F1: Brundle refutes claims F1 chose showbiz over safety

–by Mark Cipolloni–

Sky Sport F1 TV reporter Martin Brundle says Formula 1 “absolutely” did not try to create showbiz drama at the Australian Grand Prix, race director Niels Wittich’s decision to used the red flag based purely on safety.

Brundle says the safety of the drivers, fans and all track workers must always come first.

“Absolutely not,” he told Sky Sports when asked if the red flags were a case of choosing ‘showbiz drama over sporting integrity’.

“I don’t think there’s any instruction to whiz this show up when required.

“You have to walk a mile in the shoes of the people that are responsible. It’s very easy for us to sit on the sidelines going through them as ‘they should have done that’.

“Back in 2009, Felipe Massa nearly died with a piece of someone else’s car coming through his cockpit.

“It is also a street circuit there with a lot of fans either side of the track and also marshals and medics that are down there.

“So, if there are pieces of debris on the track, you can’t have them flying through the air at a couple hundred miles per hour.

“I thought when Alex Albon went off they could perhaps have just used a Safety Car and swept the gravel up and cleared the car away.

“A red flag perhaps seemed slightly unnecessary but towards the end of the race, we had a tire and wheel on the track and lots of debris.

“I am absolutely confident no one is in there going ‘hey, let’s make this a little bit more fun’.

“Whether we are making crystal-clear decisions in the pressure of the moment, obviously we lost Charlie Whiting in Melbourne where he died sadly, then we went through the Michael Masi phase which everybody knows about, especially Abu Dhabi 2021.

“Then they shared the role, now we have a guy called Niels Wittich.

“Is he making the right decisions? But at the end of the day, we are sitting here on a Monday morning and we are not one per cent responsible if somebody was killed or injured.”