Martin Brundle: Ending to F1 Italian GP was “painful to watch”

Legendary F1 commentator Martin Brundle has expressed his disappointment over the ending of the Italian Grand Prix after the 53-lap race finished behind the Safety Car.
Max Verstappen
Max Verstappen

Max Verstappen’s 11th victory of the sea💙son came in subdued circumstances with the race ending behind the Safety Car following Daniel Riccia🐟rdo’s stoppage on Lap 47.

The marshals struggled to retrieve Ricciardo’s stricken McLaren, prolonging the Safety Car period.

To make matters worse, the Safety Car picked up George Russell, rather than race leader Verstappen, resulting in further delays and a🎶 restart not being possible.

The end to the race at Monza has led to widesprꦛead discussion about potentially adjusting the FIA’s regulations to avoid a🎃 scenario like this occurring again.

ᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚOne is to put out a red flag to ensure there is a proper ending to the race with another standing start.

Martin Brundle
Martin Brundle

Writing in his latest column for Sky Sports F1, Brundle weighed in with his opini✤on on ✤what happened.

“And then on lap 47 of 53 the McLaren of Daniel Ricciardo, who was having a better run than of late at a track wh🤡ere he of course won last♉ year, broke down at the side of the track.

“What followed was a catalogue of problems which ruined the end of the race, not thatღ Leclerc was going to catch Verstappen it must be said. Sainz may have had a look at Russell fo🌠r the final spot on the podium.

“It was painful to watch. The McLaren was stuck in gear 💜so couldn't be wheeled away afไter Daniel struggled to find a decent service opening. It's an old school track with poor service road access, and eventually a mobile crane arrived to scoop it up.”

Most recently, the 2021 Azerbai🦹jan Grand Prix was red-flagged with a handful of laps to go following Verstappen’s high-speed tyre blowout. 

The Red Bull Racing RB16B of Max Verstappen (NLD) Red Bull Racing is recovered back to the pits on the back of a truck after
The Red Bull Racing RB16B of Max Verstappen (NLD) Red Bull Racing is recovered back to the…

This resulted in a dramatic final couple of laps with Lewis Hami⛎lton taking to the run-off at Turn 1 as he tried to get past Sergio Perez into Turn 1.

He added: “There has been an initiative discussed whereby, in the final five laps of a race, if there’s🐓 an issue of this kind then throw the red flag and have a standing start re-start. 

“We saw this in Azerbaijan last year and it does make for great anticipation and a thrilling finale to a race. I must say though that for me a red flag means a very serious incident or something like a cloud burst and a waterlogged track.ꦬ”

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