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The justification for FIA race control's controversial decision to leave debris on-track in Formula 1's Qatar Grand Prix effectively comes down to hoping the drivers would avoid it.
Alex Albon's Williams shed a mirror during the Qatar race and it ended up discarded off the racing line on the run to Turn 1 - the track's only real overtaking place.
It always seemed at risk of being struck, and if that was the case the nature of the debris meant it was extremely likely to turn into a bigger, more problematic debris field to deal with.
But there was no management of the debris beyond teams being informed of its location and the nature of it so they could then relay that to their drivers.
Valtteri Bottas hit the mirror after moving off-line while being lapped. Very shortly after, Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz picked up punctures. After a further delay, this eventually forced a safety car.
The FIA intended to send an explanation of the sequence of events from its perspective on Sunday evening. This was then delayed until Monday, although it was not extensive despite being issued in the interests of transparency.
In justifying the initial decision not to neutralise the race to deal with the mirror in the first place, the FIA said that "normal practice is for the safety car not to be deployed if there is a small amount of debris, and off the racing line".
It also said that a virtual safety car was not considered viable "as the cars remain spread out and there is not sufficient time for a marshal to clear the debris".
While the rationale for avoiding a VSC is logical, the conscious decision not to deploy a safety car is questionable at best.
The Race understands that the hope was the interim measure of warning the teams of the debris would be enough to avoid a driver striking it until a VSC was feasible with a better field spread. And leaving the mirror there for the remainder of the race in green-flag conditions was not the plan.
But pre-emptive action would have been prudent.
"Normal practice" not to deploy the safety car seems to ignore the nature of the debris in question. In this case the mirror was discarded "off the racing line" but it was clearly somewhere a car could still end up quite easily, either through overtaking/defending into the only real passing place on the circuit, or - as Bottas showed - by moving off-line to adhere to blue flags.
Though it has not been communicated as the reason, it may be that race control felt that a safety car period would be an overreaction for a single piece of debris, approaching a crucial time of the race strategically.
Avoiding a safety car for that reason would be a misjudgement, as while 'interfering' with the race would likely trigger its own criticism in some quarters, that should not come before better race management.
This left a safety risk unattended and, though correlation does not equal causation, seems to have triggered further problems.
Pirelli still needs to conduct further analysis to confirm the cause of the punctures.
The front left tyre is the most stressed at this track and teams were extending stints as far as possible to be able to manage a one-stop race effectively.
However, it is considered likely that the worn-down surface would have been easily penetrated by even a small amount of debris, rather than simply been a sudden failing of the tyres on two cars in quick succession.
This was race director Rui Marques' second F1 event in charge, and despite claims from the FIA pre-weekend about how much simpler that job has been made by various areas of support, it is a complex task with a lot of responsibilities. It would be naive, and disrespectful to the position, to assume Marques' integration would pass without any misjudgments or things that could be done better.
The FIA said it "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".
This reflection and self-scrutiny needs to be more compelling than a slow and not particularly convincing public explanation that reads a little too much like justifying what was done rather than acknowledging it could have been handled better.
Norris's penalty
Norris was given a 10-second stop-and-go penalty for failing to slow for double waved yellow flags on the start-finish straight.
He accepted the punishment and the severity of it. It is effectively a standard penalty for the offence, even though it is rare. Nikita Mazepin received the same punishment at the 2021 Austrian GP, although that was imposed after the race and so 30 seconds was added to his time instead.
Although McLaren essentially argued the punishment did not fit the crime, this is effectively a zero-tolerance policy.
The FIA says a double yellow flag infringement "is considered a serious compromise of safety, which is why such offences carry such a severe penalty".
If anything, it may be necessary to be even tougher in this area in the future. As in general, drivers have a tendency not to respect yellow flags as much as they should.
Double yellows mean drivers are meant to slow down, reduce their speed significantly, and be prepared to change director or stop because there is a hazard wholly or partly blocking the track and/or marshals working on or beside the track.
All they really do is the bare minimum to register they have seen the double yellows. It's performative at best. But Norris didn't even manage that, hence his penalty.
A restart anomaly
One of the less controversial quirks of this race, although still one that caught drivers out, was the unusual malfunction of the lights on the safety car.
Turning the lights atop the safety car off is the signal that the race is going to restart, and that the field should prepare for that - with the race leader becoming the pacesetter.
But that's not how it played out during the second safety car period in Qatar - because the lights malfunctioned.
All the teams were verbally advised that the safety car would be coming in, according to the FIA, so the restart took place in the normal fashion. The cause of the problem was fixed but as a precaution the safety car was swapped out - so the third time it was used, it was actually another car.
