Ridiculous saftey car / restart 'proceedures'

[Sodemo]

Yet again, another race that should have been stopped due to a big incident.

It seems the only time they ever throw a red flag now, is to cut a race short for TV (see Brazil 2003)

I know its been said before, but someone from the FIA needs their ass kicking over this matter, TV schedules cannot take priority over saftey.

[Sodemo]

And as we have just seen, 2 punctures + 1 crash probably as a direct result of this...

[Matt Dillon]

Button's accident could have been so much worse. What is it going to take for a race to be red flagged?

[O'Schumacher]

Did anybody notice just how spread out the whole field was at the 1st restart especially. You'd have thought that with the current safety car culture they'd have cottoned on a bit quicker. It still seems that only Montoya takes full advantage of the SC.

I do agree with you guys though. The race should have been stopped on lap 1, although I think Button's accident was adequatley covered.

It seems they set a precedent in Indianapolis, and any crash would have to have a driver more badly injured than Ralf was, with barriers dislodged or something. I'm sure a lot of people share this concern.

[Tracey]

I had hoped they would learn from the Indy crash, and not put drivers at risk. Obviously not. I think this spoilt the whole race, as some of the drivers could have jumped in the T-Car and been out for the restart.

[BootsOntheSide]

If Button had been seriously hurt in that crash (and it was more down to luck than judgment that he wasn't) it would've been on the FIA's conscience. The track was covered in debris in several places, and they still didn't do the sensible thing and red flag the race. While Montoya put his problem down toa 'tyre failure' rather than a puncture, Coulthard's and Button's (and Zsolt's retirement indirectly) were all due to the debris on the track.

[Phoenix1]

In touring car Plato got a slap on the wrist for a slow restart - maybe formula one should have better guidelines on restarts as Kimmi was playing with MS although I thought it was fully deserved as MS does it too I feel that both are unsporting and should keep closer to the pace car.

[Kicking-back]

I'm in two minds on this.

I don't necessarily believe Button's puncture came about as a result of lap one debris.

The track wasn't blocked, and on balance the SC decision was fair.

[stevebrown]

oh right. two cars in the middle of the track, one on fire (ok a small fire). more cars in the barriers and debris from La Source up to Eau Rouge and marshals on the track trying to cear it up. Just WHAT needs to happen before a red does come out. Once again Charlie shows us what he is , a Max & Bernie yes man. God help F1 if he gets Max's job as I have a feeling he may be being groomed for it. How can someone without a clerks licence who has never stood on the bank be in charge of making safety decisions?

Steve B

[Spudgun]

Originally posted by Phoenix1
In touring car Plato got a slap on the wrist for a slow restart - maybe formula one should have better guidelines on restarts as Kimmi was playing with MS although I thought it was fully deserved as MS does it too I feel that both are unsporting and should keep closer to the pace car.

Motorsport involves mind games almost as much as racing itself. Today was mind games in it's most visible form. Fantastic.

As for Plato's slap-on-the-wrist (I didn't see it) personally I think that is wrong. In most clubbie meets there isn't safety car. The leader dictates the pace and rightfully so. They have earned the right to be in the lead after all.

[frederick]

I am strongly in favour of a re-start when things like this happen, although I can see the point about TV schedules where the race is being shown live,

when they do what they did at spa it robs the fans of the full show that they pay to see
It's abit like going to a soccer match and being told that "we are going to have a 7 a side kickabout because we can't get all the player organised in time for the kick-off"

In most countries the F1 telecast is on a delay of anything up to an hour which gives them the opportunity to edit out the boring bit and bring it back to fit the 2 hour window

Maybe a compromise solution would be to make a re-start mandatory if disaster strikes within the first 5 laps, after that the field is more spread-out and it is less likely to be a multi-car pile up anyway.

On the safety aspect: I think a dedicated clean-up crew that goes to all the GP's is way past due, not only could they take care of the drivers but they could exercise the "duty of care" that the FIA has to the remaining runners by ensuring the track is safe to race on

I mean "God Bless the Volunteers" but seeing a portly gentleman with a broom doing a desultory sweep at the edge of the track while keeping one eye on the approaching pack of weaving cars doesn't inspire confidence that every bit of carbon fibre has been removed

I think F1 needs a more professional approach in this area