FORUMula1.com - F1 Forum

[darwin dali]

F1Live: The current controversial safety car rules will be scrapped following next month's final race of the 2008 season.
It has been agreed to minimally revert to the old system, whereby the pitlane will stay open for refuelling even immediately after the deployment of the safety car.
The recent Singapore Grand Prix reinvigorated the debate about the current rules, after Fernando Alonso and Nico Rosberg finished first and second mainly due to the way the rules can arbitrarily shake up the race order.
It is expected that, to accompany the revised system for 2009, drivers will need to adhere to a minimum lap time as they drive slowly after deployment of the safety car, as has been trialled several times in free practice this year.
Drivers will be alerted about the deployment of the Mercedes sedan by the illumination of a yellow cockpit light, and have just five seconds to acknowledge the alarm by pressing a button.
The minimum time system is possible due to the standard ECU, and GPS positioning.
The new rules are an improvement but not perfect, BMW Sauber team manager Beat Zehnder told Auto Motor und Sport.
"If at the time of (race) neutralisation you were just past the pits, it will be a problem because you will have do a full lap.
"But at least the new rule prevents you losing places or time against your immediate opponents," he added.

I'm still curious as to what will happen to a driver who does NOT acknowledge the yellow alert in time or at all. Drive-through penalty? Grid demotion? I guess a technical malfunction couldn't be used as an excuse as in such a case the team could easily radio the driver with instructions.

[madbrad]

I would not agree with a penalty for not acknowledging the SC within 5 seconds. Strange they mentiond it without mentioning the consequence of not acknowledging. My guess is that if you don't comply, the pit is closed to you for the first X laps of SC.

[thepitlane]

Well at least the rules are being changed and should at least mean we don't get a repeat of Singapore where someone towards the back can suddenly head the field and win when in normal racing circumstances they would be no where near the podium.

As you say, what is the penalty if you ignore or fail to respond? 5 seconds isn't a long time......needs more clarification

[McLaren Fan]

I'm not sure I like the five-second rule and the new proposals aren't perfect either, but I don't think there is a lot more we can do about it. Why can't these rules be introduced right away? It's clear everybody hates the current setup and it would be a disaster if the titles were decided because of them!

[f1usa]

I'm not sure I like the five-second rule and the new proposals aren't perfect either, but I don't think there is a lot more we can do about it. Why can't these rules be introduced right away? It's clear everybody hates the current setup and it would be a disaster if the titles were decided because of them!

I don't like the five second rule either, it forces you to reveal your race strategy. Besides race control who else will know if a driver has pressed the yellow button. I can see misuse of this rule happening and you can bet it will favor Ferrari and penalize McLaren at some point.

[Kiwi_Chris]

Well at least the rules are being changed and should at least mean we don't get a repeat of Singapore where someone towards the back can suddenly head the field and win when in normal racing circumstances they would be no where near the podium.

As you say, what is the penalty if you ignore or fail to respond? 5 seconds isn't a long time......needs more clarification

5 seconds is longer than you think, after all responding could be as simple as slowing down or pushing a button all easilly done within 5 seconds of getting a radio message from the team

[scotty]

5 seconds? What if you were just about to go around Turn 8 in Turkey? You'd be totally committed to the corner, and it takes a fair few seconds to get round there.

[przemo]

Why do the drivers even have to confirm that they know about the safety car with a push of a button? Can't they just slow down so they do not exceed minimum lap time? The light could be flashing the whole time the safety car is out, so that they're reminded of it.
And how do you measure lap time when a driver pits? He doesn't cross the line after all. It should be minimal sector times that are checked.

[racechick]

This five second thing seems frought with problems. Not a good idea.

[Denthúl]

I'm not sure I like the five-second rule and the new proposals aren't perfect either, but I don't think there is a lot more we can do about it. Why can't these rules be introduced right away? It's clear everybody hates the current setup and it would be a disaster if the titles were decided because of them!

With only two races to go, I don't think it's worth it and it is very unfair on everyone else who has already lost out under the current rules, to be honest. Especially if there's a situation in one of those races where someone would have lost out under the old rules but did not under the new ones. And it does need some work anyway.

[Gaz]

I'm not sure I like the five-second rule and the new proposals aren't perfect either, but I don't think there is a lot more we can do about it. Why can't these rules be introduced right away? It's clear everybody hates the current setup and it would be a disaster if the titles were decided because of them!

With only two races to go, I don't think it's worth it and it is very unfair on everyone else who has already lost out under the current rules, to be honest. Especially if there's a situation in one of those races where someone would have lost out under the old rules but did not under the new ones. And it does need some work anyway.

Yeh they can test it over the winter.

[7UpJordan]

They should test in on RFactor. They'd be able to use a heap of addons to collect the data from.