Romain Grosjean in favor of new Blue Flag rule

Haas driver Romain Grosjean has spoken in favour of tweaking Formula 1’s blue flag rules, following recent controversy involving his teammate Esteban Gutierrez.

The Mexican was penalised in the Hungarian GP for holding up Lewis Hamilton and then came under fire from Daniel Ricciardo in Germany, the Aussie suggesting Gutierrez was worse than others at adhering to blue flags.

For his part, Grosjean suggested that the current blue flag rule wasn’t optimal, bringing up an example from his race at Hockenheim.

“When they [the faster drivers] are coming with the new tyres, or just the same tyres and much faster, it’s easy. [On Sunday], Vettel behind me, he was about two tenths faster because he was on the old tyre, of course, it would take him 10 laps to close a two-second gap,” Grosjean recalled.

In the race, Vettel had arrived within 2s of Grosjean on lap 58 and only got within 1.5s of the Haas by lap 61, after which the Frenchman was ordered to let him past.

“I did a few laps in front and then we had the warning from Charlie [Whiting] and we let him by – and that cost us 2.6 second in a straight line. That was a lot of time lost.

“You’re not happy because you’re fighting for the points as well, but it’s the leaders. I don’t know, there’s no right or wrong answer.”

“It’s never going to be ideal”

While Grosjean suggests a blue flag rule based on pace deltas is preferred, he reckons it is unlikely to be considered any time soon.

“Ideally, I would like a blue flag system which is in fuction of the delta speed between the cars – so if they’re one second faster per lap at a two-second mark is fine.

“If they’re two tenths faster a lap at the two-second mark, it’s just… you see them in the mirrors, miles away, they’re not catching up, so you’re like ‘why should I let him by?’.

“But that would require quite tough software. It’s never going to be ideal.”

Rule tweak discussed

However, Grosjean confirmed that the possibility of a minor tweak to the rule was mentioned at the drivers’ briefing.

“We discussed doing a one-second threshold and letting by early, which I think is a good idea. Some could be in favour.

“It’s a difference of opinion – some want to keep the two-second mark, some want to go to a one-second mark. Everyone’s got a different opinion.

“I would be in favour of a shorter threshold, but as soon as you see blue flags, you’ve got less than a half-lap to let the guy by.”

Category: Formula One