What Is Aborted Start in F1?

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.

It is only the formation lap and Lance Stroll has lost control of his car at Turn Four! pic.twitter.com/SSBuRJ1udk

— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) November 3, 2024

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.