The FIA has defined new procedures aimed at avoiding potentially dangerous situations such as occurred during the last lap of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. There were moments of tension when Esteban Ocon, entering the pit lane for the pit stop, found in front of him people in the fast lane intent on setting up the parc fermé.
FIA officials were misled by the passage of the first drivers who had already started their last lap, and did not consider that a car could still enter the pit lane to change tyres, as was the case with Ocon.
After the race, the sporting stewards present in Baku summoned those in charge of the parc fermé operations, defining a new protocol that must be observed starting from the Miami race.
“We have examined in detail all the steps to ensure that a situation like the one that happened in Baku cannot be repeated – reports the FIA communication – the procedures and protocols with the interested parties (FOM, teams and the FIA) have been reviewed”.
Team personnel who normally go to parc fermé at the end of the race, as well as VIP guests attending the awards ceremony in the area below the podium, will not have access to the pit lane until the last driver has passed under the flag chess, thus having the certainty that there will be no more pit stops. The provision also applies to the mechanics who wait for the single-seaters in closed park with cooling systems.
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