Vettel warned F1 race control over “very dangerous” near-miss with marshals

Ferrari Formula 1 driver Sebastian Vettel warned race control that marshals working on the track during the Safety Car period at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix was “very dangerous”.

The incident, which was unseen at the time as it was not broadcast during the race, occurred under Safety Car conditions after George Russell had crashed his Williams into the wall between Piratella and Acque Minerali.

Six drivers were given the normal instruction to overtake the Safety Car and unlap themselves by catching up to the back of the pack, but four marshals were still present on the left-hand side of the track working to clear up the remaining debris at the scene of Russell’s incident.

Alfa Romeo duo Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi, Williams’ Nicholas Latifi and Romain Grosjean were the first to arrive on the scene and navigated past marshals at reasonably slow speed due to Raikkonen backing off.

But that did not stop Grosjean from highlighting his concerns over team radio, telling Haas:  “OK, it’s a bit dangerous to leave marshals on.”

A little further back, Vettel passed the scene on his own and slowed having noticed the yellow flag warning on the trackside panels.

The four-time world champion quickly advised his team to make race control away of the situation.

“Tell them to watch out, that marshals are on the track,” Vettel said over team radio. "It’s very, very dangerous. Tell the marshals to get out of the track.”

Meanwhile, Stroll had been told to “push to catch” by Racing Point in order to return to the back of the Safety Car train.

Stroll arrived at the scene at noticeably higher-speeds around the blind downhill kink at Piratella compared to the drivers in front of him, before lifting slightly between Turns 10 and 11.

The FIA sporting regulations state that drivers who un-lap themselves during a Safety Car period should “proceed around the track at an appropriate speed” to re-join the back of the queue.

Given the precedent F1 has set itself for safety standards, the incident is likely to be brought up in the next drivers’ briefing in Turkey.