Formula 1 race control has opened itself up for further criticism after a potentially "dangerous" incident with marshals occurred in Sunday's Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
Already having drawn the ire of some in the paddock for its race management this season, it emerged on Monday that race control had instructed six drivers to unlap themselves under the safety car with four marshals still working on track to clear debris from the crashed Williams of George Russell between Piratella and Acque Minerali.
While the first five cars passed the scene going slow under yellow flag conditions, the sixth car of Lance Stroll's Racing Point was going considerably faster as it raced to catch-up to the pack, seemingly unaware of their presence.
Making matters worse, both Haas' Romain Grosjean and Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel had tried to warn the stewards beforehand over team radio, the former suggesting it was "a bit dangerous to leave marshals on" and the latter saying "It’s very, very dangerous. Tell the marshals to get out of the track.”
However in what is ostensibly a breakdown of communication between race control, team, and driver, Stroll had been told to "push to catch" the pack by his race engineer, and was still following those instructions when he arrived on the scene after navigating the blind kink at Piratella, before finally lifting between turns 10 and 11.
Under FIA regulations, drivers are only instructed to “proceed around the track at an appropriate speed” when unlapping themselves, with specific guidance for incidents such as Sunday's left up to race director Michael Masi and his team. As of yet neither Masi nor the FIA has commented on the incident.
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