Terrifying Trucks and Perplexing Points - Japanese GP Talking Points

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Well that was a confusing race, wasn't it? A lot of people were left baffled by the FIA bringing a truck onto a dangerous track and using full points on a half-finished race. But I come with suggestions for future!
(sorry for the change in thumbnail, but I realised that was a better focus point)
#F1 #Formula1 #JapaneseGP
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[@tompw3141]

The lack of lights on recovery vehicles is one of those obvious things that are instantly ludicrous when it's been pointed out.

[@BigDickMark]

Right?! It's bonkers.

[@Hans-gb4mv]

And what about the marshalls, the crashed car and the debris potentially on track? Don't get me wrong, improving visibility of the recovery vehicle is a good thing. But there's so much more going on that, in a way, it saddens me that the focus is on that vehicle. Yes, hitting it is problematic for the driver that drives into it, but there are so much more dangers on track. It could even be as simple as the driver of the crashed car attempting to make it to safety.

[@vertrox3435]

I was about to ask this! I'm new to F1 so I know nothing about the safety vehicles, but my first thought was "Do the safety vehicles not have caution strobe lights on them? Y'know, like the ones that regular work/utility vehicles have had for *decades*?"

[@Paul-zk2tn]

@@Hans-gb4mv The marshal should not have been on the track at that point either if we are being reasonable. Standing on track of a full acceleration "curved straight" in wet conditions after a car had literally just aquaplaned is the definition of stupidity. The car being where it was is problematic, but not exactly something we can control. Putting lights on it is probably not helpful given it would only be there after a crash. As for the debris, again, not something we can control. Both the car and the debris can be fatal in the worst crashes, thinking back to Spa for instance, but these are unlimitedly the risks drivers are willing to take. A f***ing truck on the racing line is not a risk the driver should ever be taking in these conditions especially. Absolutely no need for it at all. I agree with the drivers, a disgrace to the memory of Bianchi.

[@sylance777]

Agreed! It doesn't even have to be modified trucks, just a battery powered magnetic super light that travels with the circus and given out to all recovery vehicles.

[@vydave]

Thanks for being a pretty rational voice in a sea of clickbait and militantly biased F1 content. You're the source of legit F1 news for me!

[@joshualewisjones]

Seriously. Chainbear is the best!

[@jebus456]

absolutely agreed

[@fran6b]

+

[@iFlickdown]

Only person ive heard say “pierre was going too fast.” Yes recovery vehicles should never be on track and yes pierre was going to fast. The incident isnt much deeper than that.

[@tonyo_zhelev]

I'm literally on the point of hiding F1 content from youtube because some of the channels have gone completely "click bait titles and let's appeal to the Netflix drama fans". This is my favourite F1 chanel. Always meaningful content and great perspective onto things.

[@InfinteIdeas]

It is ridiculous that more safety measures around recovery vehicles are not already in place

[@tompw3141]

He could have been going the *same speed as the safety car* and still hit the truck.

[@bhargavpavuluri3118]

@@tompw3141 Yes. But he should not be speeding under SC and red flags. Lando questioning FIA is okay in this scenario. But Gasly mad rants are despicable

[@greatsageclok-roo9013]

And it's weird that this wasn't the only major race for it to happen in… *on the same day.* There was an issue with the Recovery vehicle almost blocking a driver exiting the pit-lane during the Bathurst 1000.

[@diegoleonardia5358]

@@bhargavpavuluri3118 Why isnt he allowed to be mad about it? When he passed the tractor he was respecting SC Delta. And his penalties were given after passing the tractor which he admitted to. He's allowed to be mad as possibke as he was doing technically everything he normally would. If you want him to slow down there because of Sainz or marshals or a Tractor, then the FIA needs to implement a system where they can override radios and inform all drivers of incidents on track.

[@bhargavpavuluri3118]

@@diegoleonardia5358 He knows there is a stricken car at the end of that corner half on track as he saw it in the previous lap. He was accelerating rapidly at the scene of the incident. Hitting a stricken F1 car is also dangerous. Who put him in that situation. He endangered himself. Then he can't complain about others endangering him. First follow the safety rule before pointing at others What FIA did is wrong and utterly ridiculous. But it doesn't excuse his stupid behaviour as if he is completely innocent. Maybe it's time for FIA to bring severe punishments like race bans for not following safety car and Red flag protocol. You can't lecture someone on something you don't practice

[@progmetalfan4270]

- unbiased - actually does the research - never raises voice or rants - beautiful simple graphics - sponsored bit left until the end Thank you Stuart, for being an exemplary KZbinr

[@fhz3062]

100% agreed.

[@davelycett7580]

We should start a campaign to get you on the FIA board. I can't think of any other contributor to this sport that makes this much sense this often...

[@Bryan2799]

100% agree.

[@gabor6259]

Imagine Stuart and Seb on the FIA board. 🤩

[@asaflevy1540]

"Honestly what are we doing here?" Chain Bear to FIA Stewards \ Board on a permanent spot

[@DiscoDevil197]

What will he do there exactly? He is a content creator not a trained racing official

[@TheEvilCheesecake]

A good governing body is made up of two stages. The first is a large body of experts in the technical fields, who stay up to date and supply information to the second stage, both as they come across information, and when the second stage requests something specific. The second stage is decision makers, whose job it is to take the technical information, balance out areas where two or more issues are competing against each other, and draw up a plan for what should happen. Stuart isn't going to be very useful in the first stage. But he's shown time and time again that he's great at researching things he's not an expert on, putting together a really clear and informative overview of it, and making a thoughtful and useful decision about what to change. That's exactly the sort of person who's useful in the second stage.

[@Deltarious]

Safety is simple for me- If there is a situation in which we would have been furious at the way an accident or incident could have happened then we should be equally furious at the possibility of it having happened. Our anger is much more useful *before* someone has been seriously injured because it could save someone.

[@the4fibs832]

Chain Bear is one of the most fair and thoughtful commentators in all of F1 media, including traditional channels.

