Alfa Romeo Sporting Director Beat Zehnder claims ‘Not much went wrong in Abu Dhabi.’

Beat Zehnder

Ever since the Abu Dhabi mishap happened towards the end of the 2021 season, there has been a difference in opinion with few sidings with the decision made in regards to the safety car, calling it fair and the rest blaming it for unfairly costing Lewis Hamilton his eighth world championship win. Even after more than six months passed by crowning Max Verstappen being the 2019 World Champion, the controversy seems to have come towards the end with FIA finalizing their findings from the Grand Prix.

It was reported by the BBC that the FIA had promised Mercedes to have a thorough look into the matter if they did not file their petition and during one of the recent FIA meetings held in London, discussions on the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was held in the presence of Mercedes Boss Toto Wolff and Red Bull boss Christian Horner.

Now Alfa Romeo’s sporting director, Beat Zehnder sided with Michael Masi’s decision of safety car being fair in a conversation with Auto, Motor und Sport, saying “From my point of view, not much went wrong in Abu Dhabi,”

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Beat Zehnder also added that “The only thing I didn’t quite understand was the early announcement that the lapped drivers were not allowed to overtake. He should have allowed that if the track conditions allowed it.”

Beat Zehnder on Usage of red flags instead of Safety cars during the race

The rules pertaining to the safety car completion has always been a subject of discussion with a lot of loose ends. To make changes in this rule is tough as even to avoid repetition, deployment of red flag would not really solve the problem. Instead, it would build an unfair situation.

“If there was a red flag, you would put fresh tires in the hands of all the drivers. The question is: would that be fairer?” said Beat Zehnder, making it even more easy and comfortable for the drivers and the teams.

Beat Zehnder, on the other hand, has a specific suggestion for improving the safety car phases. Instead of passing the lead pack for the return lap, the backseat drivers should simply drop back to the back of the queue which would allow the field to be sorted much more quickly before a restart.

As a result, unless there is an emergency, Beat Zehnder is opposed to using red flags as the Swiss said “To stop the race just to create artificial tension, I don’t think much of that,”.

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