The controversial decision by the FIA race director at the end of the Formula 1 British GP continues to resonate. Guenther Steiner questioned the official explanation for the race finishing behind the safety car, suggesting there was hesitation from the race direction before the checkered flag.
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The former Haas boss believes the situation at Silverstone may have been the result of a late interpretation of the regulations. According to him, the justification presented by the entity, that a message shown to the competitors was due to a software failure, raises some questions.
On the penultimate lap of the race, the systems indicated that the safety car would return to the pits, which would open the possibility for a final racing lap. However, the race ended neutralized behind the safety car until the end, with Charles Leclerc winning ahead of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton.
Later, the FIA informed that the message had been shown by mistake due to a software problem. The episode caused dissatisfaction among the fans present at the circuit, who booed the end of the race, especially due to the impossibility of a final battle between the drivers.
Participating in the Red Flags podcast, Steiner said he was not convinced by the explanation given: “I don’t know about this software problem, if that’s real. I think they said: ‘Let’s restart the race,’ and then someone replied: ‘You can’t do that because the rules say you can’t’,” he said.
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The Italian went further by speculating about what might have happened behind the scenes: “Then they said: ‘I’m getting out of this now, stop everything, I don’t want to embarrass myself’,” he continued, indicating that the race direction may have backed down after realizing that the regulations prevented the restart.
Steiner also again defended the presence of permanent stewards in Formula 1 to assist the race director in complex decisions. For him, a fixed structure would help avoid similar situations and provide more support during critical moments at the end of races.
Despite the criticism, the former executive acknowledged that the race direction ended up following what is provided in the regulations: “Obviously, the race director did what is written in the rulebook,” Steiner concluded, commenting on one of the most debated race finishes of the current season.
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