[@LW0001]

Once again, the F1 community through sheer (mis)interpretation merely created a better rule than the FIA could come up with

[@lemmyboy4107]

i mean we all use common sense when we read these rules. A big mistake.

[@dannywhite132]

Its easy to come up with rules when you are lacking all limitations. The fia isn't dumb, they just have a tonne of stuff to think about and work with

[@DiscGolfLeagueMVP]

@@dannywhite132 Blindly trusting authority to do the right thing is silly, they need to be held to account for some of the rubbish they've been doing of late.

[@dannywhite132]

@@DiscGolfLeagueMVP the authority that has successfully managed multiple racing series for best part of a century, and has done a great job implementing safety measures despite opposition from drivers and fans. I think they're a good group to trust. Its not blindly following if you are able to scrutinise btw

[@Elizabeth-vh6il]

I love the strategy and luck elements brought about by piting under the safety car. The last time piting under the safety car was banned it really sucked when drivers who had no choice but to pit and got penalized (as if we need any more penalties in F1). Also, if they're going to be so aprehensive about wet running then they should at least restore it to a 4 hour window instead of a 3 hour window.

[@Dat-Mudkip]

They should do something like NASCAR where pit road is closed for a portion of the safety car (in this case, until everyone has caught up to it), and afterwards the pits are opened to all vehicles.

[@LiqdPT]

In this case, Gasly had a big sign plastered across the front of his car, so it was a safety issue. The options were to stop the car (and I assume be out of the race) or crawl around to the pits where they could remove the sign and replace the front wing while there. I don't think lapping behind the safety car would have been an option for him

[@garyrowe58]

There isn't refuelling any more, so you wouldn't get cars running out of petrol if the pits are closed

[@Elizabeth-vh6il]

Could still get tyre blowouts or worn inters with insufficient grip, etc.

[@NamePend]

Number 3 6:18 is the exact same question I have. it would stop a lot of confusion and allow all the drivers to get the same update at the same time. which would solve some controversies

[@acecombatplayer1]

They could just use the same system WEC use. It wouldn’t even be hard

[@reisspower6241]

It's worth keeping in mind that gasly was fined for speeding later in the track after the race was red flagged, in the sector with the recovery vehicle his speed with within the regulations as he was maintaining a speed beneath his delta. The race was red flagged 2 seconds before he passed the vehicle. Its also worth mentioning that I believe alonso said when he was in the SC train he could not see the recovery vehicle at all and so if anyone went a bit wide they wouldn't have seen anything until it was well after too late. Also when the recovery vehicle and martial were told to go on the track gasly was in the pit which for some insane reason does not display on the track map so when they told them it was safe at a glance it looked like the SC had already collected all the cars as gasly was absent from the track map but there was a roughly 60 seconds once he came out the pits that they could have noticed him back on the track though I imagine it could be easy to miss given how hectic these incidents are as they shortly after red flagged the race.

[@sportsjefe]

I mean, if you look at the track map and see all available dots bunched up, you have no reason to look again. There's no way to determine whether Gasly would come out of the pits.

[@stusue9733]

Please tell me there more than one set of deltas if he is going to hang his hat on "but delta time said it was ok to be doing what I was doing"

[@tonywillans7556]

This is a classic 'swiss cheese' scenario. How many holes line up for an incident to occur. There were plenty of holes lining up in this instance and Gasly was just very lucky he didn't aquaplane or go wide on that bend. FiA get ya shit together, chumps!

[@stusue9733]

@@tonywillans7556 Drivers have proved time and time again that they cant be trusted to "slow down and be prepared to stop". Time for remote control pit lane speed limiters.

[@reisspower6241]

@@stusue9733 there's only one delta time and they are required to stay within that window he couldn't have gone much slower whilst respecting his delta, he was also never signalled to be at a speed where he was able to stop as contrary to popular belief there were never any double yellow flags signalled. Driver safety should not start and finish with the drivers. The race organisers are the most important part in keeping people safe and clearly the FIA STILL have lack luster safety procedures for very wet conditions. As has been said before even if gasly had perfect foresight and went half as fast, if he had just aquaplaned the same way sainz did, he would still wind up dead and could have also killed the marshals on track. This is malicious negligence on the part of the FIA in upsettingly similar circumstances to a previous incident that cost a driver their life. The only way that these incidents can be meaningfully prevented is changes at the top that change how they handle these conditions. Health and safety rules are often written in blood they were lucky that these same rule changes didn't end up with more.

[@squeakybunny2776]

I also suspect the FIA/FOM wasn't sure what exactly counted as the last lap. When a race hits the two hour time limit. You finish the lap where the timer hits 0 and then do one extra lap. But I have suspicion that when it hits the 3 hour limit it stops the lap in which the timer hits zero. Because I don't think they did an extra lap. The "final lap" graphic was shown shortly before being removed again and I remember a lot of confusion whether it was the actual final lap or not. I also think that's why they missed max across the finish line.

[@danaborris345]

Yeah, I thought that aspect might be part of the discussion in this video.

[@aaronaaronsen3360]

Yeah, especially because some teams were confused and told some drivers to continue pushing while others simply lifted off the throttle cause the race was over. In low visibility conditions..

[@Michallote]

The same thing happended on Singapore and it was actually +1 lap

[@squeakybunny2776]

@@Michallote in Singapore it was the 2 hour clock that got to zero and then its plus one lap. That's normal. I didn't have time to check yet but I suspect that either The regulations state that when the 3 hour clock reaches zero the race stops immediately with the next crossing of the finish line and not everyone was aware of that Or, when the 3 hour clock reaches zero its also plus one lap but they waved the chequered flag too soon

[@lennard604]

In Monaco this year they ran into the 3 hour limit and did the extra lap. The rules say the scheduled amount of remaining laps will be set to 1 when the driver crosses the finish line when the time limit is reached. Perez time in Monaco was 1h56 so he didn't reach the 2hr mark but the 3. So the FIA are inconsistent this season

[@jebus456]

This is the most concise breakdown of the problems that came up during the GP ty

[@kristofborsos5784]

I think we should go back to having 4 hours to finish a race. 3 is not enough when we have to wait for the wheater. Or if we can't get going in 3 hours the race is cancelled but if we can there's an additional hour to finish it in.

