Some fans are wondering why Lando Norris didn’t have to change his front wing on Sunday – but the FIA has not intervened in such cases for some time now.
“They want Lando to win the championship,” wrote an obviously angry Formula 1 fan on social media after the Singapore Grand Prix. And he is not alone in his opinion that Lando Norris received preferential treatment from the FIA on Sunday.
Many fans are upset that the Brit was allowed to finish the night race with an obviously damaged front wing, while race officials have pulled other cars from the race in the past for similar defects.
Norris’ wing broke right at the start when he lightly collided with Max Verstappen in the second corner. The end plate on the left side was damaged to such an extent that it bent outwards. However, McLaren did not call Norris into the pits because of this.
And even during his regular pit stop later in the race, McLaren did not replace the broken wing. Many fans are angry about this because in the past, the black and orange “fried egg flag” was often used in such cases.
When race control shows this flag, the driver concerned must come into the pits to have his car repaired—in this specific case, the front wing. Haas driver Kevin Magnussen, for example, experienced this several times during the 2022 season. While some observers suspect a conspiracy, the real reason why race control in Singapore did not intervene is quite simple. At the end of 2022, the decision was made to use the “fried egg flag” much less frequently.
What led to a rethink at the FIA
The trigger for the decision at the time was a situation involving Fernando Alonso at the US Grand Prix in Texas. Alonso lost his mirror there, but still finished the race. He was subsequently given a time penalty, which was then withdrawn after several twists and turns.
This curious case raised the question of when race control should use the black and orange flag. The then McLaren team boss Andreas Seidl called for “a more uniform regulation so that everyone in the paddock […] knows how the rules are interpreted.”
The FIA subsequently decided to only use the flag in cases of major safety hazards. Alan Permane, then Alpine sporting director and now Racing Bulls team principal, said at the time that the FIA had realized “that things had gone a little too far.”
“I think from now on, minor damage such as a mirror or a wing end plate […] will no longer be considered a violation requiring a black and orange flag,” Permane said at the time. And indeed, the “fried egg flag” has been used much less frequently since then.
In Sunday’s race in Singapore, for example, the front wing on Gabriel Bortoleto’s Sauber was significantly more damaged than Norris’ car after a start accident. But even here, the race management did not intervene and the team voluntarily changed the wing later on.
And as early as 2023, the FIA’s then still relatively new guideline had caused controversy when the entire rear wing of Esteban Ocon’s Alpine had come loose at the Canadian Grand Prix. However, even then, the Frenchman was allowed to finish the race without intervention from the FIA.
