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What Is Aborted Start in F1?

Anirban Aly Mandal
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Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace, Interlagos, FORMULA 1 LENOVO GRANDE PREMIO DE SAO PAULO 2024 , in picture race start , Oscar Piastri AUS , McLaren F1 Team, Lando Norris GBR , Charles Leclerc MCO , Scuderia Ferrari HP, Carlos Sainz Jr ESP , Max Verstappen NLD , Oracle Red Bull Racing

After all the drama of the 2024 F1 season, no one could have predicted what the Sao Paulo GP had to offer this weekend. After the chaos of a postponed qualifying session on Saturday, the grid was all set for the Grand Prix before Lance Stroll’s beached AMR24 wreaked havoc.

19 of the 20 drivers (Alex Albon could not start owing to his qualifying crash on Sunday morning), were on their formation lap when Stroll lost his Aston Martin under braking and was stranded in the gravel trap outside turn 4. This led to Race Control flashing the ‘Aborted Start’ message. But what does that mean?

From the point of view of the regulations, an aborted start means that the drivers need to get back into their grid positions and the mechanics will be allowed to work on the cars — like any normal start procedure. A ten-minute signal will be displayed and the start procedure will be resumed again with the formation lap.

However, as Bernie Collins explained, the terminology used for this has been ‘Abandoned Start’. Generally, the message ‘Aborted Start’ is used with a phrase telling the drivers to embark on another formation lap. That is what McLaren’s Lando Norris assumed and left his grid-box with the yellow lights still flashing.

For all intents and purposes, this is a mix-up in communication by the FIA. And because Norris was the pole-sitter he will most likely face the brunt of this. He has been noted by race control for a start procedure infringement. As of writing, no decision has been made by the Stewards yet.

All the drivers have now lined up on the grid, and the race shall be resumed with another formation lap — making the race distance now 69 laps instead of the originally scheduled 71 laps around the Interlagos circuit.

Post Edited By:Aishwary Gaonkar

About the author

Anirban Aly Mandal

Anirban Aly Mandal

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Anirban Aly Mandal is an F1 writer at The SportsRush, with over 1000 articles under his belt, Anirban's love for F1 started when he discovered a copy of F1 2014 on his computer. With over half a decade's worth of time spent religiously following the sport, he’s dived deep into the world of motorsports. However, Anirban's expertise goes beyond just writing - he has also written several academic papers focused on the domain of motorsports and the law. His passion for the sport is so immense that he aspires to work as a legal advisor in the most prestigious racing series in the world someday. When it comes to Formula 1, Anirban finds great pleasure in re-watching classic races and idolizes the likes of Ayrton Senna, Nigel Mansell, and Sebastian Vettel. His top picks include Brazil '91, Silverstone '92, and Germany '19. Outside of the sport, Anirban is an avid sim racer, often found racing on titles like Assetto Corsa, F1 22, and Automobilista. Apart from his interests in gaming, Anirban has a keen interest in philosophy, literature and music.

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