Now, the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) has corrected a grievous error. They confessed to a failure in delaying the issuing of a track limits penalty to driver Nico Hulkenberg in Saturday’s qualifying session for the Bahrain Grand Prix. This delay allowed Hulkenberg to progress to the next qualifying session with an illegal lap, raising concerns about the integrity of the qualifying results.
Nico Hulkenberg, who went off track at Turn 11, saw his lap time originally approved. This decision went unremedied all through the next session. The FIA later explained that insufficient monitoring of Turn 11 during the three practice sessions leading up to qualifying contributed to the oversight.
The FIA employs a complicated, real-time system to monitor track limits violations. It’s the same as the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) deployed in soccer, or football if you’re not American. This system was clearly put in place to help stewards over race weekends but clearly failed in this implementation. A track limits violation occurs when a driver exceeds the white line at the edge of a corner, potentially gaining an advantage.
One team that came under the gun of this delay was Williams Racing. Yet it ultimately hurt the team’s, as it robbed two of their cars from even reaching the top ten shootout. Following confirmation of Hulkenberg’s penalty, Williams driver Alex Albon was promoted retroactively to 15th place. This upgrade allowed him to have a fighting chance of breaking through into Q2. Because of the mistake, Williams was then six to eight positions out of place because of the mistake.
Speaking to RaceFans about the situation, Williams’ chief of race engineering James Vowles shared his anger at how the decision has affected them.
“First of all it’s frustrating, because Q1 is ever-so tight now, you can see cars do three runs, the cars that are slightly better do two — that’s where we were. We didn’t get the best lap with Alex, but it was a top ten car today,” – James Vowles
After admitting that they were wrong, the FIA still issued a statement saying that the delay would not be changed for the next day’s race. Because of this, Hulkenberg was forced down to 16th. Prior to getting his grid penalty, he had already lapped fast enough for a top 10 time in Q2.
The FIA’s miscalculation not only raised questions about their monitoring effectiveness but highlighted the potential for such errors to affect teams’ performances in critical qualifying sessions. As teams prepare for future races, this incident serves as a reminder of the importance of accurate and timely officiating in motorsport.
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