The similar breakdowns of Esteban Ocon and Kimi Antonelli at Imola triggered two different decisions from Race Control.

Both Ocon and Antonelli suffered mechanical failures on the run up the hill out of Tosa during the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, parking on the grassy area to the left-hand side of the tarmac.

Alex Wurz: The race director made the right decisions

Ocon, who stopped on Lap 29 with a mechanical failure on his Haas, pulled over to the side of the track, with the race director Rui Marques opting to deploy Virtual Safety Car (VSC) conditions.

The VSC slows the pace of all the cars down to a set lap time delta but, crucially, does not close the gaps between the drivers.

On Lap 46, Antonelli’s Mercedes ground to a halt as the Italian finally succumbed to a worsening throttle issue on his W16. Unable to put down the power anymore, he pulled over in roughly the same spot as Ocon.

However, on this occasion, Marques opted to deploy a full Safety Car. This had the effect of closing up the field completely, with Verstappen’s lead wiped out as both McLaren drivers were able to line up directly behind him for the restart seven laps later.

With the Safety Car intervention having had the potential to add quite a bit of spice to the final laps at Imola, it led some social media observers to question the nature of the different decisions taken for what were very similar incidents – in appearance, at least.

But the reasoning behind the need for the full Safety Car was because of the fact Antonelli’s car was stopped further up the track. While Ocon’s car was recoverable back to a nearby gap in the wall, Antonelli’s car needed a recovery vehicle.

There also was no longer any room in the same gap that Ocon’s car had been recovered through, due to his car occupying the available space.

The procedure is that, when a recovery vehicle is needed on the track, the cars must be grouped up behind the Safety Car to ensure minimal danger for the marshals and crew working to recover a stricken car.

Grand Prix Drivers’ Association chairman and F1 broadcaster Alex Wurz addressed the topic in a short post on social media on Monday, sharing his support for the decision-making of Race Control.

“As I got a lot of questions in the last 24 hours, post-Imola, from journalists and fans – as a TV pundit and media expert, and of course, it also touches my role as the chairman of the GPDA – it was about whether there was an inconsistency in the decision-making of the FIA’s Race Control,” he said.

“[This was related] about the Virtual Safety Car with the incident, or the stopping of the Haas’ Esteban Ocon in the exit of Turn 7 in the race, and then, a little bit later, Kimi Antonelli in his Mercedes also came to stop also in the exit of Turn 7 a little bit later.

“It seemed to be a similar incident but already, as I was live on Austrian TV, I stated I think the race director has made the absolute right decision.

“Because where Ocon’s car came to a stop, it was reasonably simple to push it back into the opening. Kimi Antonelli stopped a little bit higher. The grass is not even there. There’s a compression in there, and it was just too far.

“So the race director had to deploy a lifting vehicle and money to and, the moment such a vehicle is on track and needs to go over the track to get to that car, he has absolutely the right decision made to call it a Safety Car.”

Referring to the tragic accident at Suzuka in 2014, in which Jules Bianchi suffered ultimately fatal injuries after colliding with a recovery vehicle under yellow flag conditions, Wurz said, “Let’s not forget what happened in Japan with Jules Bianchi – the drivers and everyone said, ‘We need to learn from this’.

“So his [Marques’] decision was not inconsistent, very much the opposite. It was a very good decision in the name of safety.

“This is what I’ve stated straight away on live TV, and want to address these concerns here and thank the Race Control and the FIA for this decision because it is absolutely in the name of safety, and it is very consistent with what we have agreed and said over the last few years.”

With the FIA in an election year for the position of President, incumbent Mohammed Ben Sulayem is currently set to run unopposed – although Carlos Sainz senior is currently at the stage of evaluating whether or not to throw his hat in the ring, while former BAR and Prodrive WRC boss David Richards has also hinted at a possible presidential campaign.

But Wurz’s long-time position on the GPDA, and his work with the FIA on the Institute Young Driver Excellence Academy, makes him another great candidate, according to 1996 F1 World Champion.

Sharing Wurz’s video, Hill said, “Expert opinion, Alex Wurz, Road Safety King on [the] FIA Imola VSC.

“FIA President? [The] cap fits.”

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