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FIA to amend safety car rule

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FIA to amend safety car rule

It is Michael Schumacher who has soared to the heights of media attention once again. Whenever Schumacher makes it to the headlines, it does make a difference to the world of Formula One racing. This time round, the FIA rules crossed his path once again and according to experts, they need to be fixed.

Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) which is Formula One’s governing body  has accepted that there is 'lack of clarity' in rule 40.13 that caused the recent controversy at the Monaco Grand Prix. The misinterpretation of the rule by the Mercedes Grand Prix team’s Michael Schumacher caused FIA to relook into the rule. He was penalised and docked with 20 seconds in the Monaco Grand Prix’s finish, resulting in a difficult situation for the organisers.

Schumacher, who drives for the Mercedes’ team ended at the sixth position during the normal course of the race when at the last corner of the final lap, he over took rival driver Fernando Alonso of Ferrari. The authorities charged him for over taking Alonso while he was driving under the safety car at the time. Over taking during the safety car is not allowed.

Whereas, Schumacher and his Mercedes team claim that the safety car had pulled into the pit lane when he over took. As a result, they believe that Schumacher had the right overtake any car on the track. However, fellow competitor Fernando Alonso and his Ferrari team argued that this was not the case and that the Mercedes’ driver had to respect their position till the finish line. This was the reason why FIA had to intervene and penalise Schumacher for the violation.

He was handed the penalty by the stewards. However, as the Mercedes team and its driver objected vehemently, the rule is being changed once again in order to thoroughly inspect it.  The FIA will now re-evaluate the regulation completely in order to bring more clarity to prevent such misunderstandings in the future.

The rule number 40.13 states that, “If the race ends whilst the safety car is deployed it will enter the pit lane at the end of the last lap and the cars will take the chequered flag as normal without overtaking.” However, even if the safety car pulls into the pit lane at the end of the final lap, green flags are signalled between the first safety car line and the start or the finish line to let the drivers know that overtaking is now permitted, a view that was not shared by the race stewards.

A statement issued by the FIA on Thursday stated that it will make sure that modifications are done to the rule. The organisers will also re-examine the process of signalling to the teams and drivers to make sure that the rule is understood and implemented completely and clearly. The amendments will be given by the Sporting Working Group and will be proposed for re-evaluation and re-examination to the World Motor Sport Council on June 23.

The FIA has said that the issue raised during the final lap of the Monaco Grand Prix, while drivers were fighting for the FIA Formula One World Championship 2010, have shown ambiguity in the understanding of the rule, which prevents overtaking behind the Safety Car.

The FIA added that changes to these regulations are essential to make the procedure understood completely so that cars must get together when the last lap is controlled by the Safety Car. This is done in order to ensure that all signals made to the teams and drivers are understood clearly.Officials at the FIA clarified that these adjustments will ensure that such problems could be avoided from happening in the future as occurred during the Monaco Grand Prix.

The Formula One Commission has asked F1 Sporting Working Group to submit a revisions proposal to the Sporting Regulations to address all such issues in the regulations. This proposal will be considered by the World Motor Sport Council at their meeting to be held in Geneva on the 23rd of June.

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