[@MartijnFrazer]

Yeah, I agree. The 3 hour rule is also the reason why this scenario has never played out before like this. Races have been cut short due to time constraints before, but in those cases the majority of the laps had always been run. There's no doubt about giving full points when you're only a handful of laps short. But now with the 3 hour limit, it's likely this will happen more often. They say they want to avoid situations like the 2011 Canadian grand prix, but honestly that one is fondly remembered as one of the most crazy races of all time. It's a mistake to try and avoid such things.

[@gsurfer04]

It was already dusk at Suzuka at the 3h limit.

[@theunreadcomment9834]

Should have been able to force all drivers to use the wet tyre. The recent times when the race has been suspended due to wet weather, by the time they get going its already time to switch to inters - whats the point of having a wet tyre if theyre not going to use it. It would be like DRS, until the race director is satisfied that standing water has been cleared, everyone is on the full wet. The rivers across track cleared up pretty quickly once we got racing. So if everyone was forced to be on the tyre then noone is taking a risky strategy by going onto the inters first.

[@bjarulez]

I was at the BTCC showdown all weekend so didn't watch til Monday, had to avoid social media so I wasn't disappointed, but I was still disappointed with how it ended, as someone who watched the 2014 race I was massively surprised about the tractor on the track

[@sportsjefe]

A BTCC Marshal posted on reddit his assessment of the situation, and he believes that what tripped everyone up was that when the truck was deployed, Gasly was in the pack (prior to pitting), therefore the field was successfully bunched and the truck could be safely deployed.

[@icememevan]

Ayyy was also at Brands, I swear BTCC weekends genuinely blow me away with how fun they are especially with a mate or your dad :)

[@Hans-gb4mv]

Here's the other side, consider that conditions were not worsening but stayed the same as 5 minutes prior, at the start of the GP. The SC picks up the pack and drives a few laps with them so that they can keep expelling water and we go racing again once the Ferrari was removed. No one would have complained as we kept on racing and would have had a full race distance. That's the difficult part of sitting in Race Control. The moment you throw that red flag, you know you'll lose 20 to 30 minutes at a minimum due to the restart procedure. And with the rain you know that the track will got worse, not better in that time causing you to potentially delay even further and not restart at all. With Spa 2021 in mind, you throw out the SC first and hope to recover the vehicle under SC. Hindsight always has 20/20 vision. Had you known you would be going for the red flag, of course you wouldn't have sent the recovery vehicle out. But that was not the initial plan.

[@Shifftee]

@Canby Ibarra Safely deployed? It shouldn't been out until the race was red flagged and the cars got in the pits, especially in those poor conditions.

[@bjarulez]

@@icememevan ye I went with my mate, first BTCC since I was a child and I had an awesome time, much has changed but it is still as exciting as ever

[@ClarkeDesign]

I'm a safety car observer here in the UK. We do go out onto circuit when there are recovery vehicles on the circuit as well. Our remit is to always go much, much slower at the point on the track where there are marshals and recovery vehicles. Race control communicate to us, so we know where these dangers are and we control our speed and the following pack accordingly. I hope that this is also the case in F1, however I don't see this on the TV footage, There does not seem to be very much slowing down from either the safety car nor the pack around these danger areas.

[@MsZeeZed]

I was surprised when the new FIA president didn’t ask for the whole rule book to be reviewed after it started to creak last year. The fast fix for Spa was needed immediately, but this shows what happens when you rush though a change on one rule, you miss how it interacts with other rules. In this case the shortening of the 4hr clock to 3hrs last year is what caused an issue with the new points for shortened races rule to emerge something else that changed too quickly. I recommend they hire a company expert in disaster planning to run race scenarios on the FIA rule book with some of the race control team this winter. It’ll teach them more than a decade of race experience IMHO

[@edchapmansvideos]

Let’s be honest the new President isn’t fit for purpose. Way out of his depth.

[@AlexJeffDust-RenAzuma66]

Especially after your point about lights on the recovery vehicle, if the crane was a tele-handler like it looks like, it should have definitely had an amber rotating beacon on the roof. If it didn't somehow, it should be easy to either install one or find one with them, there are more with beacons than not. It's the entire point of the beacon lights in the first place

[@ThisIsAitch]

Agreed - but honestly it needs flashing orange lights on all corners and extremities. You can never be too safe in these conditions..

[@stusue9733]

@@ThisIsAitch Does this apply to marshalls?

[@Vamanos46]

Here's a suggestion for road relevant tech for f1 to consider implementing into cars for the races: have a Heads Up Display show Visual data gathered from a few Radar and /or Lidar sensors, have the drivers use it in all conditions wet or dry. No more excuses of "I didn't see him in the mirrors", or race stoppages due to " poor visibility".

[@PuncakeLena]

I'd like to add that a few hunderd meters later there was another recovery vehicle tending to Albon, but this time off the track. Additionally, Zhou and Gasly nearly collided with the recovery vehicle tending to Sainz I feel like these facts deserve to be mentioned too, but I've only seen them in the past 24 hours so I can see why they didn't make it into your video

[@enotdetcelfer]

They can't even get the driver tire indicator/icon changed in a timely manner half the time. I feel like "all they have to do is put up a graphic that explains it" sort of things might be beyond their current level

[@guilhermeodai]

2:19 Gasly wasn’t a bit behind the pack on lap 1, his start from the pits was well timed and he was closely following other drivers when he collected the ad board. He was however far from the pack on lap 2, after stopping to change the front wing and remove the board

[@stevebryce]

Do you have any comment on the suggestion that the race was actually cut short by a lap? the suggestion is that Max had started what turned out to be his final lap just before the clock hit zero, and that he should therefore have been allowed to complete that lap and then do one more. This is important for the Alonso overtake on the line.

