The FIA has defended their Virtual Safety Car system after Sergio Perez blamed it for costing him a podium at the French Grand Prix.
In a tense battle with George Russell, Checo was caught napping by the Mercedes driver when the race went green after Zhou Guanyu had stopped by the side of the track with an issue.
At the restart, it was noticeable how the gap between the VSC ending message and the actual green flag was longer than normal and Perez explained what was happening inside the car.
“It was very unfortunate what happened with the Virtual Safety Car. I got the message that it was going to end out of Turn 9, so I went for it, but then it didn’t end [there],” he said.
George catches Checo sleeping and snatches P3! ?#FrenchGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/5U0j5ER7Vo
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“Then it ended after Turn 12 and I was just too close to it. It seems like George had different information and he was able to prepare better for it.
“It is a shame the Virtual Safety Car interfered in the result. It shouldn’t be the case but it was the case today. It was totally wrong, the system. There was something going on.”
In response, the FIA confirmed there was a problem that delayed the restart but insisted all teams had the same information.
“A second VSC-ending message was sent due to a hardware issue, which led to an automated switch-to-backup-systems that worked exactly as they should in that scenario,” a statement said.
“The same information is supplied to all teams concurrently. The VSC ending countdown time to the green light being displayed on the trackside panels is always random.”