The 2022 Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix race gave us a duel in style between Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc in the final stages of the test, although a yellow flag caused by the accident between Lance Stroll and Alex Albon detracted somewhat of emotion.
When this color appears on the luminous signs, the drivers must slow down in the sections where an incident has occurred and, of course, they are prohibited from overtaking in said zones. Bearing this in mind, how was the Monegasque’s Ferrari able to set the fastest lap of the race when the yellow flags appeared?
The answer is quite simple, although there is something related to the twist that Max Verstappen signed that can be very curious. Charles Leclerc recorded his best time on lap 48, just as the Jeddah track marshals waved the yellow flags, but as the driver got out of the danger zone before it happened, it did not affect him and was therefore not seen. forced to slow down.
In fact, only the Ferrari driver and the current world champion escaped having to brake on that section of the circuit, but on the next lap they did have to slow down due to the Williams that stopped in a loophole.
So Leclerc added one more point thanks to the 1:31.634 he did at an average of 242.55 km/h in Saudi Arabia, and he didn’t give Verstappen a chance to respond, did he?
The Dutchman completed his best lap on the final lap of the race, when the yellow flags were still present in the first sector. This is because the drivers only have to respect the light signal in the mini-sectors where the danger is, so they can go full speed for the rest of the track.
That is what the Red Bull driver did, who, going with much less fuel load as it was the last kilometers of the race, only had to slow down at the beginning of the lap to stay 0.138 seconds from the extra point awarded by being the most fast in the top ten classified.
They were not the only ones who turned at higher speeds during the yellow flag period, as Carlos Sainz, Sergio Pérez and Kevin Magnussen faced a possible sanction for not respecting the danger on the track, although after an investigation with the telemetry of the single-seaters, the FIA decreed that they would not penalize any driver for the same reason, loosening up in the mini-sector in which the incident occurred.
