Race control made an unexpected decision during the red flag period in yesterday’s Mexican Grand Prix.

Having originally announced the field would line up in its existing order for the restart, the FIA announced Lewis Hamilton and Andrea Kimi Antonelli would swap positions, the Ferrari driver taking third place. It also moved Pierre Gasly up three positions into 10th place.

It made the change as both drivers lost positions by pitting under the Safety Car period shortly before the race was red-flagged. RaceFans reader Sumedh believes this was a correct call which would have avoided past controversies:

Amid yet another Ferrari self-sabotage, can I just say good on FIA to reinstate Hamilton and Gasly to their pre-Safety Car pit stop positions after the Safety Car got converted to red flag.

That is a smart move and takes away the lottery of teams betting on a red flag and keeping the drivers out. Imagine if this was done in Jeddah 2021 on lap 10 after Mick Schumacher’s crash, none of the follow-up controversies of that race would have probably occurred.
Sumedh

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