Alesi: “The yellow flag in Austria in Q3? Distorted qualifying and terrible message, as if Bianchi’s tragedy hadn’t happened”

The former driver was very harsh. In an F1 that has come to life and is starting to grind out repeating race weekends, there is a risk of putting behind us too quickly what happened and what happened at the end of Q3 in Austria has caused and will continue to cause discussion. The display of a single yellow flag after Max Verstappen went off the track in Turn-9 is at the center of the debate, also because it is quite absurd that at a regulatory level it could be possible to sign a pole position lap by lifting your foot in a point where there is a dangerous situation. In MotoGP, for example, each time trial is automatically canceled when it is achieved with a yellow flag in a single sector. George Russell respected the regulations and obtained pole position, but according to Jean Alesi the Race Direction made a bad impression. “Race decided by a distorted qualifying – Alesi’s words in his usual Tuesday comment in Corriere della Sera – not displaying a red flag with an accidented car on the side of the track makes my hair stand on end. This is a terrible message for those who race in F1 and especially for the younger ones. This is not a question of adapting to an attitude of the race direction but of demanding that situations like this never happen again. As if the Jules Bianchi tragedy had not happened. Scandalous.”

Automobile Magazine – Formula1 English, News

2026-06-30 06:00:00