Formula 1 stewards have slammed Brazilian race organisers after fans gained access to the Interlagos circuit while cars were still on track at the end of the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
On-board footage from some cars reportedly shows fans breaking past security lines and perimeter fences to access the track in the closing stages of the event.
Video footage shared online by Brazilian new website Metrópoles shows some rowdy spectators fighting security guards and climbing over the wire fences to run up towards the start-finish straight.
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The stewards found that a “large group of spectators” managed to overwhelm the circuit’s security measures, which were “not enforced and/or were not sufficient, resulting in an unsafe environment for the spectators and drivers”.
Sao Paulo F1 Organisation, the local organising body, was summoned to a stewards hearing on Sunday night to answer for the security breach.
“SPF1 candidly admitted the failures in terms of the security protocols and safety measures,” the stewards said in their report. “SPF1 concurred with the FIA sporting delegate and the race director report and agreed that comparable circumstances already occurred in Brazil and that this was an unacceptable situation which could have had disastrous consequences.
“SPF1 stated, in mitigation, that they would conduct a thorough investigation and take steps to remediate in time for the next event in Brazil.”
The stewards required organisers to present a formal remediation plan to the FIA by the end of January.
They also referred the matter to the FIA World Motorsport Council, the governing body’s regulatory committee, for “further investigation to determine whether any additional steps need to be taken or penalties applied beyond the remediation plan”.
The stewards’ decision document is in many placed identical to that issued to the Australian Grand Prix Corporation over a similar incident at this year’s Australian Grand Prix, when some fans broke through security barriers and entered the track via marshal access points. Others were seen climbing over the catch fencing.
Track invasions have become integral parts of the F1 spectacle on Sunday nights, with most circuits allowing fans to gather on the circuit beneath the podium after the grand prix.
The timing of invasions is strictly controlled, however, with security instructed to keep fans behind the fences until given the all-clear by race control, usually in the form of a course car doing a final lap of the circuit after the last competitor has pulled in to pit lane.