Overtaking under yellow flag or not? Flag chaos in Berlin causes uncertainty on the podium

The final phase of the second Berlin race was furious. Mitch Evans was able to pull away from the competition. Directly behind him, however, there was a decisive situation between Rowland and Wehrlein for second place: the reigning world champion overtook Wehrlein on the start-finish straight, apparently under a yellow flag. However, there was no investigation as it was a different flag than was recognisable in the TV broadcast.

TV images cause confusion

After a collision between Antonio Felix da Costa and Nico Müller, debris landed on the track. Race control briefly showed the yellow flag, overtaking manoeuvres were prohibited. Shortly afterwards, they showed the red-yellow-striped flag instead, which is displayed in the event of unexpectedly slippery track conditions, as well as debris on the track. Overtaking manoeuvres under this flag are permitted.

In the TV images from Rowland's onboard camera, it looked as if the digitally displayed flag was yellow. This caused enormous confusion not only for the spectators, but also for the TV presenters. They were initially sure that Rowland must have overtaken under yellow. However, the FIA officially gave the all-clear shortly afterwards: no offence. The reigning world champion therefore legally drove into second place.

Rowland first had to convince Nissan of his strategy

Rowland and Evans drove a risky strategy in today's race, but it was rewarded. In qualifying, they only used old tyres and accepted starting from the back of the field. They then put on the fresh set for the start of the race and therefore had tyres that were more than five laps younger than the competition - a decisive advantage on the special surface in Berlin-Tempelhof.

However, the reigning world champion first had to convince his team: "I really had to work on my idea with the team for a long time, they are always reluctant to do something like this. I was surprised that they wanted to implement it after the third free practice session, but it was also a lot of pressure for me to make the strategy really work."

Pascal Wehrlein maximises his result

Immediately after the race, Wehrlein himself was still confused as to whether Rowland would be penalised and whether he might inherit second place. In hindsight, however, the German describes the situation as clear-cut. Wehrlein is very satisfied with his result: "Oli and Mitch both had new tyres. But we were by far the best car on the other strategy. That's why we made the best of it."

Towards the middle of the season, things are getting tighter at the top. There are currently only eight points between Wehrlein, Evans and Mortara. The next race weekend takes place in Monaco in a fortnight' time. Everything could be shaken up again here.