Stewards unable to fix F2 Feature Race red flag error

Formula 2 has confirmed the FIA-appointed race stewards in Monaco made a mistake under the red flag that cost seven drivers a lap in Friday's Feature Race, but the provisional result has been upheld.

A red flag was caused on Lap 19 of the F2 Feature Race when Mick Schumacher spun Tatiana Calderon at La Rascasse, causing a road block that prevented half of the field from passing through.

The cars returned to the pits for a 30-minute wait under the red flag, but when the race resumed, it was found that every driver P9 downwards was now a lap down - seven of whom had been on the lead lap prior to the red flag.

As a result, the results of the race were protested, with the stewards acknowledging they had made a mistake by re-ordering the cars when they returned to the pit lane, cycling the lower runners behind the leaders, thus dropping them a lap behind.

However, the stewards have opted to uphold the results, saying there is "no equitable method" to resolve the issue.

"In preparation for the restart, the cars were properly re-ordered in the pit lane in the order they crossed the last timing loop prior to the red flag period. A decision was subsequently made not to further adjust the restart order," an explanation from F2 reads.

"Article 42.3 of the 2019 FIA F2 Sporting Regulations specifies the manner in which the restart order is to be re-established at the restart. That process was not executed in that those cars originally in pit lane ahead of the leader as well as lapped cars were not allowed to transit the course and join the restart order at the rear.

"While this procedure negatively impacted the remainder of the race by putting significantly more cars down a lap than would otherwise have been the case, the Stewards find no equitable method to resolve this error and accordingly leave the results from Race 1 as they stand."

The incident impacted championship leader Nicholas Latifi in particular, preventing the Canadian from scoring any points and allowing race winner Nyck de Vries to close to within one point at the top of the standings.

Second-place finishers Luca Ghiotto was disqualified from the final results due to a technical infringement, while MP Motorsport driver Mahaveer Raghunathan was handed a 20-second time penalty for causing a collision with Jack Aitken.