Former Formula 1 driver David Coulthard has argued that the FIA must speed up its decision-making processes when neutralising F1 races, stating there is clear “room for improvement” following the Spanish Grand Prix.
McLaren’s Lando Norris lost a likely victory at the inaugural Spanish Grand Prix at the Madring circuit after Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll stopped on track with a brake failure. When the virtual safety car was deployed, race leader Norris had already passed the pit entry line, allowing Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli to pit cheaply and go on to claim his eighth victory of the 2026 season.
“One thing I would question again is the time it takes between an incident and either a virtual, a safety or a red flag. I think that can be tidied up,” Coulthard explained during the Up To Speed podcast.
Former F1 TV presenter Will Buxton, who co-hosted the podcast episode with Coulthard, later explained: “So because Lando’s come out and he said, ‘VSCs and safety cars, and everything in Formula 1, shouldn’t define a race. It’s F1. The race should be won by the best performance and a good strategy.’ And I get that.
“But the thing with safety cars, virtual safety cars, whether you close the pits or you don’t, when a virtual comes out or doesn’t, when a full safety car comes out or doesn’t, it’s luck of the draw. You’re going to be on one side of the coin or the other. You’re either going to land on the side that has worked out brilliantly, or you’re going to be on the side of the coin that has completely screwed your day. And there’s no real midpoint. It’s one or the other.
“So, whatever you do, because you’re always going to have safety cars and you’re always going to need a point at which you neutralise a race for a factor of safety. It doesn’t happen every race. It doesn’t happen all the time, but if and when it does, someone’s going to get screwed, and someone is going to come up smelling of roses. It’s just the luck of the draw.
Arvid Lindblad, Racing Bulls
Photo by: Clive Mason / Getty Images
“How do you legislate to make a moment that is by its very nature inherently unfair? You can’t make that fair.”
When asked if he thought there was a solution to the issue, Coulthard added: “There’s room for improvement, and we touched on it right at the top. The time it takes between an incident and a decision.
“Some of them are absolutely clear-cut, like Monza. It took a little while before the red flag when it’s absolutely clear we’ve had a major accident at Parabolica. So that should be as quick as a yellow flag comes out, the red flag should be out. So room for improvement.”
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