[@aavvv_]

Somewhere else it was discussed that the ending of the 3-hour window is handled differently in the rules than the 2-hour race time limit. For clarity it probably should be consistent.

[@garyrowe58]

For the 3hr window, it's over when the leader first crosses the line after 3 hrs. For the 2hr window, it's 2 hrs plus one lap

[@attiladezso8508]

I hope some of your suggestions will be implemented soon. Even road working vehicles has huge and recognizeable flashlights on motorways (at least in Hungary). From FIA to drivers radio communication is the other major change the sport can make - since quite a few years steering wheel flashlights have been used, it would be easy to do.

[@plz7788]

This would be a perfect vehicle to teach risk management studies

[@julianfowler1608]

Excellent explanation covering all the angles. Thank you

[@quintuscrinis8032]

The only channel I still have notifications on for once again reminding me why. Such wonderfully succient and inciteful commentary. Thank you.

[@carriew5106]

Great video as always. Radical to have a reasonable approach to it all.

[@Sternendrache11]

One thing to add, Gasly was NOT too fast going past the recovery truck, he was in the delta time there. He was too fast between T14 & T15, which was afterwards

[@luttren]

Gasly himself said he arrived “flat out” to the crash scene where the tractor was. He knew that there had been a crash there and that Sainz’s car was there and he still went flat out. Yes the tractor should not have been there but Gasly passed the crash site way to fast

[@crossphaded]

Excellent analysis as usual, Stuart! 👍🏾

[@clx001]

Personally I think the suggestions made in this video, race control messages to all drivers, lights on the recovery vehicle are enough. F1 often runs in a tight time slot and stopping the race means going back to the pits, waiting for the track to clear, waiting for the warning from race control to resume, formation lap and finally the race to start again.

[@azarulnazimabdullah22]

yes but driver safety and track marshal should be top priority here... Then the precedence here is to RED flag it and everyone go into pit lane and once the car have been safely remove from the track then only they can continue the race...

[@safcjcp]

@@azarulnazimabdullah22 no red flag at monza for Danny ric and I’m sure they brought a tractor out

[@azarulnazimabdullah22]

@@safcjcp that with good visibility... But yeah if you want to have it RED flag then that fair enough...

[@AlejandroLZuvic]

I don't think we should red flag at every crash, but in a situation like Suzuka the lack of visibility pretty much demands a full red flag.

[@BOABModels]

The truck not having hazards on was pretty ridiculous - recovery vehicles put them on at the side of the motorway so why didn't they have them on there?

[@lampa3413]

What I think was also a problem again was tv directing. There were close fights between the drivers that were expected to happen (by expected I mean the time gap getting smaller between the drivers) and were not shown on screen, especially Alonso overtakes (little bit biased on this one). And it also seemed like the tv directing crew didn't know when was the end of the race when there was a literal timer and rules how a finish pans out if the race ends on a timer, although I've seen some comments about Max passing the finish line before the timer ended so was there another lap of racing expected? I didn't do my research on this one and would also like to know wat happened. All in all, it was a lot of fun to watch, specifically watching the end of the race unfold and everything afterwards, so many situations were so anticlimactic it created and anticlimacitception (the timer, Charles last chicane, Alonso Vettel fight, Charles' penalty, points awarding, cooldown room, everyone confused, confused Max celebration...) Edit: added a conclusion to the comment

[@guilhermeodai]

Regarding the final lap, I’ve seen a number of races in F2 and F3 this year ending on a time limit, and the procedure on those have always been to add one last lap after the clock expired. If it should be the same on F1 I don’t know, but Verstappen was exiting turn 2 when the clock ran out, and a few turns later the broadcast showed “Final Lap” banner. It doesn’t seem teams and drivers were expecting/aware of that, Alonso kept racing full speed after crossing the finishing line, and even his engineer wasn’t sure at first the race had ended.

[@Nummer378]

About Max: Yes, he crossed the line roughly as the timer was reaching zero. Some commentators stated "timing data shows he crossed the line before the timer was at zero", so many people expected another racing lap. However, race control showed a "final lap" message shortly afterwards and the race ended after that lap. Some teams were confused too, on the team radio Alonso was told to "keep pushing" after the race had already ended. After passing multiple cars (with his team still saying "keep pushing") he gave up and slowed down. Yet another confusing FIA thing. TV direction has been pretty bad for a while now, and it's not getting better.

[@DiscGolfLeagueMVP]

@@Nummer378 What?? You're telling me you don't like watching midfield DRS trains or the leader doing unchallenged hotlaps while fights for position are going on?

[@BrijG1988]

Agree with your standard operating procedure for the safety car period and recovery vehicles/marshalls on track. I have often thought the same thing when watching other safety car periods but this weekend just highlighted the issues to a whole new level. Things need to change!

[@michaelmccoy5622]

My god your full context explanation of why Gasly was where he was adds soooo much. Your work is such top tier. TY CB

[@ShunAce26]

always happy everytime you release a video! :D

[@alexsinclair9760]

You always explain everything perfectly mate. Fair and logical how F1 should be.

[@fhz3062]

The best one I've seen so far.

[@AkshatKai]

I really like your 3rd point of having race control broadcasts directly to the car radio. It is partially implemented by Ferrari which informs of safety car and VSCs, same can be done for incidents (and yellow flags) as well, even if there isn't any safety car called yet.

[@dannywhite132]

All cars already have a system that tells the driver of v/sc and yellow flags already

[@miawgogo]

@@dannywhite132 that wasnt the suggestion though, CB was suggesting what formula E does where Scot Elkins(FE's Race Director) can make an announcement to all driver that there is a recovery vehicle on track

[@mafiousbj]

My girlfriend is a lawyer and mentioned to me some of the rules of the F1 ruleset and so badly written and leave so much room for interpretation that most lawyers would have a field day with it in court....I guess that´s why they usually mention something goes against "the spirit of the rules" as an umbrella term when a team does something they don´t want but is technically allowed to to save themselves from embarrassment. No wonder we are seeing so many technicalities lately in areas we thought were already a 100% bulletproof after recent (and not so recent) events.

