Lando Norris wants the rule that allows teams a free tyre change after a red flag to be scrapped (Image: GETTY)
fans are split over whether the should reconsider the rule that was fiercely critical of after . was permitted a free tyre change without the need for a pit stop thanks to a red flag.
In the wet conditions at Interlagos, pitted for new intermediate tyres at the end of a virtual safety car. Norris lost positions as a result and then the red flag came out moments later to halt the race.
The FIA’s F1 sporting regulations allow cars to be worked on in the pitlane during a red flag. That meant ‘s Verstappen got a penalty-free tyre change before the restart and went on to win the race comfortably while Norris ended P6.
The Briton, 25, . He said: “It’s a silly rule that no one agrees with, but you’ll always agree with it when it benefits you. So, every driver has said they don’t agree with it and want it changed. It’s just unfortunate, but it’s the rule.”
But in an Express Sport poll, F1 fans were almost evenly split about whether or not the rule should be rewritten. Of 4,244 voters, 47 per cent said that to stop teams from being able to change their tyres under red flags.
Meanwhile 53 per cent disagree with Norris and believe the rule should actually remain in place.
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It is not the first time Norris has been left angry after being hindered by it. Back in 2021 after the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix he called it “possibly the worst rule ever invented by someone.”
He added: “It’s just c**p, the rule ruins everything. I just feel like it’s such an unfair thing.”
F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali said back in June after a dull Monaco Grand Prix in which every driver made their mandatory tyre change following a first-lap red flag: “We must not let that happen again. We must anticipate such scenarios better and cover them with the rules.”
Fernando Alonso similarly reflected: “The only point of interest in a Monaco race is the pitstops that you have to do. If you remove that excitement of a pitstop, then it becomes nothing.
“Maybe it reopens the conversations of when there is a red flag, not changing tyres or being obliged to have the same tyre or something, because if not, there are certain occasions that the race is compromised.”
The rule also benefitted and hurt in the 2023 Australian Grand Prix, after which driver-turned-analyst Martin Brundle also expressed frustration with it.
Teams are allowed to change their tyres for ‘free’ under red flag conditions (Image: GETTY)
He explained on Sky Sports News: “The purpose of being able to change your tyres is if there’s been a red flag, there’s almost always been an incident, debris, damage, you’re allowed to change the front wings, you’re allowed to change your cars as long as at the same specification parts.
“And if you’ve got punctures or whatever, you’re allowed to change your tyres, if you run through debris, you might have a puncture. So at that point, it’s considered prudent to let everybody put a fresh set of tyres on.
“Now, it does affect the race dramatically and we have to take into consideration that fans see that often, and they think it’s unfair that somebody gets effectively a free pit stop due to a red flag.
“They could even have caused the red flag and been involved in the incident and get a fresh set of tyres and a fresh front wing, for example. But as I said, sometimes that plays into your hands, sometimes it doesn’t.
“I think we need to review that, but as always in Formula One, it’s a hugely complicated business and what are the unintended consequences of that? Will teams put the cars out with split tyres or slow punctures or what have you?
“So we really have to think that through before we change that, but clearly it does annoy people. But on another day, might benefit from it.”