Ollie Bearman couldn't understand why he had his laptime erased in Formula 1 qualifying at Imola, but he was doomed by an often-overlooked red flag rule.
Bearman called the deletion "totally unfair" and "clearly wrong" and said he had zero faith in the review that delayed Q2, as he was "quite sure about what would happen because I know how these people [race control] work".
The FIA's explanation on Saturday night suggested the red flag was given over three seconds before Bearman crossed the line.
That caused some initial confusion with onboard footage appearing to show the red flag not being displayed until after Bearman crossed the line.
Bearman too, said he couldn't see the LED red flag boards until after he crossed his line, and he's right, that board didn't come on until after he crossed the line, but it was the orange ‘abort lap' lights that doomed him.
Those orange lights were present on the gantry above him before he crossed the line, in accordance with Article 37.6 of the FIA's F1 sporting regulations.
"Should it become necessary to stop any qualifying session because the circuit is blocked by an accident or because weather or other conditions make it dangerous to continue, the clerk of the course will order red flags to be shown at all marshal posts and the orange abort lights on the start gantry to be illuminated shown at the line," the regulation says.
When that signal is given, all cars "must immediately reduce speed and proceed slowly back to the pitlane".
You can see from Bearman's onboard that these orange lights are displayed above the start/finish line pit gantry before he crosses the line.
By point of comparison, Lance Stroll, the last driver to set a laptime before the red flag, doesn't have the orange abort lap lights above him when he crosses the line.
Haas met with the FIA after qualifying on Saturday night to discuss the matter.
The team has subsequently asked for further written clarification on the decision so that Haas can review it more thoroughly.
It has also asked what measures can be put in place to avoid a similar scenario "for the benefit of F1".
Once it gets more clarification, it says it will be more informed to comment.
