Instead, the onus will be on teams to ensure their cars continue to operate in a safe manner even after they have been damaged in accidents and then to demonstrate that this is the case for inquiries within the competition raised by the board.
The black and orange flag is used as instructing the runners to dig in for repairs if they sustain damage and their continued involvement is deemed unsafe, with drivers being asked to turn up at the end of the lap after receiving the warning.
Its use in the 2022 season has made headlines since the 2022 US Grand Prix after the Haas team protested Red Bull’s results. Sergio Perez And the Alps driver Fernando Alonso Because he thinks they both finished the race while he was running damaged, which is against safety rules.
Follow this driver Haas Kevin Magnussen He instructed the flag in black and orange at three races earlier in 2022 – Canada, Hungary and Singapore – after suffering damage to the front wing final plate at each of those races that left the part fading.
This was deemed unsafe by FIA officials in those races and duly came for repairs.
But Haas was furious, feeling he was being treated differently to other teams in this matter, when it didn’t happen to Perez in the race in Austin (the damaged final plate fell five laps after his opening round contact with Alfa Romeo driver Valtteri BottasAlonso finished the race despite running several laps with his right mirror bouncing and then dropping.
Haas’ protest against Perez was dismissed because Red Bull had provided the FIA with pictures to show that the broken end plate damage was not moving unsafely, which the FIA accepted and the hosts agreed to this call.
But the US team’s protest against Alonso was tolerable at first, and he later earned an extra 30 seconds that cost him seventh place last weekend.
Fernando Alonso, Alpine A522, collides with Lance Stroll, Aston Martin AMR22
Photography: Carl Bingham / motorsports pictures
This was later scrapped after a lengthy saga in decisions about why Haas’ protest was allowed to proceed in the first place.
In announcing the abolition of Alonso’s penalty in Austin, it was revealed that FIA President Mohamed Ben Sulayem had begun a review of the future use of the black and orange flag.
Motorsport.com understands this has been unanimously passed with the F1 teams and follows the Austin hosts who declare they are “concerned” that Alonso has been allowed to continue rotating with his wing mirror hanging.
This is central to the controversy over the use of the black and orange flag in 2022, with events involving Magnussen following the wording of the rule around its use in the FIA’s sporting code, but confusion and anger after it was not. Shown to Alonso at the Circuit of the Americas.
The FIA’s International Sport Code states that the flag should be used to inform the driver concerned that his vehicle has mechanical problems that are likely to endanger himself or others and mean that he must stop at a pit on the next lap.
“When the mechanical issues are corrected to the satisfaction of the lead controller, the car can join the race.”
The use of the black and orange flag was discussed at a meeting of F1 team principals at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez ahead of opening practice for the Mexico City 2022 Grand Prix on Friday.
The ongoing discussion is about how to use the flag in upcoming events, with the understanding that officials now will be less inclined to automatically give the warning because F1 teams have a lot of data to prove a part that, even if damaged, would not suddenly become a safety issue.
This leaves F1 in a different order with the other categories covered by the ISC, where a corresponding lack of data means drivers may run unaware of their damage and so the onus is on race officials to get them to stop for repairs to ensure safety.
It is understood that no rule change is planned in Formula 1 as a result of the FIA review, with the board instead set to leave the responsibility to teams to ensure their cars operate in a safe manner at all times – although it will step in and carry out immediate investigations in cases where Where the damage is clearly visible.
One problem with this approach could be where disagreements arise over how damaged cars can continue to pursue accidents like Alonso’s accident with Lance’s Outing In Austin, where competitors naturally tend to push the boundaries of rules and other teams are likely to object to gaining a competitive advantage.
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