Sky Sports presenter Ted Kravitz and David Croft had a disagreement during the Australian Grand Prix after a red flag was waved when Alex Albon’s Williams hit the barrier and sprayed gravel across the track.
The incident initially just brought out a safety car but, when the stewards felt the situation would take more time to clear up, the red flag was waved and all drivers returned to the pit lane.
While this was a great opportunity for some to claim a free pit stop, as you’re allowed to change tyres and even change front wings before the race resumes, others were hurt by the decision.
Mercedes had been leading the race with George Russell in P1 and Lewis Hamilton in P2 but Russell divided into the pits at the sight of the safety car to change tyres early.
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When the red flag was waved, his tactic proved costly, as he restarted the race down in P7, having sacrificed his position for nothing.
Discussing the situation on Sky Sports, Kravitz and Croft disagreed whether the red flag should have been waved or if drivers should have continued behind the safety car.
“Ted, I can give you some information on that. The red flag is because of the gravel that came back onto the track,” Croft said.
“You can see actually that the gravel is coming onto the racing line, there was a lot of it with the Williams beached.
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“The red flag has basically so the track can be swept, the last thing you want at some of the high-speed, flat-out curved sections is someone picking up a puncture and going into the barrier.”
“Yeah, well if you’re George Russell you are probably thinking, ”WHAT! GRAVEL!’,” Kravitz replied. “”The red flag was for gravel, we’ve driven through gravel before.”
“But George Russell isn’t the racing director,” Croft replied sharply.