What is an aborted start in F1?

After all the drama of the 2024 F1 season, no one could have predicted what the Sao Paulo GP had to offer this weekend. After the chaos of a postponed qualifying session on Saturday, the grid was all set for the Grand Prix before Lance Stroll’s beached AMR24 wreaked havoc.

19 of the 20 drivers (Alex Albon was unable to start due to his qualifying crash on Sunday morning) were in their formation lap when Stroll lost his Aston Martin under braking and became stranded in the gravel trap outside Turn 4. This led to Race Control flashing the ‘Aborted Start’ message. But what does that mean?

From a regulations perspective, a rejected start means that the drivers must return to their starting position and the mechanics are allowed to work on the cars – as with any normal starting procedure. A ten-minute signal is sounded and the starting procedure resumes with the formation lap.

However, as Bernie Collins has explained, the terminology used for this is ‘Abandoned Start’. Generally, the ‘Start Aborted’ message is used with a phrase telling the drivers to start a new formation lap. That’s what McLaren’s Lando Norris assumed, leaving his grid box with the yellow lights still flashing.

By all accounts, this is a confusion in FIA communication. And since Norris was the pole sitter, he will probably suffer from this. He was noticed by the race management for violating the starting procedure. At the time of writing, no decision has been made by the Stewards.

All drivers are now on the grid and the race resumes with another formation lap, bringing the race distance to 69 laps instead of the originally planned 71 laps around the Interlagos circuit.