Carlos Sainz and George Russell led calls among the Formula 1 driving fraternity for the FIA to punish drivers purposefully triggering Red Flags during this weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix.
There’s a precedent for unsporting action around the streets of Monaco, with the most famous example coming in qualifying for the 2006 edition of the famous race.
Michael Schumacher, fighting Fernando Alonso for pole, purposefully came to a halt at Rascasse.
The German’s error was clear as day and he was demoted to the back of the grid, but today’s drivers want the FIA to delete laps of culprits they feel are continuing to abuse the system by causing stoppages at the tight and twisty Monaco circuit.
“There have been very clear cases in street circuits where, between us drivers, we’ve spotted people on purpose generating red flags,” Sainz said on Thursday.
“The FIA hasn’t been maybe as convinced about them being on purpose, because as drivers we know what’s on purpose and what’s not.
“So, it will be interesting to see what approach they take into this weekend.
“It’s always a topic around Monaco. I just hope that for the benefit of the show and the fair play and fair racing, we all go out there in Q1 and Q3, giving it all without taking unnecessary risks.”
Unlike Schumacher, recent history has reared more dubious examples of drivers allegedly impeding competitors.
In 2022, Sergio Perez’s crash at Portier during Q3 denied Max Verstappen a vital chance at pole position.
Although it was never proved, the incident caused a disruption in the Red Bull camp, with Verstappen returning the favour later that year in Sao Paulo by failing to give his team-mate track position.
Despite this, Perez was among the drivers calling for the FIA to take action on those triggering stoppages for personal gain.
“I think it is how it should be,” he said. “We’ve been trying to do that sort of push in the last few years, but it doesn’t seem to happen.”
The issue of how the FIA should penalise drivers deemed culpable of triggering stoppages during qualifying at Monaco was also discussed during Thursday’s press conference.
“I think, if I’m correct, that’s being looked at by the FIA,” said Esteban Ocon.
“I think recently we’ve discussed that in some drivers’ meetings, that a situation where a driver would cause a red flag would be monitored.
“So I think that should be something sensible to be doing because we’ve seen in the past drivers causing issues and the others not being able to do a lap. Yeah, that should be something that the FIA monitors, I think.”
George Russell, Director of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association said: “I agree with Esteban. We obviously have laps deleted all the time in qualifying for track limits. I think if you were to cause a yellow flag or red flag, you should probably have your best lap deleted.”
A system like this isn’t unprecedented, for IndyCar strikes times from drivers in qualifying for causing yellow and red flags, one lap in a session where a yellow is triggered and the two best laps in the event a red flag is triggered.
With Monaco’s tight, narrow layout, getting a clean session is vital in the fight for pole and all drivers need to get as many laps as possible without being interrupted by those trying to game the system.
