F1 News: Martin Brundle Calls For Flag Ban After 'Lost Skill'

Saajan Jogia | Nov 8, 2024

May 4, 2024; Miami Gardens, Florida, USA; Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen (1) leads the start of the F1 Sprint Race at Miami International Autodrome. Mandatory Credit: Peter Casey-Imagn Images / Peter Casey-Imagn Images

Former Formula 1 driver and Sky Sports F1 presenter Martin Brundle has called for a ban on the "school kids" rule of blue flags in the sport, which supports the "big boys." The current regulations allow the use of blue flags, which are waved during a race when drivers are being lapped.

The blue flag serves to indicate slower cars ahead, signaling them to allow faster cars behind to pass safely once they have been lapped. This flag ensures that slower cars do not interfere with the race's flow. According to Formula 1, the blue flag holds different meanings depending on its use during the race weekend.

In practice sessions, the blue flag signals to a driver that a faster car is approaching from behind and is preparing to overtake. During the race, this flag is shown to a driver about to be lapped, indicating they must allow the faster car to pass at the earliest safe opportunity. Failure to comply with three consecutive blue flag warnings will result in a penalty for the driver.

Brundle believes that drivers have forgotten the skills of weaving past traffic as it used to be during his Grand Prix days in the early 90s, leading him to opine that the blue flag rule be banned. Speaking on Sky Sports F1, as reported by RacingNews365, the 65-year-old said:

“I think we should ban blue flags.

“Drivers have lost the skills of working and managing the traffic as we used to do.

“I quite like that and now everybody has to jump out the way, like school kids when the big boys come through in the faster cars."

However, Brundle addressed a natural change since his racing days, pointing out the current aerodynamic regulations that make it challenging to follow cars ahead, which would ultimately prove quite challenging when trying to pass the slower cars. He added:

“The trouble is, with today's aerodynamics, you might never pass the back marker.

“So things have changed a little bit like that. But I do think it's a skill that's been lost.

“The rest of it has been fairly well fine-tuned, to be honest. The cars are well scrutineered and they're well monitored for integrity, safety and legality.”

While Brundle said he wouldn't wish to see too many changes being made to the premier class of motorsport, he hoped that the Singapore Grand Prix race distance be reduced from 306 kilometers to 280 kilometers. He said:

“The races are a decent length.

"I‘d probably shorten the Singapore Grand Prix a little, like we do in Monaco. Monaco is 260 kilometres, I'd probably make Singapore 280 kilometres.

“I’d tweak that a little bit. I'm calm where we are. I've never known F1 as popular as it is today. So if it ain't broke, don't fix it.”