Toto Wolff has called for more clarity on the red flag rules in Formula 1, after he admitted Mercedes was caught out by both stoppages. The team elected to pit George Russell when the Safety Car was deployed initially for Alex Albon's shunt, however Race Control elected to throw the red flag due to the amount of debris on track needing to be cleared up. This meant the advantage seized by the team was now negated, as the red flag rules enable drivers to make a free tyre change while sat in the pit lane waiting for the race to resume. "Both red flags we didn't see coming," said Wolff to media, including RacingNews365.com . “Restarts are a great entertainment factor, but we need to understand going forward when a red flag is being put out and when it is a safety car or a VSC. For those incidents you could have applied either." Red flags have increased in their usage since the teams expressed a desire for races to be completed under green flag running. This led to a two-lap sprint happening at the 2021 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, when Lewis Hamilton famously selected the wrong brake setting and handed a potential victory to Sergio Perez.
Wolff: The rulebook off the sport is the DNA
Wolff claims he is a fan of the restart procedure that can be initiated at the Race Director's discretion, but believes the increased usage means there needs to be clarity on how the FIA uses them. "I think restarts are mega. When they come as a surprise and you can't really understand, then the maybe not so much. "But I'm generally in favor of making great entertainment, but the rulebook of the sport is the key DNA and then let's define altogether; what is a VSC, what is a safety car and what is the red flag?"
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