Safety Car restarts, blue flags, etc.

[Ranger]

They have to do something about backmarkers between drivers who are actually fighting for position.

On that safety car restart, Trulli (first car in the queue) was some 1.5 - 2 seconds behind Vettel as they crossed the line.

As of course they can't overtake, the effect of this was that Button (5th in the queue) was already some 6 seconds behind by the time he even crossed the start-finish line. By the time he got through the traffic, the gap was out to 9 seconds.

Vettel would probably have bolted anyway but IMO, that was an embarrassing sight.

Thoughts?

[airshifter]

There really is no easy and reliable solution to this issue. Regular race traffic, difference in strategies, local yellow flags, etc all contribute to the same issue. You could move all the lapped or slow cars to the back but that places a penalty on the leaders, as people well behind them when the safety car came out are now right behind them.

[steveaki13]

True. As leaders will often use back markers to put gaps between themselves and second placed man.

Imagine if Vettel had Button 4 seconds behind him, and he takes real dangerous risks and chucks it up the inside of 3 backmarkers and extends the lead to 7 or 8 seconds. I don't believe if a SC comes out we should move those cars away and leave Button on his tail. That means any SC is only there to spice up "The Show". Not to provide saftey.

I mean Vettel and Button were 30 odd seconds ahead and had built and huge gap back to Webber and Alonso yesterday, so if the pack was closed up and backmarkers removed, then at the restart Webber passed Button it is a bit unequal. For me anyway.

[DexDexter]

Many F1 drivers seem to be asleep when the safety car goes back to the pits, I mean it happens every time. So frustrating. They should stay closer to the car in front, not like Trulli who has taking a nap when Vettel pressed the pedal. A regulation which would require the leader to somehow bunch up the field is also required.

[AndyL]

Like airshifter and aki, I can't see any problem here. Button had backmarkers in front of him when the safety car went in because he had backmarkers in front of him before it came out.

He was penalised badly by Trulli's snooziness, but you can just as easily get held up by backmarkers without a safety car situation (like Kobayashi).

[Ranger]

Double-filed restarts could also be an option...

:bomb:

[inimitablestoo]

I wondered how long it would take before somebody mentioned double file restarts... :D At least it would have the effect of bunching the field up properly for a restart, rather than having the leader trying to get as big a jump as possible - that's the problem with the way European motorsport as a whole has implemented the whole safety car/restart procedure.

It is a tricky one though. I don't want to see the lapped traffic shifted out of the way, moving forward (i.e. past the leader, unlapping themselves, as they did briefly a few years back) or back to the tail of the field - the safety car is a necessary contrivance, and it needs to be kept as unobtrusive to the race as possible. But then, I'm not an advocate of blue flags either, and without those Jenson (and the rest) would have had an even tougher time yesterday.

Final laps might have been rather tasty though... ;)

[fandango]

I don't really see the problem with the current system. Vettel came out of the Safety Car period with his lead greatly curtailed, so it is he who is punished more, so I see no reason to get the lapped cars out of the way.

[steveaki13]

We had a great mix of backmarkers and leaders yesterday at the end.

It mean't a lot of thinking and excitement. You had Vettel pushing and taking risks up the inside to try and maintain his lead, then Button using the traffic to close all while the lapped cars are trying to make the most of the leaders, either to follow a leader through and pass their opponent or to hold up the leader for a few corners and gain a gap to their chaser.

For me all a pretty interesting finish to the race.

[jens]

I don't really see the problem with the current system. Vettel came out of the Safety Car period with his lead greatly curtailed, so it is he who is punished more, so I see no reason to get the lapped cars out of the way.

I agree. IMO if the leader has managed to build up a big lead over the next driver before SC and hence has managed to get some backmarkers between him and the next driver in the process, it is fully fair that he still has some kind of an advantage by the time of the restart. Button's 9-second gap after the restart was still smaller than what it was before SC.

The one thing I find a bit unfair is that if a driver has just been lapped and is closely following a group of yet unlapped of drivers, he will lose a whole lap to them and any chance of a better position/points/whatever. Like Kobayashi last time at Singapore.

[truefan72]

I'm of two minds on this issue.

On the one hand I completely see the point that several have made about the leader deserving to have the backmarkers between them as he has built up his gap before the safety car.
But on the other hand, I say that is simply the way the cookie crumbles and if the Safety car comes, then the leaders need to be bunched up accordingly.
To me that does spice up the show and does provide for a more entertaining race.
I remember back in the day when they used to maintain the time difference after a SC and it was kind of crazy.
Also the lapped cars in between do actually give an advantage to the leading car as it usually takes longer to pass them, than it would in the normal flow of the race.
The one thing about NASCAR safety cars that I like is the closed pits until the SC picks up the lead car.
As it is, it takes far too long for the SC to pick up the lead car and by then, half the field has already been to the pits
Maybe they need 3 SC at each sector so that when the incident occurs it will take less than 30 seconds for a SC to pick up the lead car

[schmenke]

.... A regulation which would require the leader to somehow bunch up the field is also required.

I thought there currently was some kind of regulation that requires drivers to maintain a minimum distance to the car in front? :confused:

[schmenke]

I wondered how long it would take before somebody mentioned double file restarts... :D At least it would have the effect of bunching the field up properly for a restart ...

I always thought double file starts was a bit gimmicky :s
Besides, I don't think that's feasible on many of the narrow F1 circuits (can you imagine that at Monaco! :eek: )

[jens]

I thought there currently was some kind of regulation that requires drivers to maintain a minimum distance to the car in front? :confused:

Ah yes, that's why Vettel got penalized last year in Hungary. Obviously this time the backmarkers behind Vettel weren't that much behind, so no drama was found. And we can't forget that Vettel's car is much better too than the ones the backmarkers behind him were driving, so no wonder a big gap was quickly established.

[inimitablestoo]

Besides, I don't think that's feasible on many of the narrow F1 circuits (can you imagine that at Monaco! :eek: )
Indeed. The Indycars have had only moderate success with DFRs on road courses this year (not the old Cosworth engines, long-time F1 fans ;) ) so it's probably best left to NASCAR.

[steveaki13]

. And we can't forget that Vettel's car is much better too than the ones the backmarkers behind him were driving, so no wonder a big gap was quickly established.

:up: