FIA Ungkap Kesalahan Perangkat Lunak pada Akhir Balapan GP Inggris

Federasi Otomotif Internasional (FIA) mengonfirmasi bahwa kesalahan sistem komputasi menjadi penyebab munculnya pesan keliru pada akhir balapan Formula 1 Grand Prix Inggris di Sirkuit Silverstone, Minggu, 5 Juli 2026.

Insiden tersebut bermula ketika mobil Max Verstappen melintir di tikungan Stowe dan memicu keluarnya Safety Car menjelang akhir balapan, yang kemudian disusul munculnya pesan keliru bahwa Safety Car akan masuk pada putaran tersebut.

Pimpinan balapan Charles Leclerc dan Lewis Hamilton di posisi ketiga telah menggunakan ban soft setelah melakukan pit stop, sementara George Russell bertahan di posisi kedua dengan ban medium.

Namun, Safety Car tidak kunjung masuk ke pit, sehingga Charles Leclerc memimpin iring-iringan mobil melintasi garis finis untuk mengunci kemenangan pertamanya musim ini di bawah kondisi netral.

Pihak FIA kemudian merilis pernyataan resmi untuk mengklarifikasi situasi membingungkan yang terjadi di lintasan tersebut.

"The Safety Car period regulation, Article B5. 13.5, states that one lap must be completed following the unlapping procedure. This process was followed by Race Operations." kata pihak FIA dalam pernyataan resminya.

Otoritas balapan menegaskan bahwa prosedur regulasi sebenarnya sudah dijalankan oleh tim operasi balap, namun terjadi kendala pada sistem pengiriman pesan otomatis kepada tim.

"The ‘Safety Car In This Lap’ message was displayed erroneously due to a software error." tambah pihak FIA.

Komentator Sky F1, Martin Brundle, melontarkan kritik tajam terhadap cara balapan GP Inggris ini diselesaikan sebelum FIA mengeluarkan rilis klarifikasi tersebut.

"Whatever the regulations say, it’s not right, to wait, especially on long circuits. Somewhere like Spa, it takes forever to wait for the lapped cars to get through." kata Martin Brundle, komentator Sky F1.

Brundle menilai aturan yang memaksa rombongan menunggu mobil yang tertinggal satu putaran justru merusak tontonan akhir balapan yang seharusnya berjalan sengit.

"They should either drop back, or I mean, they were half a lap away… The whole reason that came in, as I said in commentary, was to stop lapped runners getting in the way of a big grandstand finish. That’s what that was all about." ujar Martin Brundle.

Menurutnya, keberadaan mobil-mobil yang tertinggal tersebut terkadang bisa memberikan unsur hiburan tersendiri jika langsung dilepas agar kembali ke dalam persaingan balap.

"Also sometimes, it brings players back in, and suddenly they’re part of the race again, so there’s a show element to that as well. But it’s effectively to get them out the way on the restart. You could let them drop back." sebut Martin Brundle.

Ia menambahkan bahwa regulasi menyerahkan keputusan penuh kepada direktur balapan jika kondisi trek dinilai aman dan tidak ada hambatan cuaca atau serpihan kecelakaan.

"But the regulations say, if the race director considers it safe to do so – it was safe, because it’s a dry day, there’s no pouring rain or bits and pieces, all debris all over the track, or crashed cars everywhere – the message lapped cars may now overtake will be sent to all competitors, and the others must stay on the racing line when they’re going through." tutur Martin Brundle.

Mantan pembalap F1 tersebut juga berpendapat tidak ada pasal spesifik yang mengharuskan rombongan menunggu sampai mobil-mobil yang tertinggal benar-benar sampai di belakang antrean.

"It then goes on to say, in the many pages of regulations, that having overtaken the F1 cars on the lead lap, the Safety Car will extinguish its light. The drivers, those that are obliged to go around, have been allowed to go through, it says they must respect there might be incidents out there, drive at a safe speed. It doesn’t say they have to be on the back of the queue." jelas Martin Brundle.

Ia menegaskan aturan yang ada saat ini membingungkan dan perlu segera dievaluasi oleh pihak otoritas demi kepentingan penggemar.

"There is nothing to say you’ve got to wait until they’ve actually arrived around to the back. It just says they’ve got to go and proceed at a reasonable speed. So again, nothing I can see in the regulations.

I don’t see the one-lap bit, but there are plenty more to read through as well. But whatever it is, it needs changing." tegas Martin Brundle.

Brundle menyatakan para penonton yang menyaksikan langsung di sirkuit maupun lewat layar kaca layak mendapatkan akhir balapan yang kompetitif.

"Whatever the regulations say, they’ve got to say something different soon." tambah Martin Brundle.

Kritik tersebut didasari oleh banyaknya penonton yang sudah meluangkan waktu namun disuguhi akhir balapan yang antiklimaks di bawah panduan Safety Car.

"We’re here. We’ve got a fantastic crowd. All the people sitting and watching at home on their devices, TV or online, or whatever, and they deserve a finish to the race. That was the whole point of some of these regulations." ucap Martin Brundle.

Menurutnya, opsi menghentikan balapan sementara dengan bendera merah jauh lebih baik daripada membiarkan durasi Safety Car berjalan terlalu lama.

"If you’ve got to red flag it and have a restart, there’s quite a lot of procedure around that, and quite a lot of delay, but I do think there has to be a better way on a long circuit, particularly of sorting the lapped runners out, without it prolonging a Safety Car period, which are already long enough, let’s be honest." tutup Martin Brundle.