After our article about the Balance of Performance last week, the facts of the 6 Hours of Spa left us, once again, perplexed.
The federation provided another interesting food for thought, bringing out one of the most controversial decisions in the recent history of the WEC.
But let’s go in order.
What happened at the 6 Hours of Spa
For those who haven’t seen the race - and we warmly invite you to recover it if you haven’t done it yet, because it’s been really crazy - we have to give some context.
At 1 hour and 44 minutes from the end, Bamber, at the wheel of the #2 Cadillac LMDh, gave us a "splendid" - let’s say - multi-class crash, evidently a specialty of the American brand given the precedents in IMSA.
While he was chasing the Proton Competition Porsche #99 at the beginning of the Kemmel straight, a lapping attempt, to say the least clumsy, first sent him into contact with the German LMDh, and then darted badly on the blameless BMW M4 GT3 #31 of Sean Gelael.
The pandemonium generated was such that the Cadillac almost took off - holy stabilizer fin - at over 200 kilometers per hour, while the BMW was thrown violently against the guard-rails on the opposite side of the track.
All seasoned with debris fired up to Le Mans.
Drivers ok fortunately, but it was immediately clear that it would have taken hours to secure the track.
Although we could argue for hours about the nature and responsibility of the accident, however, we want to focus purely on the sporting consequences of the fact.
In the WEC, the races being timed, and not in laps as in Formula 1, the race direction opted not to stop the clock, which then continued to slide during the break, as if nothing had happened.
Or at least, this until 10 minutes before the end of the 6 hours, when the stewards returned incredibly to their steps: the race would not end at the end of time as everyone would have expected, but it would’ve actually restarted from where it left, at 1 hour and 44 minutes to the end.
A legitimate move from a regulatory point of view - Article 14.3.1 of the sporting regulation - but which is undoubtedly controversial and questionable for a number of reasons.
The first is linked to the regulation of the red flag: during it, in fact, it is allowed to change tires but not refuel the car.
This has consequently brought a huge advantage to those who had just stopped - Porsche and Alpine over all - and has disadvantaged all the others, especially - not even to say it - Ferrari, which at the time of the accident was dominating.
A gap that could not be recovered in less than two hours, but not like it was hard to understand that it would’ve end up like that.
All this becomes even more surreal if you go to read the statement of the federation at the end of the weekend. But on this point we will return later.
A dangerous precedent
Another major problem arising from all this chaos is the creation of a precedent that could prove to be very dangerous in the future.
Imagine something similar happening in Le Mans, where among other things there will also be the LMP2 in between. There would be a ruckus.
Not that here things ended with tarallucci and wine: at the end of the race, in fact, Ferrari filed an appeal against the decision to resume the race, but it was rejected by the federation.
And here comes the most comical part of the speech, because the way the FIA tried to justify the decision was to say the least... questionable.
And not because Ferrari is involved, let’s be clear, it could have happened to Toyota as well as to Alpine or Isotta Fraschini and we would have kept the same tones.
"This solution ensured sporting fairness for the competitors, who set their strategies for a six-hour race. Cutting the race session short would mean that some competitors would gain, and others would lose as a result", states the tragicomic statement.
But in all honesty, has sporting correctness remained intact? Has anyone been disadvantaged?
Coming out with the "sporting fairness" about the strategies, when the these are blown up, it certainly wasn’t a very good communicative choice.
The management of the episode has brought to the surface an increasingly evident crisis of the FIA, which seems to be fumbling more and more in the dark.
But it has above all highlighted the need to have consistency and respect for the work of teams and drivers - something that we also stressed in our last article.
Le Mans gets closer and closer and not so reassuring rumors begin to circulate, especially on the BoP front.
We will see, hoping that this matter has served as a wake-up call for a referee who is collecting more and more embarrassment on every front.
And talking about controversy after every weekend is becoming a very repetitive script.
So the question arises: is the FIA collecting more insults than it actually deserves, or is it time for a deeper reflection?
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