Overcautious Wet Conditions??

[P1]

Must admit I had to drive my VW Golf home from Santa Pod that same Sunday & we had monsoon rain whilst on the A14, we didn't have a safety car, no one crashed as we drove to the conditions.......

Safety gone mad as it was ridiculous to see cars changing tyres as soon as the Safety Car rolled in to the pits, surely that's got to be ironic to those in charge?

Agree. Although I wouldn't use the launch control on my 911 Turbo S in the rain.

A lot of things can go wrong when you are deploying 560hp in the rain with all wheel drive and Porsche launch control. With 900hp and rear wheel drive, I understand the concern regarding the launch. I don't understand the concern regarding laps 2-5.

 

[F1Brits_90]

We should be charge of F1 as we got this sorted in matter of days. SC start, Max 2 laps to judge conditions. & trust the 22 best drivers in the world to drive to limit of the conditions If conditions arent "safe" enough, Delay the start

Got a few interesting links about this topic including the bottom 1 on a similar topic on F1 Fanatic from 5 years ago

Vettel: Drivers don't trust full Wet tyres

Formula 1 drivers criticise British Grand Prix safety car decisions

Is the safety car used too much in wet races? · F1 Fanatic

 

[F1Brits_90]

Vettel hinting at something I mentioned in my opening post that pirelli might be some of the problem & drivers have no confidence in wets. Would rather risk it on the inters & something i mentioned in opening post how come Bridgestone were fantastic in wet weather as they had no problems in wet weather. (Bar monsoon conditions) & now pirelli struggle in any rain

 

[Bleu]

I was wondering if it was possible in some cases to have multiple warm-up laps so drivers could acclimatize the conditions better and then have a standing start.

Currently when the race is started behind SC, first lap behind it is first racing lap. So in Silverstone, drivers drove 52 laps from the grid to chequered flag. If the standing start had been used, there would have been 53 laps - of course warm-up lap doesn't show in the statistics.

But if there is some sort of problem in the grid (most recently Kvyat stopped in Melbourne well before his grid spot), the race is shortened by a lap, so Australian GP was ran over 57 laps this year. Similar option would be used in this case.

Instead of annoncements about SC start there would have been announcement.
"3 warm-up laps to be driven - race distance shortened to 50 laps"

 

[Dartman]

From the line up of the grid all laps count, the formation lap is lap one any other laps no matter what they call it count even a red flag lap. the only time the race is foreshortened by laps is by time.i.e 2hrs. What you are actually advocating is 3 laps under virtual safety car rather than following a safety car which could be quicker.

 

[teabagyokel]

In fact, VSC for sector 1. Just annul the start!

 

[Dartman]

In fact, VSC for sector 1. Just annual the start!

Predictive spelling? you mean annul?

 

[TR]

From the line up of the grid all laps count, the formation lap is lap one any other laps no matter what they call it count even a red flag lap. the only time the race is foreshortened by laps is by time.i.e 2hrs. What you are actually advocating is 3 laps under virtual safety car rather than following a safety car which could be quicker.

I seem to recall that the race is also shortened in the case of a red flag after 75% (or something) of the race distance has been completed. (See interlagos 2003)

 

[Dartman]

I seem to recall that the race is also shortened in the case of a red flag after 75% (or something) of the race distance has been completed. (See interlagos 2003)

Yes the red flag can shorten a race, the red flag complicates the race, it may be re-started in which case the original laps are re-instated, or it may not be and the length of the laps competed decide whether or not it is a half point race. Best to avoid non continued red flag races.

 

[KekeTheKing]

Another fantastic decision came out the "Halo" meeting in Germany. No more SC starts because of standing water.

Drivers will be given several reconnaissance laps before a traditional start is held. Makes a lot of sense to me.

Formula 1 to guarantee standing starts in wet races in 2017

 

[cider_and_toast]

Some good news at last.

 

[Incubus]

Will they be allowed to refuel before the start proper or will the race distance be shortened?

 

[cider_and_toast]

The second option I expect.

 

[Incubus]

I hope so otherwise it'd be a wee bit daft...

EDIT Oops sorry, misread your post.

Well if the race distances are shortened anyway then it'll be a bit daft then. The only difference would be a standing start but the actual race would still be shortened?...

 

[Bill Boddy]

The reconnaissance laps will count as race laps, so yes the number of racing laps will go down whilst the cars will not use as much fuel. It might even happen that everyone will not have to worry about fuel saving whilst driving flat out; if so the FIA will have to dream up some rule to retain the status quo.

 

[KekeTheKing]

They have not said whether the exploratory laps laps will count. I would gladly sacrifice these laps though.

I can foresee a Prost at Imola 1991 type scenario occurring too.

 

[Incubus]

Well we' re seeing that already anyway aren't we... How many times have we seen cars spinning off under safety-car conditions these last few years? They've got to keep tyres into temperatures somehow but they don't always know where any rivers across the track might until they actually encounter them.

 

[Bill Boddy]

Currently KekeTheKing if something happens between the start of the formation lap and the start of the race which causes the start to be aborted then another the cars go on another formation lap and the race is shortened by one lap. I suspect that this will be done with any explorative laps.

 

[F1Brits_90]

resurrect this old thread, after the issues of the last few years

why are we having trouble in the full wet races, i think today was the 1st full wet start since brazil 2016, if i remember correctly. what is the issue

• could it be that because they are almost always red flagged, they dont have the experience & havent built the skills to survive that the drivers in 90's/00's did
• Pirelli wet tyres being seemingly so bad that no teams want to run on them in wet conditions that they were happy to risk aquaplaning on inters at the start as they were 5 sec a lap faster. we never had these wet conditions issues under Bridgestone

as i think the race wouldnt have been red flagged had we had the full wets, because they would had far easier chance of staying on & as the restart proved survive the 1st 5-10 laps spray had died down

• finally i heard many drivers talk about as lack of visibility yesterday, which confused me because i dont believe its a modern thing with the cars of the last 5-6 years bringing more spray. also i think drivers have never been able to see where they were going. im sure i remember brundle saying in fuji 2007 that you dont drive with your eyes your driving with your ears in these conditions. i dont think people in these GP's in Fuji 07 Suzuka 94 & Spa 98 were able to see anything

 

[Il_leone]

Too much spoon feeding I understand its motoGp but come on everytime there is a drop of rain there is panic. Even Brundle is saying they should be on full wets.

The Japanese GP they dont want to change when the event is held. The racd use to be 5am UK time now its 7am to capture TV audiences.

If you are worried about visibility they have the red lights on the back now so it cant be that bad if they can see the car in front