Doriane Pin penalised for failing to notice F1 Academy race in Saudi Arabia was over; French driver handed 20-second penalty and drops to ninth with Britains Abbi Pulling elevated to winner; Sky Sports F1s Damon Hill criticises decision, saying lights should also indicate end of race
Fully agree with Damon.
We looked at it in the live show, we were shocked the lights/flags did not signal anything. Also, the finish flag is oddly located, is easily missed and might have come out too late.
Saying the flag is in a odd place is irrelevant. It might appear to be in the wrong place according to Damon but the drivers should all be aware where it is from the race briefing.
Sure, she should have been aware. A reprimand or penalty is correct. But that is not the point. Because she missed it, a potential hazardous situation occurred and there was no other indication to stop the danger than this single flag.
This was a situation that was not foreseen because in F1 radio-messages and fireworks will indicate to the driver that the race is over. In F1Academy this is different. Pit-crew/FIA/stewards must also learn from this and can for example wave the white flag for ‘last lap’, and use the start lights and position lights to indicate ‘track closing’. Or wave blue flags all around the track for the winner and everybody behind.
Meh, it’s the same in every feeder series: the team and the driver are responsible for knowing when the race ends. It happens very rarely that a driver misses it. But it’s not the first time ever either.
FIA could change this and have the stewards wave a certain flag throughout the whole track after checkered flag.