The FIA has released a statement to clarify some of the decisions made during the Qatar Grand Prix after race control was once again put under the microscope.

A number of incidents occurred throughout the race from delayed safety cars to seemingly harsh penalties and the FIA has now clarified how they came to those decisions.

FIA clarify key decisions made during Qatar Grand Prix

The first incident came after a wing mirror was dislodged from a car and landed on the track in the braking zone into Turn 1. But instead of an immediate safety car, race director Rui Marques delayed its deployment and instead put up a yellow flag on the pit lane straight.

Eventually, the piece was hit by Valtteri Bottas and shattered, causing it to become more of a hazard and the safety car came out.

On that particular incident, the FIA said

· Normal practice is for the safety car not to be deployed if there is a small amount of debris, and off the racing line
· The extensive debris after a car hit the mirror and the punctures that occurred shortly after forced the decision on a safety car
· A VSC would not have been a solution, as the cars remain spread-out and there is not sufficient time for a marshal to clear the debris
· The FIA constantly reviews its methods and processes and will analyse further the specific scenario, and discuss it with the teams, in order to see whether in the future a different course of action needs to be taken.

During this yellow flag period, Lando Norris was given a 10-second stop-go penalty for failing to slow on a yellow flag, a deicsion many at the tiem thought was harsh. But eh FIA said it considwered Norris’ driving to be a “serious compromise of safety”.

They said:

· The penalty was in accordance with the penalty guidelines circulated to the teams on 19 February 2024
· A double yellow flag infringement is considered a serious compromise of safety, which is why such offences carry such a severe penalty

Finally, during the second safety car period, the lights malfunctioned on the car and was replaced by the spare for the rest of the race.

The FIA said:

· During the 2nd safety car period, the lights malfunctioned
· All teams were verbally advised that the SC would be coming in, so the re-start took place in the normal fashion
· While the reason for the malfunction was identified and fixed, out of caution, the safety car was swapped in time for its 3rd deployment.