Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix ended in controversial and potentially deadly circumstances, after fans were seen to have been trackside in the closing laps at the Albert Park Circuit.
The Australian Grand Prix Corporation (AGPC) were summoned to the race officials after the race to explain how fans were able to breach security and stand trackside, whilst the race was reaching its conclusion.
Footage has since surfaced on social media to show just how close fans got to the action, with some having climbed to the top of the fencing.
Climbing fencing was something which was actually banned ahead of the weekend, with teams having been stopped from celebrating a podium in their traditional way.
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“This is so bad Fans on the track while cars still running, this is why the organisation have been summoned to the FIA,” wrote @EngineMode11, an ex-F1 senior systems engineer.
It was certainly a shocking incident, with one fan having actually been hit by debris following Kevin Magnussen’s crash on the exit of Turn Two.
Further footage showed fans getting in the way of marshals trying to recover retired cars, after the chequered flag was flown.
As a result of everything that went on, AGPC have been summoned to the FIA’s World Motor Sport Council, with AGPC CEO Andrew Westacott fully recognising that what happened “could have been horrific”.
Fans entering the circuit in Melbourne for the podium celebrations is something which is allowed at the venue; however, Westacott revealed that he had no idea how they got onto the circuit so early.
“There’s a controlled allowance of people to come on to the track after the race has concluded and after the safety car passes,” Westacott told ABC.
“Spectators had broken one of the lines, we don’t know how that’s occurred just yet.
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“We’ve got a lot of CCTV and we’ve got a huge amount of footage we’re going to have to pour through over the next couple of weeks.
“Motorsport is dangerous – it could have been horrific.
“Nobody does anything malicious at motorsport, it’s an unbelievably well-behaved crowd but they, I think, had a degree of confusion. We don’t know how they got into the area without the right level of authority.”