David Coulthard critical of ‘unnecessarily complicated’ Grand Prix trend

Ex-Red Bull driver David Coulthard says the Australian Grand Prix was the latest example of Formula 1 proceedings being more complicated than necessary.

The result of that race was not actually definitive until recent days, following confirmation that Ferrari’s ‘right of review’ request over Carlos Sainz’s five-second penalty had been dismissed.

That penalty was issued after the Spaniard had collided with Fernando Alonso at a chaotic final restart, Sainz dropping from P4 to P12 and last as the Safety Car later led the drivers over the line to finish the race.

Alonso was running P3 when the collision happened, and that is where he finished, as efforts from the stewards to piece together a restart order saw the drivers revert to their positions from that last restart.

Incidents for Alex Albon and Kevin Magnussen earlier in the race had already caused separate red flag situations.

Coulthard recognises that Race Control cannot make everyone happy, but he feels the Australian GP was further proof that the series is making everything too complicated with over-analysis leading to confusion.

He did stress though that this is not only the fault of the stewards and race director, also demanding more of Formula 1 and the teams themselves.

“It is so confusing for us, for those who have been racing for a long time, for the spectators, the guests and the TV viewers,” Coulthard stated on Ziggo Sport’s Race Café.

“We just want to be entertained by good motorsport. At the end of the race, we want to know who won and who lost, but we are in a modern world where everything has to be analysed.

“I think it is inevitable that it is difficult to be the race director or to be the referee on the football pitch. You can’t make everyone happy, but we need to be entertained.

“We need to be able to close that chapter as best we can at the end of a Grand Prix and know what the results are. I think Australia is a good example of it being unnecessarily complicated.

“It didn’t look good on television, although we had some great action. Everyone loves a good crash, as long as you’re not the one crashing yourself. We can do better as a sport, and I also think the stewards can do better, the teams can do better, we can all do better.”

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David Coulthard has a point, but…

At the end of the day, races as barmy as Australia do not come along too often, and when they do, ultimately there are always going to be ways in which all those involved could handle things differently.

It did feel like the trigger-happy approach to the use of red flags at Albert Park was done very much with entertainment in mind, perhaps understandable considering Red Bull later in the race were on their way to another comfortable victory courtesy of Max Verstappen.

所以,如果种族控制试图添加一点spice with those standing restarts, was it really such a bad things? There has after all been plenty of doom and gloom over the excitement levels expected for the rest of the season ahead considering Verstappen’s dominant start.

As for the penalties like that Sainz verdict, ultimately it was Ferrari who decided to appeal that and put the final classification in doubt post-race, so perhaps that then adds substance to Coulthard’s claim that it is not just Race Control which needs to be part of this potential review into how a race weekend plays out.