So, in the 2nd race at Winton, on the first lap, Fabian Coulthard bumped Scott McLaughlin, sending both cars off the track at turn 5. Fabian Coulthard returned to the track around turns 6 and 7, dropping to near the back of the field, while Scott McLaughlin returns to the track at Turn 8. He was 2nd when he was knocked off the track, and returned to the track initially leading, but gave up spots to Reynolds and Courtney, and almost lost 3rd to Mostert. Fabian Coulthard got penalised 15 seconds for sending Scott McLaughlin, while Scott McLaughlin went on to win the race.
In the aftermath, there has been considerable controversy about McLaughlin's re-entry at turn 8, since a lot of tracks have walls between two sections of the track. Also, two other tracks (Sandown at turn 1 and Hidden Valley at turn 5) have requirements to rejoin the track before the next turn.
I really don't know what can be done, as Scotty Mac didn't break any rules.
"Cars running off at Turn 5 must rejoin prior to the Turn 9 flagpost"
So, had Scotty Mac returned at around turns 6 or 7, where would he have rejoined?
So, having watched this part of the race several times, I have come to a view on, if McLaughlin had rejoined the track in a similar part of the track to where Coulthard joined, he probably would have rejoined, near the back end of the top ten.
While I don't think Scotty Mac would have won the race (It would have gone to Mostert in that case), I do think he would have recovered from it to finish on the podium.
Provided his re-entry to the track didn't result in a collision. That part of the track is tight, so there's every chance that Scotty Mac would have collided with another driver.
So, I can actually understand why Scotty Mac did what he did. Plus, my analysis is 100% subjective, so if you disagree, fine.
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