Three F1 bosses defend under-fire chase director

Three crew bosses gain defended Formula 1’s newest under-fire chase director Niels Wittich following the chaotic and controversial Australian GP.

The media and many drivers gain been scathing of the coping with of Sunday’s Melbourne chase and repeated questionable crimson flags and re-starts.

“The drivers are revolting in distinction chaotic Formula 1,” noticed Italy’s Corriere della Sera.

“Niels Wittich abused the crimson flags, beyond all doubt. The German induced essentially the most harmful of scenarios, about a of that are incomprehensible to the drivers and the spectators.”

Alternatively, Ferrari boss Frederic Vasseur declined to hitch the pile-on towards Wittich.

“You cannot blame the machine for this,” he insisted.

“For certain, we gain to know that if the chase is restarted for the final two laps, this would possibly maybe be advanced. We already had that in Baku.

“However you would possibly possibly’t blame the chase management,” the Frenchman insisted. “Those are the ideas and the chase management adopted them.”

His Mercedes counterpart Toto Wolff, so infected after the 2021 finale in Abu Dhabi when the axed Michael Masi perceived to freestyle the chase’s dramatic conclusion, has the same opinion that Wittich no now not as much as adopted the ideas on Sunday.

“We appeared it up – it used to be the rule book,” mentioned the Austrian.

“It used to be slightly confusing, nevertheless it used to be savor it’s written down. Going forward, we appropriate gain to tag when it is a ways a crimson flag and when it is a ways a VSC or a security car.

“I mediate for these incidents, it’ll even gain been an of them. In divulge prolonged because it’s certain how right here is being interpreted, I’m ravishing with it.”

In the end, Mike Krack – to blame at Aston Martin – additionally didn’t try to slam F1’s sole chase director Wittich.

“It’s easy to criticise from the skin,” he told DAZN, “nevertheless they’re the ones with the total data.

“Used to be it stable for the cars to war thru the particles? It’s hard to desire, nevertheless the chase director has to invent a resolution and, as a ways as security is anxious, the resolution must be revered even though we don’t savor it.”

And used F1 driver Timo Glock thinks that, without reference to which system Wittich’s chase management decided, there would gain been criticism from some.

“As Ralf (Schumacher) mentioned, the chase would possibly possibly even quiet gain ended in the lend a hand of the safety car. However then there would gain been boos from the fans in the stand because they wanted to respect an thrilling ending,” he told Sky Deutschland.

“Whatever the system you enact it, you enact it substandard.”