being taken out. But Carlos Sainz Jr. was a man on a mission and made up several places, putting himself in position to challenge for a podium finish on the final restart.
After the chaos, he was scored in third place and set to secure Ferrari’s first podium finish of the year. But not only did they revert the order to what it was before the restart, putting Sainz in fourth; they gave him a five-second penalty for spinning out Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso in the first corner, just moments after that restart.
Sainz was effectively penalized for running into a driver who, because of the decision to revert the order, was literally not affected in any way, shape, or form by the move when it came to the final running order. The move basically didn’t count, yet Sainz was dropped from fourth place to 12th because of it.
The fact that Sainz was given a penalty for that move is incomprehensible, especially compared to some of the other moves that take place but don’t even get investigated.
Then to put him in position behind a safety car for one lap to effectively “race” (to an extent) to remain five seconds ahead of whoever he can — and to put everyone else behind him in position to “race” to get within that five-second window — is even more pathetic.
Ferrari finished the race scoreless, and they appear to be a distant fourth best team after leading the constructor standings by a wide margin at this point last season.
Three teams Formula 1 screwed over: No. 2 – Haas
No Formula 1 driver has competed in as many races as Nico Hulkenberg has (184) without finishing on the podium a single time. Haas, which have been competing in the sport since 2016, are also the only active Formula 1 team that have never recorded a podium finish (147 races).
Both streaks could have — and should have — ended amid Sunday’s chaos. Instead, both extended.
Following the chaos on the final restart, Hulkenberg was in fourth place, but he was behind Carlos Sainz Jr. in third. Considering the fact that Sainz ended up being given a five-second time penalty, therefore implying that the restart did, in fact, take place (and count) — Hulkenberg should have been promoted to third behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton.
Running in an effective third position when the race was neutralized, Hulkenberg could have been standing on the podium for the first time in his Formula 1 career, delivering the sport’s lone American team their first ever podium finish in the process.
Instead, he was officially scored in seventh place, which was still tied for his best finish since 2018. Prior to being called upon by Haas to replace Mick Schumacher this year, Hulkenberg had not competed full-time since 2019. Absolutely nobody is blaming Guenther Steiner for fuming post-race.
Three teams Formula 1 screwed over: No. 3 – Alpine
Let’s get back to the basics first. Formula 1 made the decision to effectively revert to the order before the final restart took place, and that decision was made because the field did not complete the entire first sector before the red flag flew on lap 57 of 58 around the 14-turn, 3.28-mile (5.279-kilometer) course.
Fair enough (though that may even be generous).
For example, instead of Aston Martin finishing outside of the points completely due to the disastrous restart their drivers experienced, Fernando Alonso finished in third place, marking his third straight podium finish. Teammate Lance Stroll finished in fourth.
However, the Alpine drivers were not allowed to retain their positions prior to the last-lap parade lap behind Bernd Maylander’s safety car.
Before the restart, Pierre Gasly had been having a solid run in fifth place, with Esteban Ocon set to bring an additional point to the team in 10th (fourth and ninth with Sainz penalty). Instead, they finished scoreless.
If the wreck technically “never happened” and the order was reverted to pre-restart, why were the Alpine pair the only two drivers not scored appropriately? Yes, the fact that their cars could not continue was obvious after they collided and sustained massive damage, but that can only be used to justify this decision to a very slim extent.
There was no need for the race to continue at that point, as there was one lap — a guaranteed safety car lap — left, and everybody was already stopped and in the pits. Having reset the order to what it was on lap 57, that should have been the finishing order. The French duo should have been scored in fifth and 10th place.
Instead, the rest of the field did a parade lap without them, and the team scored no points, with neither driver technically finishing the race (despite having been running in the top five and the top 10 when scoring was, in fact, stopped).
To add to that, the argument that we needed to run the full race distance was silly at this stage in the race. Sure, if a safety car were to come out with one lap (or a few laps) remaining, you would finish the race under yellow (and not just bring everyone into the pits beforehand).
But under the red flag, the cars were all stopped anyway, and the one lap remaining was going to be a safety car lap. The race was neutralized and effectively over. And no, you don’t need a full race distance for full points to be scored. The race had long been past the 75% mark, at which point 25 points were guaranteed for the winner. Again, the race was over.
So David Croft saying, verbatim, “there’s no reason for the race not to resume”, is somewhat mind blowing. There was one lap remaining that was going to be under caution. To most everybody else, there was no reason for the race to resume.
Of course, many outside the UK have drawn a certain conclusion as to what those in the Sky Sports broadcast booth were probably hoping for. We’ll leave that one to your imagination.
Separately, can you imagine the fallout had Lewis Hamilton passed Max Verstappen on that restart, only for the order to be reverted? Yikes.
Three teams Formula 1 screwed over: Honorable mention – AlphaTauri
This one wasn’t as painful as Haas and Nico Hulkenberg losing what should have been their first podium finish, but it hurt nonetheless. Following the restart chaos, Yuki Tsunoda was scored in fifth place.
Fifth place would not have been his career-high finish, as he finished fourth in the 2021 season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (following another interesting closing sequence), but a fifth place finish — and 10 points — for a driver and team not expected to do much scoring throughout the 2023 season would have been massive.
Instead, Tsunoda was dropped to 11th place (two spots up from 13th because of the Alpine crash), putting him in position for a fourth straight finish just one position shy of scoring points.
Fortunately for him, he was able to take advantage of Carlos Sainz Jr.’s (ridiculous) penalty and score a point with a 10th place finish, preventing AlphaTauri from leaving Melbourne as the one and only team without any points through three races.
But instead of being tied for last place in the constructor standings, AlphaTauri should be in sixth or seventh place (depending on your view of how the rest of the finish was handled), and instead of being tied for 16th in the driver standings, Tsunoda should be in the top 10.