3-place grid penalty? Sainz proposes new F1 red flag rule

Grand Prix Drivers' Association director Carlos Sainz is going to propose a new punishment for drivers who cause red flags in Formula 1 qualifying sessions. 

Eyebrows were raised at the single waved yellow flags brought out for Max Verstappen's qualifying crash in Austria, which turned to double waved yellow flags 22 seconds later. George Russell lifted sufficiently for the single yellow in place as he passed it and still took pole position.

Asked about Verstappen's crash and the reaction to it, Sainz proceeded to share he's planning on proposing a new red flag rule to his fellow drivers. 

"I have a very personal idea about this that hasn't been discussed among the GPDA yet, which I will potentially bring forward as an idea," Sainz explained.

"Then we can maybe discuss if it should be the case or not. I think this weekend because of being a sprint, maybe we don't have a proper meeting about it. But I think we should. 

"It's clear to me at least, that situation should have been a double yellow or a red. The way George handled it I think was perfect - for what the rulebook allows you to do. He deserved that pole position, because he played the rules to perfection. 

"But he should have never been allowed to finish that lap or to close a lap in that kind of dangerous situation.

"If Max would have been on pole in the first run, then he produces that crash, and then everyone is on a red flag and no one improves the lap, I think it would be unfair for George, Kimi [Antonelli] and everyone, because the guy that is on pole is not letting us improve the laptime."

Sainz pointed to his own situation in a yellow and red-flag filled qualifying session in Baku last year, where he put his Williams on provisional pole until Verstappen pipped him at the death. 

"Like typically in Monaco. I could have done it last year in Baku, when I was on pole and I was the first car out of the pits," Sainz said.

"I said 'if I crash now I'm on pole'. We all have these thoughts. We all have these second thoughts. We all know how the rulebook works. 

"I think that anyone who generates a yellow flag or a red flag in qualifying, it should be three place grid drop. So at least you get penalised for it, and you get disincentivised to go flat out into something, which was not the case for Max, because Max was I think P3 at the time. He obviously crashed through a failure of the rear wing. Or something like this. 

"But I think we should find a solution for that, and that's my only idea - that if you generate a yellow or a red you should get some kind of penalty."

Sainz added: "If you push flat out but you push too far, and you're not letting others improve. You're earning a position by not letting others do a better job than you. Even if it's non-intentional."

Sainz was clear that he believes some drivers have been deliberately causing yellow or red flags to their advantage in qualifying situations. 

"At the same time, you could argue the same thing. You have 10 minutes to complete the lap. Why do we all leave it to the last moment?" Sainz said. 

"Why don't we all go eight minutes to go, post our lap, and we are sure that a red doesn't disrupt you? Which could be a perfect argument to say we don't need a penalty for producing a red.

"But I've seen it in so many cases by now, that in places like Baku and Monaco, people are forcing yellows in Q1, Q2 and Q3.

"It's impossible for stewards - unless you are a very clever ex-F1 driver - to know how it works. That for me, shows a solution needs to be found. 

"I'm not saying Max did it on purpose. I think Max had a failure. Max was not even on pole, so he had zero incentive to do that. But I think we need to come up with ideas to try and solve those situations."

Sainz added: "I've seen it multiple times in Baku and in Monaco" and said "you've also seen it in Monaco".

He didn't cite examples but Michael Schumacher (2006) and Nico Rosberg (2014) took Monaco pole positions in controversial circumstances, causing a yellow or red flag that stopped their rivals beating them. Sergio Perez (in 2022) irritated then Red Bull team-mate Verstappen when the red flag he caused gave Perez vital track position over Verstappen that helped him win one day later.

And Sainz suggested there had been other occasions that the wider world did not know about.

"You've seen it. The other thing is that you don't know, but you've seen it," he said.

When Sainz's suggestion was put to him, his former Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc said he could see the logic for certain tracks but not as a blanket rule.

"I'm not the only one that has crashed in Monaco in qualifying," he said.

"It's true that it's one of those races where you can play with the yellow flags a little bit. And I think there are specific tracks where maybe we need to look at that closer. 

"Whether this needs to be a general rule… I think the person that ends up in the wall, Max for example in the last race, I think he pays enough price of ending up there and not finishing the lap, which would have been good enough for him to be second. So I don't think that, as a general rule, it makes much sense.

"But in some tracks, it's something that we've discussed, as drivers. To install that for the whole season, I don't think makes sense."

Verstappen said "when someone does it deliberately", causing a yellow or red flag in qualifying "should be an even bigger penalty" than Sainz's proposal.

But he said the fact the rules still allowed Russell to go fast enough to take pole under a yellow flag remained his bigger concern.

"People are still completing a lap or others are backing out of it," said Verstappen.

"Now you, of course, can read the rules really well. You complete your lap and you're allowed to keep it.

"But I think, first of all, it should not have been a single yellow. That is at least a double yellow or a red, first of all.

"The driver then, of course, optimises around it. I think that's fair play. I probably would have tried to do the same. That's just how it goes.

"But it should not even be allowed or be possible to finish your lap like that.

"That's, for me, the main concern in all of it."