How to Improve Safety Car Situations
No matter how you look at it, the 2010 European Grand Prix in Valencia, Spain was a mess. It certainly was for Mark Webber, who went flying through the air early in the race while attempting to pass Heikki Kovalainen in a charge through the field. However, the real problems came when the safety car came out to lead the field around while the wreck was cleaned up.
The safety car came out just ahead of second-place Lewis Hamilton. He later said that he was unsure about whether he was ahead or behind of the safety car and decided to accelerate past it. This led to him gaining valuable track position on drivers behind him. He was assessed a drive-through penalty later in the race, one that failed to keep him from claiming second and a penalty that some – most notably Fernando Alonso and the Ferrari team – thought was too lenient. Several other drivers also received time penalties for reaching the pits too fast when the safety car was first deployed.
The whole situation led to an uproar about the safety car regulations in Formula 1. The Sporting Working Group has announced that it will review the current safety car procedures to determine if there are ways to improve the situation. The situation at Valencia was not the only problem with the safety car this season. Michael Schumacher received a 20-second penalty that knocked him from sixth to 12th at this year’s Monaco Grand Prix when he was ruled to have passed Fernando Alonso as the safety car pulled off the track just before the chequered flag. Schumacher and his Mercedes team argued that the safety car rules were unclear and that he received mixed messages from race marshals.
The safety car has been a controversial part of Formula 1 since it was first written into the rules and introduced at the 1993 Brazilian Grand Prix. While almost every driver and team official understands that the safety car is a necessary part of the sport in order to allow track officials to respond effectively and immediately in case of a major incident, there is plenty of sentiment that the rules need to be changed in order to make the deployment of the safety car more consistent and fair and avoid situations where the safety car deployment dramatically impacts the race.
One issue is the fact that teams cannot pit as soon as the safety car is deployed. Instead, they must wait until a red light is turned off at the entrance to the pits signifying that cars can enter. This has caused a lot of confusion in the past along with incidents like Lewis Hamilton’s accident at the 2008 Canadian Grand Prix. Formula 1 officials do this in order to avoid a rush of cars trying to enter the pit lane. However, this can create chaos and confusion instead of bringing order to the pit process.
In addition, computer software tells teams the minimum time that they can reach the pit lane and drivers are punished if they reach the pits ahead of this time. This adds an extra element of confusion as drivers have to calculate exactly how fast they can go without speeding or going too slow and losing valuable time.
American motorsports does not have anywhere near the problems with safety car deployment as Formula 1. Part of this comes from the lack of concern about crowded pit stalls in Indy Car and NASCAR racing. Another factor is that American motorsports officials employ enough safety cars to make sure that the car is deployed in front of the leader – something that doesn’t always happen in Formula 1. Making this simple change could fix a lot of problems.
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