FIA outlines protocol for Japanese GP trackside fires

The FIA will try to avoid using red flags to attend to any trackside fires during the Japanese Grand Prix, following a number of incidents across the weekend so far.

FP2 on Friday afternoon was interrupted on two occasions by fires starting on the grass next to the Suzuka circuit, following two days featuring high winds but no rain. Those have followed a spell of weather that has left the majority of the grass around the track especially dry, and the second fire spread particularly quickly due to the wind.

Despite the grass being cut shorter in a number of areas on Friday night, there were two further fires on Saturday that had an impact on both sessions.

The fires have been caused by sparks from the cars igniting the grass, and Gabriel Bortoleto dipped two wheels off the track approaching 130R in FP3, with a fire appearing at the same location seconds later.

After another interruption during qualifying — with Q2 halted for a number of minutes — the FIA has explained its intended approach should there be any repeat incidents during the race. The preferred approach will be to attend to the issue under Virtual Safety Car (VSC) if the field is still closely bunched enough, otherwise a safety car will be used to bring the field close together and allow personnel to attend to the flames.

Those approaches are only in the event of small incidents. Should a fire be spreading too quickly, a red flag will be used as a last resort, with race control keen to avoid completely neutralizing the race if possible.

The idea of intentionally scorching the grass was considered but dismissed based on the weather forecast which predicts rain at some stage on Sunday morning, potentially close to the race start time. As a result, officials are hopeful that the moisture will prevent further outbreaks, while circuit staff have been working late into the night cutting the grass even shorter and clearing away the excess.