Formula 1 considers scrapping fast times under yellow flag

Qualifying under a yellow flag

Fernando Alonso got off scot-free after setting a fast time in Q1 under a yellow flag. The rules state that you have to take this into account and reduce your speed, but over the years we have seen several examples of this vague rule being abused.

Race director Masi, therefore, wants to see what the sport can clarify towards Austin. ''Let's see what we can do in Austin. We've done it with track limits. We can look at what areas work best and just make sure there are no unintended consequences,'' Masi told Motorsport.com.

New rule in America?

Masi is considering adopting the model of MotoGP. A time would be invalidated immediately at the moment of a yellow flag. That way there is no more discussion about whether to slow down or not, but your time is gone immediately. This would possibly make qualifying a lot more complicated, Masi himself agrees.

''On paper, it seems to be a good solution, but you have to go through the whole process. Anyway, we have a meeting of the sports advisory committee scheduled this week, and this is one of the things on the agenda. We may be able to tweak the wording a little bit. It's been the way it is for a while now, and after some conversations, some refinement is possible that will make it clearer for everyone'', Masi concludes.

How the implementation in America will look like is still unclear. According to Masi, there is no need to change a rule, but the deletion of the times is more of a 'test' to check the rule. That way it should be easier to implement this new way of enforcement.