New safety car rules.. finally

[christophulus]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/73020


"When we deploy the safety car, the message will go to all the cars, which will then have a "safety car" mode on their ECUs. As soon as that message gets to the car, it'll know where it is on the circuit, and it'll calculate a minimum time for the driver to get back to the pits. The driver will have to respect this and the information will be displayed on his dashboard.


"If you remember, the reason we closed the pit entry was to remove the incentive for the driver to come back to his pit quickly. That's gone now, as you won't be able to reach the pits any quicker than your dashboard display allows you to. "


A good solution to a problem that need not have existed in the first place...

[Nikki Katz]

Thank flip for that. There was absolutely no need for that rule in the first place - the only time I can ever think of it being useful was Webber at Brazil '03, and frankly if Alonso had paid attention to the flags then that accident wouldn't have happened.

The recent rules have thrown up some totally false results, and if medals were brought in could push some very unworthy people (e.g. Piquet) quite a way up in the championship. Drivers have been given totally unnecessary penalties, while others (e.g. Rosberg at Singapore) actually gained an advantage due to race control dithering.

[Daniel]

A needlessly complicated solution to a problem that needn't have existed in the first place.

[CNR]

why not use the software to slow the car in a yellow flag zone
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/7854692.stm

the pits will be kept open, with software regulating drivers' speeds as they enter the pit lane.

[Bruce D]

Yeah I must admit it was a stupid rule - generally they slow down a lot when the safety car comes out - its only when the rules state you can race to the line that you have problems, like the BTCC had at Snetterton in '07, when they had the startline crash and then raced back to the line and had another crash with marshals standing around cos people started slowing down before the line. I've never seen anything that would suggest that problem before in F1.

The only thing that bugs me now is that the drivers will be too busy looking at their dashboards to concentrate on the race track and end up crashing into each other anyway, like the infamous pitlane red light situation. It sounds to me like a regularity rally situation where you have an ideal time you have to make it to the pitlane in, but that doesn't stop you speeding up and slowing down in between. I can see a situation where we'll have a line of cars parked by the pitlane waiting for their "time" to come up so they can enter, cos they drove to the pits too quickly. But this is just my speculation, the system could be giving them much more frequent updates to control their speeds better.

[jens]

:up: :up: At least one sensible decision by FIA. Some may argue that with the new electronics system some issues may occur too, but the 07-08 rule was so unfair in my view that almost anything is an improvement over this!

[wedge]

Don't agree with it.

You could be asking for trouble. Agree with Bruce's sentiments and what if the ECU throws up a silly number on the display.

Just do what they do in Indycar: anyone who pits when 'closed' goes to the back of the longest line.

[Daniel]

Don't agree with it.

You could be asking for trouble. Agree with Bruce's sentiments and what if the ECU throws up a silly number on the display.

Just do what they do in Indycar: anyone who pits when 'closed' goes to the back of the longest line.

Agreed. Like I said this is a silly solution to a problem that didn't need to exist in the first place.

[racecraze]

Its really good thing to be welcome. It'll be really safety for all.

[schmenke]

A needlessly complicated solution to a problem that needn't have existed in the first place.

Agreed.