FIA Safety car reform dropped

[The Artist.....]

Autosport are reporting that the discussions to adjust the safety car rules to speed up the restart process were unsuccessful. The proposal had been for lapped cars to simply drop to the back of the crocodile and to be granted an extra lap. However, these proposals were rejected due to "unexpected consequences":

1. There would be timing problems for FOM due to the crediting of an extra lap
2. There would be a fuel advantage for those who were credited an extra lap, as they would need to cover a lesser distance.

Yet again, F1 teams have their heads buried up their own backsides.

The first issue is not an issue at all. It would be extremely simple to allow cars to be credited an additional lap. The second issue again is not an insurmountable issue, since if the race is n laps long, you reduce the allowance by 100/n for cars that have been credited an extra lap. Again, not a difficult decision.

However, I'm still not sure why backmarkers should be given allowed to catch up to the back of the field again. The argument has always been "to make sure the drivers at the front can battle from the restart", but isn't this a bit unfair for the driver that has already lost some time overtaking the lapped cars, and getting a buffer behind him? The sheer presence of the safety car creates unforeseen consequences, and the less time it spends on track, the better! The safety car is not a way of neutralising a race, it is a way of artificially bringing cars together to reset the race.

 

[jez101]

There's always reasons not to change. I suggest that any half decent programmer could fix #1 in a few hours while #2 could be solved by making lapped cars minimum weight 2kg higher at the end of the race.

But, if someone important is resistant to change, nothing will ever get done and we will keep finding reasons not to.

 

[Brogan]

I expected it: http://cliptheapex.com/members/brogan.1/#profile-post-1994

None of the issues are insurmountable.
Whatever niggling issues there would be, have to be better than watching cars trundle around behind the safety car, 10 minutes after the incident has been cleared, just so lapped cars can play catch the tail.

Nonsense.

 

[F1Yorkshire]

Need to look at an extreme example to see why there could be a potential issue.

Hamilton and Rosberg collide at the 1st corner of Abu Dhabi, Rosberg ends up with a puncture, by the time he gets back to the pits and damage is repaired he is now a lap down and is just behind Hamilton on track. Maldonado causes a safety car. Instead of Rosberg having to use the extra mileage in fuel and tyres unlapping the field, he just drops back on track he now has the extra fuel and tyre life meaning he can attack for an extra lap that he wouldn't have been able to do before.

In the whole scheme of things that extra lap wouldn't make much difference and generally it's the slower cars that are being lapped anyway. Logic and Reason certainly aren't considerations in the FIA

 

[The Pits]

If the cars are already lapped, what difference will it make that they are 2 kg lighter?

 

[jez101]

The Pits - let's say 9th and 10th are battling on the track as the leader approaches to lap them.

10th has just been lapped and the leader is about to lap the 9th place car when the SC comes out. The SC picks up the leader so 9th does a whole lap more and is the last car in the croc while 10th is the second car in the line. They clear up the crash and it's time to go racing again (or not... )

If 10th unlaps at the end of the SC period, they use the same amount of fuel as the 9th place car they are fighting.

If they go straight to the back of the croc, they don't and can then turn up the engine mode and blow right by the 9th place car (possibly). But they are also heavier because they didn't use the fuel doing an extra lap.

A problem? Yes, a small one that requires a balanced correction. If the weight limit at the end is 690kg for the car in 9th and 692kg for the car in 10th,then they can make sure they don't use the extra fuel to go too much faster than they would have before. On the other hand, they just need to be able to use enough extra fuel to compensate for the extra weight they have to carry because they didn't burn the weight off going round.

In the big scheme of things this is a tiny problem and certainly not beyond the brightest minds in F1...

 

[cider_and_toast]

And the original method whereby the safety car came out, picked up the leader and they all formed up behind was a problem because? F1 is very good at making a simple thing 10 times harder. Just play the cards your dealt. If there is a back marker in front of you when the safety car comes out, look on the bright side, you were going to have to pass him at some point so at least he's out of the way earlier.

As has been said above, It's bad enough for the race leader that they've lost any time they'd built up anyway why making it easier for the cars behind. The reason a car has been lapped is because they've already been passed by the race leader under racing conditions, why should the second, third, fourth placed cars etc be accorded the privaledge of having the lapped cars move out of their way when the bloke in front had to find a way through the traffic.

 

[F1Yorkshire]

The slower car issue was only when we had a lot of slower cars, The HRT's, Caterhams and unfortunately Marussias probably won't come back so nothing wrong with having all the cars line up as they are on track and stay there, most cars tend to be on the lead lap for much of the race anyway.

 

[Galahad]

This is absurd. The lapped should stay lapped; why does a Safety Car entitle anyone to gain a lap? Just go back to how things were or, if you must, make lapped cars drop to the back and leave the timing and scoring alone.

 

[gethinceri]

Send them through the pits.

 

[Chad Stewarthill]

Fucking numbskulls, it beggars belief!

 

[Mephistopheles]

Letting cars unlap themselves only works on ovals...

 

[cider_and_toast]

Interesting point, do they allow cars to unlap themselves in Indy when not on ovals?

 

[The Pits]

Send them through the pits.

Not sure I like the sound of that.....

 

[Mephistopheles]

Okay that calls for an innuendo prize of the thread trophy..

 

[The Pits]

Not in my endo.

 

[Mephistopheles]

 

[Tuscan1969]

SC comes out, leader forms up a queue behind and finally all lapped cars drop back by driving through the pits and stopping at the exit till given green light to go as the end of the snake passes.....

 

[gethinceri]

Brilliant idea Tuscan1969.

 

[Brogan]

How is that any different (or better) to just moving aside and slowing slightly to rejoin the back of the queue?

If anything, it's worse, as F1 cars shouldn't be stationary more than absolutely necessary, due to overheating.