[@hallamhal]

Agree with the points you raise here - When we're talking drivers' safety following an accident, I don't think you can be overzealous. It was almost inevitable the race was going to be stopped some time after the safety car came out; why risk causing further accidents?

[@jhbats246]

Thank you for providing actual realsitic solutions, unlike other pundits who are basically suggesting no cars can be on track every time a tractor needs to be used.

[@the4fibs832]

When I first got into f1, I was shocked that cars could basically go as fast as they want to catch up to a safety car train. The whole process seems risky to me.

[@rishids98]

As per usual, brilliant video

[@theterseverse]

Mate your content and voice is uncannily soothing. It's like asmr for me ngl ❤️

[@NowThatsGreg]

I understand why they changed the 4 hour limit to 3 hours, but in races like these it's a shame. Track was being dried by the cars and with the old 4 hour limit we would've had a full race

[@aaronaaronsen3360]

I think another problem was that in Japan it gets darker quickly, so they were running out of daylight to end the race.

[@AlejandroLZuvic]

@@aaronaaronsen3360 yes and no. They indeed were running out of daylight but they stoped because of the time limit so the point about the daylight time is moot.

[@aaronaaronsen3360]

@@AlejandroLZuvic Well of course they stopped because of the time limit, but the commentator said that it wouldn't be a good idea to continue racing because the day would get dark, so I don't think one more hour would've been safe.

[@eamonahern7495]

My idea for a solution to recovery vehicles on track at suzuka is cranes at strategic locations around the circuit. Where sainz went off and the straight to 130R are close together, as are the chicane at the end of the lap and the long sweeping left up the hill before degner. You can cover 2 different sections of track with one crane between them in places and they don't necessarily have to be Tower cranes so that they can be moved closer to a recovery point if needed. Look at all the buildings in the way at Monaco and they have crane recovery drilled very well. You wouldn't need as many at suzuka despite the circuit length for reasons just outlined.

[@sevegarza]

There should be a "soft red flag” meaning all cars return to the pit lane but cannot pit. They can park in the pit lane and have their cars cooled down by those air blower things and their tiers kept warm with blankets. Then when the track is clear they leave the pit lane and have a safety car restart. This also gives us more actual racing laps instead of a lot of laps behind the safety car. Also maybe there can still be an option to pit during this time but the rule will be that all pitting cars have to leave the pit lane behind cars that didn’t pit and the pitting cars line up in the order they entered the pit lane. So cars can still fix damages and change tires if they really need too.

[@mediumsizedcal]

Quality of scripting, production, animation is getting better and better. As ever, the arguments are well-reasoned and on point. You're an absolute diamond and I think you're on the verge of a massive, massive break into the world of F1 broadcasting. If you're not, all the better for us. Keep going!

[@musunshine31]

The Futurama reference wins the day! I love that quote, but no one has ever understood it's from a show. Bravo sir!

[@Cafferssss]

Hello Mr chain bear. The race director Eduardo Freitas has a direct line to all drivers in the wec series and does exactly this. He also does a countdown when starting and ending slow zones, safety cars and fcys. Therefore F1 have zero excuse to not implement this.

[@GeniusLad32]

I do find it a bit hilarious that people were complaining about Masi bending the rules last year and now the FIA are getting stick for actually following the rules regarding points.

[@listtamaru]

12:11-12:14 and that goes for the whole season. No dirty driving, no dangerous driving: just really, really, really skilled (and fast) driving. Hats off! Apart from trolls and haters, I don't believe there's anyone who doesn't think he fully deserves the crown this year. And yes, that means even Hamilton fans, like me.

[@srjt1684]

100% agree with everything in this video. Safety can always be improved and I too was surprised how we had a repeat of Belgium's points disaster

[@Jai-jn7te]

In regards to the vehicle on track, every single thing you said should be implemented immediately and it blows my mind as a new fan that they aren't in place already

[@DiscGolfLeagueMVP]

especially when they're in other series while the "pinnacle of motorsport" doesn't have them

[@Olivyay]

Closing the pitlane during safety cars also messes with strategies, that's how we got Singapore 2008. In IndyCar, where beforehand if a safety car happened just before you planned to pit you were done, they started to allow cars to finish a lap and pit if they want to before closing the pitlane, and I think it's a good middle ground between safety and not impacting strategies too much.

[@MsZeeZed]

I switched off the radio, but kept the TV going on silent so I found out from the big screen behind Max, that was at least unique in my F1 memories. It was funnier than 84 when it took ages for the commentary to calculate the permutations when Mansell breakdown decided which Ferrari would take the drivers title.

[@AlejandroLZuvic]

Thank you, thank you, thank you for being the voice of reason! A lot of people say it was the commentators fault because they "didn't read the rules duh!". But even the teams didn't know what's going on, there was obviously a huge miscommunication problem. Also the rule is just stupid, lol. Totally agree with everything you said about the recovery vehicles and I'm also a bit shocked they don't have a grid-wide radio to inform every driver at once.

[@fhz3062]

I like to say this is the kind of problem of not using a programming language. Rules are written under natural language without the same kind of rigor necessary for a clear result processed under an algorithm.

[@patch3024]

It's so strange that for a Sport that's meant to be the biggest out there in terms of racing and all about safety that it fails so hard with a lot of minor things that could really be the difference some day. Flashing/brighter lights, FIA voice control to drivers, super slow speed during safety zones, not these targets or whatever they have now. Must start on full wets when it's obviously full wets and no early pitting for a number of laps for inters. One thing is for sure, they need to be quicker calling SC/VSC, this year there has been a number of times when it's obvious but so slow to be called.

