Italian GP’s last laps are criticised by Brundle: It was painful to watch

Martin Brundle thinks that because Daniel Ricciardo retired from the race, the Italian Grand Prix’s finale happened under the Safety Car, denying viewers of a “thriller” finish.

After the race was stopped by the Safety Car, Martin Brundle claimed that the last laps of the Italian Grand Prix were “not the FIA’s finest event.”

The Safety Car was used during the last laps of the Monza race to safely remove Daniel Ricciardo’s stricken McLaren, which could not be moved off the track.

This resulted in a chain of events with 6 laps left, which, in Brundle’s opinion, ultimately prevented viewers from witnessing an exciting finish to the Grand Prix.

“On Lap 47 of 53, the McLaren of Daniel Ricciardo, who was having a better run than of late at a track where he of course won last year, broke down at the side of the track,” Brundle wrote in his column for Sky Sports.

“What followed was a catalogue of problems which ruined the end of the race, not that [Charles] Leclerc was going to catch [Max] Verstappen it must be said. [Carlos] Sainz may have had a look at [George] Russell for the final spot on the podium.

“It was painful to watch. The McLaren was stuck in gear so couldn’t be wheeled away after 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.”

Could the Italian GP have been red flagged?

Brundle has wondered whether a red flag, which would have allowed the race to be resumed in the closing stages as was the case in the 2021 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, would have been a better alternative.

“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,” Brundle said.

“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.”

Red Flag, in Brundle’s opinion, would have been “justified”

However, Brundle thinks that calling off the race was a reasonable choice considering the situation.

“The red flag can be used as a tool to neutralise a race along with yellow flags, and one of two Safety Car options,” the former F1 driver explained.

“But when the Safety Car picked up third place George Russell’s Mercedes rather than comfortable race leader Max Verstappen, with a bunch of back markers in between, then it really did fall apart.

“I must say seeing the cars file past a recovery vehicle and a suspended F1 car reversing down the track, albeit at safety car speeds, it would have been easy to justify a red flag stoppage.

“Instead, for only the thirteenth time in F1 history a race was ended at low speed behind the Safety Car. It was not the FIA’s finest event.

“It’s such a short race there anyway due to the high average speeds, and the fans would have deserved a thriller at the restart.”

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