FIA steps in to prevent Monza qualifying chaos

The FIA has intervened to try and prevent traffic chaos in Saturday's Italian Grand Prix qualifying by expanding the use of its minimum lap time rule.

In the past, F1 qualifying has often been disrupted by drivers backing off on their out-lap in search of open space before undertaking a hot lap.

The practice has often led to dangerous congestion issues within the field. Such was the case in Friday's F3 qualifying session in which traffic woes reached a peak and resulted in a collision, which required the deployment of the red flag.

The FIA has traditionally enforced regulations against drivers maintaining excessively slow speeds during their in-laps.

However, at Monza, the rule has been expanded to include any lap a driver completes, notably including out-laps, in a proactive effort to prevent escalating traffic issues from becoming unmanageable.

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As part of the Italian Grand Prix's event notes, FIA race director Niels Wittich sent on Saturday morning the following addendum to F1's teams:

"4.2 For the safe and orderly conduct of the Event, other than in exceptional circumstances accepted as such by the Stewards, any driver that exceeds 1min 41sec from the Second Safety Car Line to the First Safety Car Line on ANY lap during and after the end of the qualifying session, including in-laps and out-laps, may be deemed to be going unnecessarily slowly.

"For the avoidance of doubt, this does not supersede Art. 33.4 and Art. 37.5 of the FIA Formula One Sporting Regulations, which apply to the entire Circuit. Incidents will normally be investigated after the qualifying session."

Monza's high-speed layout only exacerbates traffic problems as it compels drivers to seek a slipstream from the car in front to enhance their straight-line speed.

Consequently, drivers are often hesitant to take the lead in the pack, which, in turn, reinforces the trend of drivers slowing down to create a group.

In 2019, the congestion issue got so extreme in the closing stages of qualifying that an entire queue of drivers failed to complete in time their final push lap.

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