Lights Out And Away We Gon't ❌

If anyone's confused about what happened here, allow me to explain.
Back in the 1990s, the starting sequence was triggered by the race director pushing a button which sent a radio signal to the starting gantry. The lights would then hold for a pre-determined length of time, before going out and starting the race. The trouble was, the teams figured out that if they could intercept the radio signal as it was sent to the starting gantry then a computer could work out exactly when the button was pressed and therefore exactly when the lights would go out, and it would play a beep in the drivers' earphones right before the lights were set to go out, allowing the drivers to start perfectly.
On this particular occasion however, Alex Zanardi's car was out of position on the grid, and the start was aborted DURING the lighting sequence. As the button had already been pressed however, the beep still played in the ears of the drivers and they automatically leapt off the line, despite the race failing to start.
After that, the lights were made to stay on for a randomised length of time so the teams wouldn't know exactly when the race would start, and now it's up to the driver again to react to the lights going out.
EDIT: I know there is a popular theory that the FIA deliberately caused the lights to stay on to catch teams cheating, and this is definitely possible. However, since this has never been confirmed and since no-one was ever penalised, I decided to only include information that was confirmed or widely accepted. Please stop "Well ackshually"ing me.

When an honesty test looked like a Race Control Accident…

Teams: Yes we found a great idea to start the race.
Race director:Hold my lights

Teams: exploited the light signals to get a perfect start
Race directors: imma bout to do what’s called a pro gamer move

I really miss Murray Walker, he truly is the voice of F1... 😢💔

For context, the fia were becoming suspicious about some teams race starts. Some teams used a beep as soon as the lights would usually go out. This time the lights were kept on for longer and caught the teams using the beep.

Trolling from a race director before it became mainstream?

I miss Murray Walker's voice. He's a true legend.

When the officials exposed the entire field

Back when Petronas was still considered a "village brand" within Malaysia's borders...

Funny how it was all the top teams that knew when the light was supposed to go.

1999 Frentzen turned up second half after Michael got hurt he turned up!!! That Mugen Engine still one of my favs!!!!

jordan 199 probably the greatest car eddie jordan ever had

For instance : some teams at the time cheated with a « signal » few ms before lights out. Race director knew it and wanted to see who cheated. Then he knew 😅

This was no accident. This was later explained by an ex technical director that once worked for Ferrari and McLaren. He said the FIA decided to check which teams were using a sensor on the car electronics to be clever enough to sense sequence the lights went out. McLaren definitely were using it as you can see.

April fools at F1

Back when F1 was F1.

AND IT'S LIGHTS OUT, AND WE'RE GOING NOWHERE! 😆

When honesty hits you in the face… this is EXACTLY my point

I remember this it was a simple but clever way to catch teams who were at the time cheating

Boa noite !!!!!
Harald Frentzen na pole position.
Absolutamente fantástico......
1999 foi a melhor temporada da história da Jordan.
Só saudades......
Obrigado pelo vídeo e parabéns pelo canal.
Abraço do Brasil.

We miss you Murray Walker 🇧🇷🇧🇷🇧🇷

Drag racers, to this day, still use delay boxes to "cut a perfect light" and I think it's b.s. I prefer the way Formula starts by responding to a light going OUT rather than one coming on. Our brains react slower to lights extinguishing than we do one illuminating. It's 0.400s coming on, but closer to 0.600 when going off.

They wanted to see which team exploited the timing of the lights. Certain teams always jumped perfect.

Those race cars are so light woaaahhh the dude just pulled up and reversed him single handedly

This was an epic race.... I remember as a kid this being on the TV in the pub when I was a kid as we had some do going on when I was part of the football team... there was so many twists and turns in this one... no one could've ever imagined Johnny Herbert eventually winning this one.

I remember watching this. Pretty much about the time I got into F1

This was a great era! I’m lucky enough to work on two Jordan B197

Away we go...n't, jajajajajajaja that had me ROFL!

Murray Walker's comments was wonderful

Murray Walker, the very enthusiastic & knowledgable voice of Sunday afternoon F1 on the BBC! Well before TV signals from space was a thing! Sorely missed.

