Ex-Formula 1 driver Martin Brundle has defended the FIA over its decision to deploy a series of red flags during the Australian Grand Prix.
He refuted that they were issued simply to inject excitement into the race.
The first red flag was thrown on lap seven when Alexander Albon crashed into the barrier at turn six.
A standing restart was called and late on in the race, Haas’ Kevin Magnussen hit the wall and spread debris across the track, which saw the second red flag deployed.
It meant that the race would be resumed with two laps remaining, which set up a frantic finish that saw several drivers retire with damage.
The decision to restart the race in a standing start form was criticised by several drivers, including reigning World Champion Max Verstappen.
But Brundle doesn’t believe that the FIA had entertainment in mind when it opted to use the red flags.
“Absolutely not. I don’t think there was any instruction to whizz this show up when required,” said Brundle, speaking to Sky F1.
“You have to walk a mile in the shoes of the people who are responsible.
“It is easy for us to sit on the sidelines going ‘should have done this, should have done that’.
“Back in 2009, Felipe Massa nearly died with a piece of someone else’s car coming through his cockpit.
“It is also a street circuit there with a lot of fans either side of the track and also marshals and medics that are down there.
“So, if there are pieces of debris on the track, you can’t have them flying through the air at a couple hundred miles per hour.”
In the case of Magnussen’s crash, a fan was injured when a piece of debris flew over the catch fence and hit a him on the arm.
Although Brundle says that entertainment was not a motivating factor behind the red flags, he admits that they seemed unnecessary, stating a Safety Car intervention would’ve been enough.
“I thought when Alex Albon went off they could perhaps have just used a Safety Car and swept the gravel up and cleared the car away,” he said.
“A red flag perhaps seemed slightly unnecessary but towards the end of the race, we had a tyre and wheel on the track and lots of debris.
“I am absolutely confident no one is in there going ‘hey, let’s make this a little bit more fun’.
“Whether we are making crystal-clear decisions in the pressure of the moment, obviously we lost Charlie Whiting in Melbourne where he died sadly, then we went through the Michael Masi phase which everybody knows about, especially Abu Dhabi 2021.
“Then they shared the role, now we have a guy called Niels Wittich.
“Is he making the right decisions? But at the end of the day, we are sitting here on a Monday morning and we are not one per cent responsible if somebody was killed or injured.”
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