FIA hits back at Max Verstappen’s ‘turtle’ safety car criticism

Verstappen was not happy with the Aston Martin safety car at the Australian Grand Prix

The FIA has responded to Max Verstappen’s criticism of the Aston Martin safety car at the Australian Grand Prix.

The reigning drivers’ world champion accused the safety car of being too slow in Melbourne.

He said: “Unbelievable. With that car, to drive 140kmh on the back straight where there was not a damaged car anymore, I don’t understand why we have to drive so slowly.

“We have to investigate. For sure, the Mercedes safety car is faster because of the extra aero. The Aston Martin is really slow. It definitely needs more grip because our tyres were stone cold.”

Charles Leclerc appeared to suffer some understeer coming out of the final corner before the restart, illustrating Verstappen’s point that they were struggling to get any heat into their tyres due to the safety car’s speed.

But the FIA has insisted that the concern of the safety car is not to maintain the speed of the race.

A statement read: “In light of recent comments regarding the pace of the FIA Formula 1 safety car, the FIA would like to reiterate the primary function of the FIA Formula 1 safety car is, of course, not outright speed but the safety of the drivers, marshals and officials.

“The safety car procedures take into account multiple objectives, depending upon the incident in question, including the requirement to ‘bunch up’ the field, negotiate an incident recovery or debris on track in a safe manner and adjust the pace depending on recovery activities that may be ongoing in a different part of the track.

“The speed of the safety car is therefore generally dictated by Race Control and not limited by the capabilities of the safety cars, which are bespoke high-performance vehicles prepared by two of the world’s top manufacturers, equipped to deal with changeable track conditions at all times and driven by a hugely experienced and capable driver and co-driver.

“The impact of the speed of the safety car on the performance of the cars following is a secondary consideration, as the impact is equal amongst all competitors who, as is always the case, are responsible for driving in a safe manner at all times according to the conditions of their car and the circuit.”