[@pauljefferson3662]

On the closing the pitlane and strategy 'luck' point, I'm not sure I agree, as it still introduces a lot of luck to strategy, just in the opposite direction - you can see the impacts it has in Indycar which means that everyone else gets much more conservative on strategy and just covers off the first one to pit as a result

[@Thegamerfailer]

I think the saddest part is max had won and no one knew. No celebration or cheering. No "max verstappen is a 2 time champion of the world" from crofty. Its like waiting all night for the big surprised only to find out the surprise was 5 minutes ago and no one knew.

[@rikoti174]

Yo chain, will we need a vid about the cost cap being broken by RB and AM? cuz im confused and you're very clear in the way you speak and explain

[@rikoti174]

@@kuroneko9270 thank you.

[@scarkillerful]

​@@kuroneko9270 you're missing one thing here: the FIA *consider* RB to be in breach of the cost cap. They did not confirm them to factually be in breach of the cost cap - yet. RB on the other hand, *consider* themselves not to be in breach of the cost cap. It's down to interpretation of costs, on both ends. RB fully believe themselves not to be in breach of the cost cap. Also, a reminder that the financials are audited by 3rd parties, for both team and the FIA. One of these 3rd parties auditing RB found them to be in compliance, meanwhile the other helping the FIA, found RB not to be in compliance. That can only mean that there is a fundamental disagreement over costs and exclusions from the cap. Only once these disagreements have been cleared up, can a punishment (or no punishment for that matter) be dished out.

[@blakedake19]

​@@scarkillerful How can you consider something to be in breach of a rule if not to factually breaching that rule? That's some sophysm right there. What RB considers and thinks does not matter. It's not interpretation, it's eluding rules with accounting tricks and they are sad (looking at you catering lmao). I have no idea where you read that there were 3rd parties reviewing the spending, I've always thought and believed that it was an internal FIA body to do that periodically. If you have any links to show that, post them here.

[@miawgogo]

When you mentioned a way to communicate to all drivers my brain immediately jumped to Scot Elkins going "Attention all drivers, there is X on the track at turn N" in formula E

[@aaronaaronsen3360]

Pretty good explanation of what happened, but you missed an important one (that I found on another KZbin channel cause I missed this one too): the checkered flag was show a lap early. When Verstappen crossed the finish line, the timer still had 4 seconds on, so they should've made one more lap, which wouldn't have changed much in terms of results in the front, maybe more in the back (ie Vettel vs Alonso). While this seems like one more inconsequential error from the FIA, it was really a safety hazard since some drivers where on their cooldown lap, while others where still at full speed. And we know that highly different speed do on car, especially in a low visibility environment. And additionally, race marshalls tend to go close to the track at the end of a race, usually to do some salute to the pilots. Especially when there's a new world champion. That has a Japanese engine. From a brand that is the owner of the track. Luckily I didn't saw anyone on the track, maybe the marshalls were as confused as the FIA, but this is another widely underestimated security misshap.

[@ben_1]

Also, technically, I think the rule is that since the chequered flag was shown too early, the final result _should_ have been taken from the last time Verstappen crossed the line _before_ he saw the chequered flag. I.E. one lap before leclerc got his time penalty, i.e. Leclerc would still be second, i.e. Max is not yet world champion.

[@chiarapicuccio2759]

I was confused too, but from what I understood the chequered flag was shown at the right moment: VER finishes lap 27 and the timer has still 4 seconds on, so he starts lap 28. During this lap, the maximum total race time of three hours is reached so the chequered flag is shown and the race ends. The race lasted in fact 28 laps. According to the rules (art. 5.3) an additional lap is required when the race ends because of the two hours rule, but when the time limit of 3 hours is reached, that additional lap is no more required. So is this wrong/am I missing something? Why do you think the chequered flag was shown in the wrong moment? Anyway, I was surprised that even the teams and drivers were not sure about what was happening, I know it was maybe an uncommon situation, but it was also dangerous as you pointed out, and a clearer communication was needed. (I hope my English is not too bad)

[@Loudeboss]

@@chiarapicuccio2759 This is correct

[@aaronaaronsen3360]

@@chiarapicuccio2759 The English was good (at least for me, I'm not a native speaker either) and thank you for the clarifications, I didn't read all the regulations and I think you are correct. Still, the fact remains that not everyone was understanding what was going on and cars that are still facing in the middle of cars that slowed down was not safe. I think a brief reminding of the rules (about points and the time left in the race) would've been a good thing. Thank you very much for your findings in the rulebook and you detailed answer.

[@DonkeyDoormatDrive]

Thank you Chainbear, catching up on F1 news would be exhausting without you

[@Qaianna]

One issue is that as long as a car is on the track, as well as a truck, there is a risk. I'm now remembering when Juan Pablo Montoya hit a safety truck which had a lot of strobe lights ... and which ended up a LOT brighter after he hit it. He was all alone catching up to a Nascar safety car queue, something broke in his car, and he ended up making an involuntary right turn during the Daytona 500.

[@hobbyphile]

It is a great idea that the crane should have warning lights like safety car to notify drivers of their presence

[@cameronmackenzie5356]

another point about the points system is that it was discussed in singapore that if we didn't get to a certain distance different points would be awarded and then no one pointed it out after

[@DarthEvilicus]

There is fan video of the entire Sainz incident all the way up to Gasly passing by. Two things no one really mentions: Carlos’ car was on the racing line and in a dangerous position. The car did need to be recovered quickly. And the safety car has caught up to the leaders and so the top ten were already at safety car speed but the back runners were all scrambling to catch up to the line (including Gasly) I think there needs to be a review of the speeds to catch up to the line and communication between the FIA, teams and drivers of where safety equipment is in inclement weather.

[@aaronaaronsen3360]

I saw Lewis passing inches from Carlos' car and that was frightening. Nonetheless, hitting a F1 car, even at full speed, is way different than hitting a truck, in term of shape and mass.

