F1: Italian GP should have been red-flagged

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner (and 99% of the people watching the race) thinks the FIA should have red-flagged Formula 1’s Italian Grand Prix so there could have been a race for the win instead of a parade behind the safety car.

Only Lewis Hamilton fans wanted to see a parade behind the safety car. They seem to like boring parades as long as Lewis Hamilton is unchallenged.

A parade behind the Safety Car to the checkered flag – just what Lewis Hamilton fans like. The only thing missing were the floats.

While the FIA has blamed problems in retrieving Daniel Ricciardo’s stricken McLaren for it being unable to get the race going on, and that there were no grounds to red flag the race because it was dangerous, Horner thinks there was ample opportunity to have ensured a grandstand finish.

“I think there’s always lessons to learn,” he said. “But it goes against the principles of what we discussed, that it’s not good to finish races under safety cars.

“If they had known they couldn’t get it going, they should have red-flagged it and restarted. But obviously that didn’t happen.”

“I think that one could have been sorted out in the time, to be honest with you,” he said. “I think it was a case of picking up the wrong car.

“The safety car didn’t pick up a leader and then that caused a huge delay for them to have to catch up and then the released cars to catch up.

“I think you could have at least got one racing lap in there. Most probably two.”

The events at Monza come ahead of a meeting on Monday between FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem and F1 team manager to discuss on-track aspects of the sport.

Horner has no doubts that the safety car issue will become a priority in the discussion.

“The president is getting involved in that as well, to talk about certain aspects,” he said. “I’m sure this will be now near the top of the agenda.

“It is to try and get a lot of issues on the table. But we need to avoid scenarios like we had at the end of the race.”

Asked if a rule forcing a red flag, if there is a caution period late on, would be a step forward to avoid safety car finishes if things go wrong, Horner said: “I think it’s better to get it right in the first place.”