Sky commentators Martin Brundle and David Croft were critical of FIA race control for allowing a truck on track and not throwing a red flag to stop the Australian Grand Prix.
Pole-sitter Lando Norris claimed an action-packed victory at Albert Park in the first race of the 2025 season, holding off a late onslaught from Max Verstappen to win for McLaren.
Norris was jousting with teammate and home hero Oscar Piastri for most of the grand prix before the Australian slid off-track after a late downpour.
Yet in the middle of the race, after Fernando Alonso crashed his Aston Martin, Norris was seen leading the pack around behind the safety car.
Bafflingly, Norris was forced to drive past a moving lorry at turn 10, while the safety car even went off-line to avoid the vehicle.
Sky’s lead commentator Croft was unimpressed with the decision not to red-flag the race, given the truck on the circuit.
“To see Lando Norris driving alongside a lorry…I’m very surprised,” he said.
“[You have] drivers sliding off, I don’t understand why we’re still going around. You have to put safety first. We haven’t got the cranes here, you have to think about red flagging.”
Brundle agreed, adding: “So am I. He [Norris] didn’t want to go into the run off area, the chances of picking up a puncture is enormous.
“You don’t normally follow the safety car off the racetrack.”
Yet the top-three drivers were all satisfied with the situation, when asked about the lorry in the post-race press conference.
Verstappen said: “I thought it was fine, if you crash behind the safety car, you’re really stupid.”
Norris replied; “You shouldn’t be in Formula 1 then,” while Russell stated: “Yeah, I think it was fine.”
The topic is relevant to the sport, given Pierre Gasly’s near-miss with a tractor in Japan in 2022, which brought back memories of Jules Bianchi’s fatal crash at the same circuit in 2014.
Brundle has previously been very vocal about having diggers and trucks on track while cars are still going around the circuit, whether in yellow flag conditions or not.
Russell completed the podium for the season-opener in Melbourne on Sunday, while Lewis Hamilton could only finish 10th on his Ferrari debut in Melbourne.
