Ex-Formula 1 driver David Coulthard wasn’t happy with how the recent Australian Grand Prix was concluded, with the Scot calling for the sport and the stewards to “do better”.
The most recent round was certainly a confusing one, with the results having only been confirmed last Tuesday, after the FIA rejected Ferrari’s appeal.
Ferrari appealed the race result after Carlos Sainz was awarded a five-second penalty for hitting Fernando Alonso on the penultimate lap, due to the race having been restarted due to a late red flag.
A late red flag saw a standing start take place with just two laps remaining, with the restart having resulted in complete carnage at the opening corners.
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Both Alpine drivers crashed out, as did Nyck de Vries and Logan Sargeant, whilst Alonso was spun by Sainz.
Bizarrely, Sainz was the only driver to be penalised, despite another red flag having been flown as soon as the incidents took place.
Due to the five-second penalty, Sainz fell from fourth to 12th at the end of the race, costing him and the team valuable points.
Ferrari were somewhat understandably furious, whilst fans watched on in disbelief.
It was a “confusing” ending to the race, with it having been made more complicated than it needed to be.
Coulthard is aware that not every decision made by the race director or the stewards will please everyone; however, he believes the sport needs to get to a place where the result is known as good as possible “at the end of a Grand Prix”, rather than a week later.
“It is so confusing for us, for those who have been racing for a long time, for the spectators, the guests and the TV viewers,” Coulthard stated on Ziggo Sport’s Race Café.
“We just want to be entertained by good motorsport. At the end of the race, we want to know who won and who lost, but we are in a modern world where everything has to be analysed.
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“I think it is inevitable that it is difficult to be the race director or to be the referee on the football pitch. You can’t make everyone happy, but we need to be entertained.
“We need to be able to close that chapter as best we can at the end of a Grand Prix and know what the results are. I think Australia is a good example of it being unnecessarily complicated.
“It didn’t look good on television, although we had some great action. Everyone loves a good crash, as long as you’re not the one crashing yourself. We can do better as a sport, and I also think the stewards can do better, the teams can do better, we can all do better.”