Both weekends of the 2026 British Touring Car Championship have seen drivers in near-racing conditions with recovery vehicles and stricken cars on track.
Sunday’s running at Brands Hatch saw Race 2 red-flagged after Sam Osborne’s Ford Focus slid into the gravel at Druids and ended up parallel with the previously stricken Charles Rainford.
Osborne’s off was part of a racing incident with Daniel Rowbottom, despite marshals waving yellow flags at the time.
While at Donington, a recovery vehicle plucked a car out of the gravel at the first corner as drivers continued under yellow flag conditions.
Seeing drivers power on while multi-tonne machines sit just off track does not feel right whatsoever. It should not be something that happens just for the sake of avoiding a handful of laps under a safety car or a red-flag restart.
This is something that the drivers feel too.
Tom Chilton revealed his passion towards the situation to Motorsport News, having shouted over his radio at Donington about Jules Bianchi’s passing while demanding that officials deploy a safety car.
Adam Morgan: The last thing anyone wants to see is ‘further danger’
The demand for safety and the desire to race can often come at odds, with fans and drivers not wanting to see their sport watered down by an over-involved group of stewards.
Speaking exclusively to Motorsport Week, Morgan concedes that this puts the stewards in a difficult position: “It’s a tricky one to call.
“I wouldn’t want to be in the shoes of Ian Watson, who has to make those decisions, because you’re damned if you do, you’re damned if you don’t.”
In the case of the stricken car at Donington, the Cataclean Plato Racing driver offered perspective on how yellow-flag conditions are never easy for the drivers too.
“But it’s never easy, because there is a lot going on,” he admitted.
“Approaching Turn 1, sometimes you could be in your mirrors because you’ve had a bad exit out the last corner, you’ve got two cars either side of you, and you’re thinking, which way do I need to go?
“And you look up and you see a yellow flag, and sometimes it’s a bit late, so it’s very tricky to manage.
“You’re sat so low in these cars, if you’re right up someone’s backside into that corner, sometimes you can’t even see it’s there.”
Morgan’s point of drivers seeing yellow flags late or being unable to respond in the midst of battle is important.
Rowbottom, Morgan’s teammate, and Osborne tangled at Druids at Brands Hatch, with stewards admitting that both drivers were unlikely to have noticed the briefly-shown yellow flags at the time.
“The frustrating thing, it’s a 50-50, depends where you are on track,” Morgan continued.
“One, if you’re out front, it removes an opportunity for someone to overtake you, but then it also removes an opportunity to overtake.
“So you want them gone sometimes really as quick as possible.
“But, safety is obviously paramount, and when there’s marshals trying to do what they need to do, the last thing anyone wants to see is someone doing something silly and causing even further danger.”
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