Surprisingly lengthy Security Automobile durations interrupted the motion throughout the closing levels of two of the final three grands prix.
In each instances the interruptions had been attributable to a single lapped automotive (coincidentally, it was Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s Mercedes every time). And on each events the race restart was delayed because of the resolution to permit lapped vehicles to rejoin the lead lap.
“It’s going to take endlessly,” complained Lewis Hamilton because the Security Automobile interval dragged on over the last race on the Circuit de Catalunya. “They do love losing laps.”
The drivers’ persistence was examined two weeks earlier at Imola, the place the Security Automobile spent the most effective a part of 1 / 4 of an hour on-track. The Spanish Grand Prix interruption lasted 10 minutes. A considerable chunk of this was spent sending the lapped vehicles round.
Transferring the lapped drivers apart is a long-established apply. However it’s a extra time-consuming course of today as the method can’t start till the observe is obvious. This grew to become apply to keep away from a repeat of the sort of harmful state of affairs which occured at Imola in 2020.
Does sending the lapped vehicles round now waste an excessive amount of time? Or is it price decreasing the variety of racing laps to be able to guarantee drivers who’re combating for place restart subsequent to one another?
For
The Security Automobile ought to be on-track for the least period of time attainable. Sending the lapped vehicles round drags the process out. At Catalunya the observe was clear inside six minutes of Antonelli stopping however the unlapping process added one other 4 minutes, needlessly extending the delay by two-thirds.
F1 already has among the strictest blue flag guidelines in motor racing, far harder than in sequence like IndyCar. Even when lapped vehicles remained in place, they’d rapidly be waved apart, so losing potential racing laps shifting them out of the best way merely isn’t crucial.
In opposition to
The lengthy Security Automobile durations seen at current races weren’t solely attributable to lapped vehicles. At Imola it took an unusually lengthy period of time to maneuver Antonelli’s automotive apart because of the lack of room to get better automobiles at that time on the observe. It took 11 minutes to clear the hazard and simply three to kind out the restart order.
Leaving lapped vehicles in place inhibits racing and creates confusion as restart order on the entrance of the sector doesn’t essentially mirror the operating order. Transferring them out of the best way might scale back the variety of racing laps but it surely improves the racing in these laps.
I say
The Digital Security Automobile is clearly a preferable different to the Security Automobile when it may be used because it creates much less disruption to the operating order and preserves the gaps between the drivers. In brief, it’s a fairer resolution and I desire to see F1 use it when attainable.
That isn’t at all times the case, nonetheless, as typically it’s crucial to shut the pack collectively to be able to give marshals extra time and area to work. As soon as that hazard is cleared, the race ought to resume.
I don’t settle for the argument that the lapped drivers should be moved out of the best way throughout a Security Automobile interval. The drivers who’ve already lapped them can have misplaced time doing so, and on prime of which have had any benefit they constructed up over their pursuers worn out.
The Security Automobile inevitably disadvantages some drivers in comparison with others, which is undesirable, and shifting the lapped vehicles apart solely provides to that. What’s extra, it does it by extending the size of the Security Automobile interval and decreasing the variety of racing laps. To me, that’s a lose-lose state of affairs.
On prime of that, F1 has the added complication that the choice whether or not to ship the lapped vehicles round is made on the discretion of race management. This led to an enormous controversy a couple of years in the past. A constant coverage ought to be enforced, and that ought to be to depart the lapped vehicles the place they’re.
You say
Ought to F1 enable lapped drivers to unlap themselves in Security Automobile durations? Solid your vote under and have your say within the feedback.
Ought to F1 transfer lapped vehicles again onto the lead lap throughout Security Automobile durations?
No – by no means (48%)
Sure – however solely when race management chooses to (17%)
Sure – at all times (28%)
Whole Voters: 65
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