Safety Car Restarts

[KekeTheKing]

Did anybody (other than JB) find fault with where Seb decided to warm his brakes at Singapore? They were still several corners away from the re-start. Button's incredible reflexes saved Vettel big time as he was inches away from being plowed into.

If I recall correctly the same two had a near coming together on a Shanghai 2010 re-start as well.

 

[RasputinLives]

Vettel has a rep for playing silly beggers on restarts though. Valencia I remember and taking Webber off in Japan. Guess people pay more attention to your faults. Bit like Grosjean off the start line.

 

[Mephistopheles]

Vettel became the pace car and as far as I know Bernd Maylander never drives like that, I'm truly surprised he did not get at least a caution, as I believe what he did is against the regs......

 

[Bill Boddy]

It is, but we mustn't let the lead driver in the WDC get too far ahead.

 

[landogeorgelewis1]

It's kinda like a catch 22 situation for the lead driver and I have to admit that slowing down like Vettel did was very dangerous. Button saved Vettels bacon by the way he broke, something really needs to be done with regards to safety car starts. I.E that a driver who is leading the packed at the restart has to go above a certain speed. All this bunching the packed up stuff is just plain boring to me.

 

[Mephistopheles]

Not to mention dangerous.....

 

[landogeorgelewis1]

Do Safety Car Restarts need looking into?

With Vettel's dangerous brake test at the restart of the first safety car restart, should the FIA bring in a rule that a driver must stay over a certain speed at the restart?

I think something needs to be done about this because that restart by Vettel could have seen both Button and himself have a dangerous accident. This isn't the first time he's done this and I don't think it will be the last too. So surely this needs looking into more as I can see a massive accident happening. Not only did Button have to put the brakes on hard but the couple of cars behind him were rumored to have had to hit the brakes hard as well.

 

[no-FIAt-please]

We don't need anothe knee-jerk reaction to a recent incident IMO. Yeah he should have been more careful but following comments on what happend in Singapore I think he'll be more careful next time. Although I do think he should have had a reprimand.

 

[landogeorgelewis1]

But what if it was someone other than Vettel that did it like Hamilton or Button for that matter? None of them would have got away with it! Surely the restart needs a re-think.

 

[Kamui-FastestChefInTheWorld]

Same thing happened at Fuji in 2007, no action even when there was contact.

Don't see why it should be changed.

 

[no-FIAt-please]

You can't state that someone else wouldn't get away with it because we don't know that. I agree what Vettel did was borderline but part of the problem with F1 in the last few years is that there's now a rule for everything and any incident that happens during a GP needs mass discussion and changes as a result, too much medling. I say in future give the pace car a reprimand unless this issue becomes a common occurence, then it needs to be thought about.

EDIT

Same thing happened at Fuji in 2007, no action even when there was contact.

Don't see why it should be changed.

The 2007 Japan restart wasn't as bad as what Vettel did in Singapore, even with the rain (IMO). If I remember correctly Button also had a dodgy restart in the 2010 Chinese GP, that seemed the worst of the lot to me because (if I remember correctly) he literally brought the field to a stand still.

 

[Mephistopheles]

It is hard to judge but it does seem to me that this sort of thing has been Vettel specific lately but maybe that is just because he has been a front runner in the last couple of years maybe a quick word in his shell like will do the trick.

Was it Schumacher who slammed on the breaks in the tunnel at Monaco a while back causing an accident I can't remember the outcome of that one or if any penalty was given...

 

[MCLS]

Mephistopheles Because Schumacher ended up retiring from it I think no penalty was given

 

[landogeorgelewis1]

Wasn't that at Monaco back in 2004? Or around that time?

 

[MCLS]

Yeah it was

 

[Hamberg]

I didn't like it. If there are penalties for weaving during a race then the lead driver, or any driver needs to respect the rules that have been put in place for preventing accidents. I don't see what he did/does as any more palatable than brake testing someone. They might not be going nearly as fast but they are still at speed and it's a saving grace these guys have unnaturally quick reactions.

I think the behaviour was unsporting.

 

[MCLS]

I agree with no-FIAt-please, a reprimand would have been the best way forward

 

[Mephistopheles]

I agree Hamberg

 

[landogeorgelewis1]

I kinda agree with both no-FIAt-please and Hamberg points.

 

[Josh]

I doubt he'll do something like that again after such a close call anyhow. You can't be sure he did it on purpose to mess with Button anyway.

Besides, do we really need rules for every little incident? Quite frankly I don't see why there's such a knee jerk reaction to every little thing nowadays. Everyone seems to want more rules and more punishments while at the same time wanting less involvement from the stewards.