"They needed to extend the race" - Max Verstappen and George Russell feel F1's safety car rules need a relook

Max Verstappen and George Russell feel the safety car rules need a relook but given the conditions in the 2022 F1 Italian GP, both felt the race could not be extended. The Dutch champion believes the conditions of clearing Daniel Ricciardo’s car in the race made it inevitable for the race to end behind the Safety Car.

Asked by Sportskeeda if the safety car rules needed changing, the Dutch champion said:

“I think I just explained what happened with the car being stuck in gear just took too long and you run out of laps, and then they still had to get rid of a few cars in between which then… you need them to catch up. We ran out of laps, they needed to extend the race but that's not possible.”

According to the Dutchman, Daniel Ricciardo’s car had its gears stuck as he retired from the race, making it impossible to clear the car immediately. Hence, the crane was called in to lift the car out, extending the safety car period. Max Verstappen felt the race could have been extended but race control ran out of laps to do so.

Answering the same question from Sportskeeda, George Russell added that there have been discussions following the 2021 F1 Abu Dhabi GP saga. The discussions involved the rare instances where a race has ended behind a safety car. Further adding to Verstappen's explanation, Russell said:

“Yeah, the same. You can’t extend the race. Following Abu Dhabi, we had some discussions about races ending under the safety car. I think we looked at every single race since ‘98 and it happened 10 times. Maybe that’s wrong, don’t quote me on that but maybe it’s worth looking at. But you can’t extend the race without enough so it’s just how it is.”

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Max Verstappen feels 2022 F1 Italian GP ending behind a Safety Car was just unfortunate

Max Verstappen felt that the 2022 F1 Italian GP finishing behind the Safety Car was unfortunate as race control ran out of time to extend the race. While gear issues on Daniel Ricciardo’s car made removing it a prolonged process, the Dutchman claimed that even the location where the car was parked made it more difficult to clear. Ultimately, race control ran out of time to be able to extend the race, which cost a potential final shootout to the finish.

Explaining the safety car incident in detail, Max Verstappen said:

“Yeah – but from what I understood, was that the car was stuck in gear and that’s why it took so long. Because, of course, when the car’s parked there, there is no gap where you can push the car into, compared to some other places. And that’s why the crane had to come. And that’s why I guess they just run out of time. So, I guess it was very unfortunate. Normally, I think everyone wants to finish under green flag. But yeah, unfortunately, we were just short of laps.”

Unbothered by the probability of a potential last-lap shootout towards the end of the race, Max Verstappen said:

“I mean, I had a new Soft as well so I was not too worried. I mean, even if it was one lap shootout.”

The Dutchman seemed confident that he would have clinched the win despite his rival Charles Leclerc being on the same set of tires behind him.

Also Checkout:- F1 Schedule 2022