Lights ain't out and here we stay!

Ahh, the howling of those engines...

If Murray Walker hasn't seen it before you know it's pretty rare.

The day the drivers got played.

back when cars could afford the weight penalty of paint

It's crazy how they knew the exact moment the lights would go off

Teams: Cheat the system to get the best start.
Charlie: How about I leave em on.

Crazy season, at this time frentzen was actually a title contender

This race is one of the most incredible in history. 1999 European GP

Front of the grid caught in 4k

It's Lights Out, And Away We Go! ❌
It's Lights Out, And Away We Gon't! ✅
25/01/2023 19:57.

Now this is an odd Grand Prix races and all endurance races started this way that's one reason why they were called The Gentlemen's races

Legends says lights are still red

It was at that race, eddie irvine's hopes of becoming champion, were lost.

What a team..... Jordan .....what a year .... '99

The cars looked amazing back then

99 Jordan = best livery ever.

My guy has not moved for 30 mins 🚶💀

It was a crazy time back then 😂

Computer: "Nahhhh not today. too loud"

Correct me if I’m wrong but there were rumours some teams had figured out a way to predict when the lights go out, giving them an impossible reaction time. So to test this the FIA kept the lights on. So basically all the cars that jumped the start at exactly the same time were cheating.

Yellow car be like : me toh aage aa gaya hu ab piche nahi jaunga

I like that race director … who is that man ?! He put them on blast for the whole world to see.. caught with your pants down…

Charlie Whiting's greatest power move

This was a nice trap set by the FIA to catch the cheaters 😁

When 3 teams got caught cheating

They should have gone green after few seconds and penalize jump starters rather than abort the start. Believe every other driver was still watching the red lights apart from the ones who got beep.

And lights not out, and still away they go!

The lights had a major mal-misorganisation problem

Great way to catch some cheaters

I miss Murray walkers..Murray isums...😏🙄🤣🤣.. he had a way with words that left others speechless..🤣🤣

The scandal of timing the lights by engineers 😂

Ralf must've been cacking himself when DC stopped.

This is the most genius FIA moment in Formula 1 history, caught the cheating teams red handed

I saw this live,. forgot I'd seen it,. was crazy, it lead to a change in light design IIRC.

When they jump started, I bet they thought “Wait a sec…”

They jumped the start once the yellow lights came on, as a reflex. It came on cause the grid was incorrect

Frentzen in a Jordan on pole? They were the days.
I can't remember which race this was. It looks like the Hungaroring or Nurburgring with all the downforce on those beauties.

It’s the context that makes this interesting

Perfect way to catch them

F1 fans having no clue that there was F1 before 2019.

This is where Maldonado got the inspiration from Spa 2012

Does anyone know what race this is? I would love to look it up and read up on the history of this in greater detail.

This was done on 100% purpose to prove who where cheating they had the timing down and they left lights on to prove which teams where using the count to get a head start

I remember when this happened lol 😂

Very interesting. Thanks

Me when I'm late for work!

Bro in 4th place saw the other launch so he did too 💀

classic troll job by Mr Whiting. 12/10

Aww i love the yellow buzzin hornets car 🐝

That one williams amlost hit the mclaren

F1 shooting itself in the foot. I see that nothing has changed in the last quarter century, they manage to do it every season in one way or another.

Box, box.. Stay out! Stay out!

It is light ON and away nobody goes

"we do a little bit of trolling"

i didnt expect this haha

May I know the driver on the last row able to see the light? It's so small and so far

I thought it was related to that fiasco with hijacked signal that gave away drivers sound signal when to drop the clutch.

Love how they all just freeze

when cheaters exposed themselves

I remember watching this!

The Mercedes McLaren looks so great.

Glory moment to jordan. Pole position 👏🏻

This is basically the race director pranking the teams lol

Aah yes one of the early anti cheat system in F1

I can just hear the ring from engineer in the earpieace that told them to go

Lights out and here we stay

Bet you they didn’t try that again..

I miss Walker!