‘F1 rules are not to blame for Australian GP chaos,’ claims Otmar Szafnauer despite Alpine driver’s costly crash in Melbourne

Otmar Szafnauer has talked about the huge crash that took place at the 2023 Australian GP.

Otmar Szafnauer (Credits: F1)

Otmar Szafnauer, the Alpine F1 Team Principal, has made it known that the F1 rules are not to blame for the chaos that ensued at the 2023 Australian GP. In the opinion of Szafnauer, F1 is incredibly unpredictable, and the rules can’t be changed every time an incident takes place during Grand Prix weekends. It’s just not a feasible option, according to him.

Otmar Szafnauer, while addressing the chaos of the Australian GP, said, “In this situation, if you say: ‘Okay, well, let’s change the rules, because it would have helped’, there will be other situations where the opposite happens. The rules are what they are, and whatever they are, you can’t change them in race.”

“After the season, if you look back at it, it will be 50-50 whether that’s good or bad because we will have so many different scenarios where at one time it helps and the other time it doesn’t. So, I think the rules are fine as they are. My true belief is that we can have these scenarios… you’ve got to set the rules at the beginning and then stick to them. Now if we want to look at them afterwards that’s fine too, let the sporting directors look at it.”

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Looking at the comments of Otmar Szafauer, it is crystal clear that he does not see it as a feasible option to keep changing rules after certain incidents/crashes. Moreover, he ardently believes that it is in the best interest of the sport, to lock on the rules before the start of a season and stick to them no matter what happens during an F1 calendar. He feels that it would help in bringing a bit of stability to the pinnacle of motor racing.

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Otmar Szafnauer’s take on Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly’s crash at Albert Park

The Alpine F1 team was on for a strong double-point finish at the Australian GP with Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly. However, the chaos of the final lap led to both the Alpine drivers coming away with an unfortunate DNF. Szafnauer was asked whether he pushed for a halt to the race before the final lap, and while responding, he said, “For sure, we definitely pushed because we would have been up there.”

“Safety car line two was before Turn 1, so Pierre probably would have been in fourth or something. Yeah, for sure we asked them to do that. We were at that point unsure of what was going to happen. But I think they made the right decision. Those are the rules, so you’ve got to follow the rules.”

1 week on from the #AusGP ??#Alpine pic.twitter.com/Wj9YYUjau0
— BWT Alpine F1 Team (@AlpineF1Team) April 9, 2023

Szafnauer, on one hand, is gutted with how his driver’s race panned out in Australia but feels that what the race officials did was right, as it is something that’s clearly stated in the rulebook. If the crash hadn’t happened, the Enstone-based F1 team could have scored points over 10 at the event. However, what’s done is done, and Alpine would expect its drivers to have a better outing at the fifth round of the season in Azerbaijan.