“In primis”
the controversial application of the double yellow
flags warning shown during the very last lap of
Q3. Corner marshals were waiving frantically
their yellows when Rosberg approached that
part of the circuit on his last run and everyone
was surprised to see that his lap record remained intact, eventually enabling the German driver to score pole. How could that be possible
if everyone else lifted the foot off the pedal,
eventually aborting their quickest run?
Well, firstly we must say that Nico’s on board camera shows that Alonso was no longer
stuck in the middle of the track when he drove
his Mercedes through that point. Caution was
still on, though, and had to be respected.
Rosberg’s telemetry proved that he slowed
his car down, down enough for it to be accepted by the Stewards. In Hamilton and Vettel’s
opinions, on the contrary, the driver’s reaction
should be less deceiving in such a case. ”If
coasting is as effective as lifting off to get by
the rule, next time I’ll do the same” said the
Championship leader, demanding a further
clarification of the case before the next GP.
Earlier on, Charlie & Co had been equally
busy in supplying a newer version of the 107%
rule which would have seen several cars wiped
off Q1 due to the returning raining conditions
in between runs. Some of the faulty cars were
on the contrary admitted to the following phase due to “exceptional circumstances” as clarified by the judges. In my opinion a rule is a rule
and it should be applied as it is written. The
exception could have been made, perhaps, if
ALL cars were out of the 107% mark and not
just a few. Finally the rulers did face an insistent
protest by Raikkonen and Ferrari pointing at a
less than orthodox move by Verstappen defending his position over Kimi’s Well, let’s give a
round of applause to the decision maker in this
case who made sure consistency prevailed.