[@rdeEKINS]

Race director to driver radio is super easy to implement. After all the WEC already does it and is super useful.

[@justScottyyy]

Brilliant video as always! So with the recovery vehicle on track, firstly I don't think they or marshals should be on track when it's raining, especially if it's on the edge of being too wet to race like it was. If it's dry and we're not stopping the race to recover a car then your suggestions are very good but I'd like to add something to them. When the drivers leave the grid to start the formation lap they are required to have the pit limiter on until the pass the end of the start grid (since all the team personnel are at either side of the track), so why don't we make it a requirement to be on the pit limiter in the mini-sectors that there are recovery vehicles and marshals out on track, kinda like slow zones in WEC. Lastly you mention the luck of a safety car when it comes to strategy and that'd be a good reason to prevent pit stops under SC. If you look at Indycar this is pretty much what they do but a SC (or caution for Americans) can still make or break your race. If you go for a long stint and then a SC comes out before you can pit, you have to wait for the field to bunch up before pitting which puts you behind everyone that's already pitted, no matter how far ahead of them you were when the SC was called. So there's still luck it would just work in the opposite way to as it currently does.

[@etiennec8139]

6:19 I am surprised F1 doesn't have WEC-style Race-director annoucements. Also I thing WEC's full-course yellow is much more effective than VSC but that's not relevant in this situation

[@Josh-ui7nq]

I think a 'not quite red flag' (pink?) could be used where the cars file into the pits immediately but do not get out the car. the track is totally clear for marshals etc to quickly move the car, then 5 mins later they can start again, 1 lap behind the safety car then a rolling start

[@fhz3062]

Good suggestion. I think/guess, race director avoid red flagging on lap 1 to avoid some standing start afterwards. They deployed SC and then the red flag. The red flag could have been early deployed.

[@aavvv_]

They made a mistake on the points rules, it was already said they will correct it in the off-season.

[@ericsbuds]

YIKES. i missed this race and that is a scary sight, especially after what we've seen before :(

[@Dev48714]

You misspoke at 7:46 ,but all in all great video!

[@JP05CPSN]

I didn't find this race very entertaining I've got to say... but I did watch it/find entertaining in the knowledge it was going to make a great Chain Bear episode, and you die not disappoint. I particularly enjoyed the explanation at 11:00 oh FIA only you poor little things could come to a 'solution' such as this.

[@johnharris6655]

In the US, when ever there is a tow truck, police car or fire engine on a highway, those things are lit up like Christmas trees and you can see them a mile away in any type of weather. I cannot believe than a recovery vehicle on an F1 track does not have nearly every square inch of available space covered in lights.

[@ThyAxeman]

Honestly, the idea of race direction directly communicating with all drivers under safety car (with priority over any other team communication) is simple, genius, and very easy to implement. They should do it immediately.

[@bchamness6]

I guess the difference between a timed partial race and one that prematurely red flags/ends is that you'd be able to plan more for the timed race? Like, you'd possibly have a general idea of when the race will "end" and could therefore execute a strategy for that, where those that just red flag and end wouldn't let teams do that? Not sure if that difference is worth one getting full points and the other not though. It seems silly to have a partial points plan that doesn't account for all partial races. I also contend that it makes sense for the community to be confused (as we're not expected to know the full regs), but I find it VERY strange that the teams would act confused. It's pretty plainly written in the regs, and you would think an organization as big and complex as an F1 team would have a DEEP understanding of what those rules say.

[@laughinginthe90s]

Considering aquaplaning: going fast, getting more down force to press tread blocks through a film of water, can actually improve control, and therefore safety. Downforce vehicles are most stable at high speeds, and control only falls off a cliff when trying to take corners at the theoretical limit. This is in contrast with impact damage, visability and closing speed, which improves as speeds slow. You either want to go EXTREMELY slow, or pretty fast (without pushing, to stay in a healthy downforce region)

[@zulubunsen9067]

I wouldn't mind the FIA also taking a look at the last lap rules differing between the 2 and 3 hour limits. I kinda get why in the case of the 3 hour limit the last lap is the one on which the time runs out, but the 2 hours is just as much a hard limit to the racing (hell, it's even more of a hard limit in terms of racing, the 3 hours is more to do with TV programming). I get that the +1 lap of the 2 hour limit could end up as almost two extra laps after the timer hitting zero (if the time runs out a few seconds into the lap like it was here). But the 3-hour last lap rule can become confusing if the time runs out close to the end of the lap -- imagine the timer hitting zero less then a second before the leader crosses the finish line, they might not even realize the race is over, an extra lap would make sure everyone could confirm which is the last lap. Hell, this time around there was almost a lap to make sure everyone's confirmed on it, the graphics for the "Final Lap" were up, and no one seemed to be sure, not even the TV direction, who didn't manage to show Max finishing the race as would be tradition. Almost all teams and drivers thought there will be one extra lap, eg. Lando's engineer only managed to confirm the race was done over half a lap after the checkered flag -- which F1 kindly edited together for their "over the line radio" video. I get that this partly stems from the fact that the 3 hour limit is reached incredibly rarely, but why not make the rules consistent to root out confusion?

[@michaelmuller5856]

Fun fact: not only is the 3 hour window reached incredibly rarely. It was the very first time it ended in that manner. I agree to everything you said, though. Edit: it was not --> Monaco 2022.

[@jkliao6486]

@@michaelmuller5856 Is it? Someone from the comment section pointed out that the finishing time for Checo in monaco this season is only 1 hr 56 min at 64 laps, suggesting it's the 3 hrs hard limit they hit back then rather than the 2 hrs of racing limit. They added one more lap by then. It is extremely rare, but somehow it happened twice in the same season, but FIA reacted differently.

[@michaelmuller5856]

@@jkliao6486 Yes, you're right. I totally forgot that one, after everybody was referring to Belgium '21, and Singapore also being present in my mind.

