Blue flags — a sight that every driver hates, since it is a direct and public reminder that they are slow, and must move out of the way to let faster cars pass through. They are shown to ease traffic during a race as often, front-runners are so quick that they catch up to the cars which run in the bottom positions.
Former F1 driver Martin Brundle has called for them to be banned. Now a Sky Sports pundit, the Briton was answering questions on the Formula 1 subreddit over the last week when a fan asked him what he felt the most ‘ridiculous’ rule in F1 was.
Going by how Brundle answered, it is likely he was prepared with what he wrote. Insisting that blue flags should be removed, Brundle explained, “Drivers have lost their skills of working the traffic, managing the traffic as we used to have to do.”
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“Now everybody has to jump out of the way like school kids when the big boys come through in the fast cars,” he added.
However, Brundle did not emphasize urgency on the matter. While he believes that navigating traffic is a skill modern drivers lack, he acknowledged that today’s car aerodynamics are vastly different from his era. Due to the significant dirty ai — turbulent airflow generated by cars — completely removing blue flags could leave frontrunners stuck behind slower cars.
Any other rules that Brundle would like to change?
Brundle is content with how F1 is, as a sport today. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” the Briton said, reminding readers that F1 is more popular today than it has ever been.
That being said, some minor adjustments would make things better. For starters, Brundle wants shorter Grands Prix, especially outings like Singapore. “I’d probably shorten the Singapore Grand Prix a little bit like we do in Monaco. Monaco is 260km. I’d probably make Singapore 280km.”
Brundle perhaps wrote about the duration of races because of the number of Grand Prix weekends in a calendar. While the sport is as big as it has ever been, it is also hectic — with 24 races on the calendar. Shorter races could help reduce the intensity for drivers and teams.
However, just like his opinion on blue flags, Brundle did not want these changes to be incorporated as soon as possible. “I’m calm how we are,” the 65-year-old concluded.
