Italian GP finale behind the safety car was ‘painful to watch’, says Martin Brundle

Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix was the 13th race in Formula 1 history to finish behind the safety car

Martin Brundle has labelled the finale to Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix as “painful to watch” after the race frustratingly finished behind the safety car.

Daniel Ricciardo pulled up on the side of the track with five laps remaining, prompting a safety car and the majority of the field diving into the pits.

With Max Verstappen leading and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in second, many were anticipating a frantic sprint to the chequered flag but it took the marshals time to clear Ricciardo’s McLaren car from the track.

The safety car also picked up third-placed George Russell’s Mercedes originally, delaying the process, forcing the race to end behind the safety car for just the 13th time in Formula 1 history.

The Ferrari fans in the grandstands voiced their anger with resounding boos and even Red Bull boss Christian Horner admitted that the race should have had time to get going again.

Ex-F1 driver and Sky Sports pundit Brundle admits the fans “deserved a thriller at the restart” and, given the recovery truck on the circuit to collect Ricciardo’s stricken McLaren, a red flag late on would have been justified.

“It was painful to watch,” Brundle said in his Sky column. “The McLaren was stuck in gear so couldn’t be wheeled away after Daniel struggled to find a decent service opening. It’s an old school track with poor service road access, and eventually a mobile crane arrived to scoop it up.

“There has been an initiative discussed whereby, in the final five laps of a race, if there’s an issue of this kind then throw the red flag and have a standing start re-start. We saw this in Azerbaijan last year and it does make for great anticipation and a thrilling finale to a race.

The Italian Grand Prix ended behind the safety car (Getty Images)

“I must say seeing the cars file past a recovery vehicle and a suspended F1 car reversing down the track, albeit at safety car speeds, it would have been easy to justify a red flag stoppage.

“Instead, for only the thirteenth time if F1 history a race was ended at low speed behind the safety car. It was not the FIA’s finest event. It’s such a short race there anyway due to the high average speeds, and the fans would have deserved a thriller at the restart.”

The result means Verstappen has a 116-point lead to Leclerc in the Drivers Championship with six races remaining and the Dutchman could claim his second world title as early as the next race in Singapore in three weeks’ time.