[@jkliao6486]

@@michaelmuller5856 However, I suspect that might not be the case. As the race time for Max is showing sth like 3 hr 1 min for the classification, and I didn't recall a red flag during the monaco GP. I think they just didn't count the time of formation lap under the safety car. But still it is super confusing and definitely sth they can rework a little bit in terms of clarity.

[@michaelmuller5856]

@@jkliao6486 There were two red-flag interruptions during the Monaco GP which have caused the delay (after lap 2 because of rain, and after lap 30 because of the Schumacher crash). Also, funnily enough, the start was delayed by 16 minutes, but apparently the 3h window started on the initial starting time. (Whereas a delay of the "starting procedure" in Singapore moves the 3h window.) F1 management makes a ton of money, they could easily hire some people to improve communication and their own organisation (regarding both safety and application of their own rules). Crazy to watch a billion dollar company looking so amateurish again and again...

[@CooroSnowFox]

Formula E is a bit difficult to know where they do with driver communication, Scott with "attention all teams" and mentioning that there is a car off the line at a turn and to be aware ... but we never even saw that when Race Control was audible over the broadcast.

[@elijahmeinhard4780]

I think the pit lane should close if a recovery vehicle is required so that it is clearly defined when it will be closed and it works as a secondary alert

[@knutpohl339]

The one aspect that I think is critical to the analysis of this race and all the shenanigans is: The full wets suck! The whole field started on the intermediates, although it was borderline extreme tyre conditions. And when they were forced to mount the full wets for the restart, they got rid of them asap. Because it is 5s a lap faster to risk aquaplaning.

[@Sir_Uncle_Ned]

The race we did eventually get was bloody incredible. Well worth the wait.

[@cigmorfil4101]

When you get a technically doing something silly it is usually a fault in the drawing up of the rule - a rule often created as a knee-jerk reaction. On this occasion it was the FIA finding a loophole in the rules and using it!

[@amardeepsarang8670]

Yours point on about recovery vehicles have high visibility strobe lights was really good and something I wondered too. In North America (and I assume in other parts of the world) tow have these lights so why aren't they used in F1?

[@francisco5578]

Fucking youtube hasn't been recommending me this channel in literal years, I had forgotten about it. It is by far the best channel about f1 things, extremely impartial and factual. I love it.

[@DavidDolling]

"I hope you agree I'm not being over zealous on this" Lights that drivers can see on vehicles that have killed drivers? Some outlandish talking points in this video Mr Chain Bear.

[@Iri5hman]

11:30 I do remeber durring the wait on the race to restart I think it was Button was talking about how the partial points rule was only if the race finished under red flag. I dont remeber exactly what was said or what graphics were on the broadcast, but I felt they were pretty clear atleast while we were waiting. I wasnt able to watch the rest of the race so I dont know if there was more people saying the wrong rule later that it made it more difficult to sus out what was the correct ruling. Just seemed pretty clear to me.

[@coast2coast00]

Gasly was not speeding through the accident area, he was speeding afterwards, on the back straight. He was under his safety car delta at the time, and catching up to it(probably because he slowed for the accident).

[@ShiftyWombat]

Media, journalists, teams, drivers, chain bears hahahaha

[@youwillneverknow8643]

You know when chain bear upload a video, he “really” has something to say!

[@dylanh3712]

I think your solution is great and simple, only the pit needs to be open for two reasons, fixing of a car and because it makes the race more fun (most of the time)

[@GrenYT]

Yeah, Gasly would have been very dangerous if he were not allowed to pit there

[@TravelsWithATwist]

@@GrenYT he could possibly pit and retire - or pit and not resume until the green flag (in last place of course)

[@Azmodon]

easy fix - pit lane is closed during yellow unless you have damage that resulted in, or as a result of what caused the yellow / Any other vehicle that would otherwise be black flagged. This way it limits pit lane to those that have damage. Alternatively a minimum stop time could be imposed (incase the damage is just a flat tire) so that the grid average time lost for a pit stop under green remains the (minimum) time lost under yellow.

[@TABSF1]

The truck/tractor shouldn't have been on the track I think we can all agree on this. However, Gasly after driving passed Sainz who crashed in that spot, and taking damage himself, raced passed the exact same spot in 5th gear 1 lap later. Consider this, he has no idea if there was more incidents behind him on Lap 1, he also doesn't know if there's more that happen behind him further around the track. He didn't lose a place after receiving the damage until the pit lane. His post race penalty was regarding him speeding under Red Flag, I'd argue he was speeding under SC, he claimed to be under his delta by 9 seconds. Consider this, his delta was based on his abnormally long pitstop, he was racing back to the train for no conceivable reason. Even though the truck/tractor shouldn't have been there the Safety Car and train went through the mini sector at painfully slow speeds for safety. Max even going onto the grass to give the marshals more space. Sounds dickish but I think Gasly sounded off so much to distract from his speeding under SC (in sector 1 and 2 refer to my earlier statement about delta) and then speeding under Red in sector 3. Edit. There was 3 cars behind him at the point he collected his damage, still doesn't change much.

[@justhyde129]

One thing I would add.... we need to add light to the front, not to, excuse me, light the path, but to signal the cars in front where the car behind is when there is so much spray that it is difficult to see

[@theunreadcomment9834]

Thing is the "cannot be resumed" phrase isn't new, other wording of the rule are but that bit has been there for years. Just goes to show that no-one actually reads the rules until they think there's something to argue about.

[@tver]

Nice video! That said: “Trucks” + a red/black Ferrari in the thumbnail makes me miss Prost..

[@Skasaha_]

Because of Leclerc's mistake even if the points where communicated clearly it still would've been unknown Max won the title until after the race, after the penalty was applied. Bonus figurative points for the TV direction somehow missing both Max over the line AND Lerclerc's error.

[@anikun]

Max found out about being champion before the cooldown room, during the usual post-race interview, however its likely he was still under the impression that it wasnt the case until the cooldown room