Yellow flags and quali

[mzivtins]

Yet another qualifying session affected by yellow flags.

Do you think a revision of the yellow flag rules needs to happen? I don't understand how the FIA can be so blase about it.In my eyes they should enforce the cars to abandon the lap, going past the area at around 3-5mph slower is just not good enough, yellow flags are there for a reason and should be more important than anyones good laptime.

The whole things seems stupid considering how everyone likes saying that F1 is so safe... seems like bollox to me if i'm honest!

What are your thoughts?

[Joie de vivre]

Well didn't you see the car was obviously OUT of the track? If it was my call I would send SC on the track!

But yeah, rules need to be revised.

[mzivtins]

Yeah of course i saw that, but vergne was off the track on the outside of the start of turn 16... just the same a Kimi last weekend.

SC is a good idea!

I think even speaking of Button going slower through turn 16 is not enough...

i think the best way to put this into context is:

"Oh you need a new gearbox? YOU BASTARD! Take this 5 place grid penalty you criminal!"

"Yellow flags... you lifted and went 3 mph slower past that car on the outside of the turn? Yeah that's fine, i mean you'll only kill another marshal or yourself, no worries."

Bonkers.

[snoop1050]

yellow flags dont seem to really mean anything.

i remember a time when you could take one hand off the steering wheel fly though at full speed with one hand in the air to acknowledge the yellow flags... and it was fine even though it was clearly more dangerous than acting like the flags are a lie.

its a hard decision though with the tyres limited in quali to force people to abort a lap might aswell be a death sentence because the tyres are so poor and one flying lap can ruin a set

[NathanOlder]

I think they should revise the rules. I think if a yellow flag comes out in the last 1-2mins (lap time of the current track, 1:40 for Korea) of a Q session, they should red flag the session, after the track has been cleared ONLY the cars on the track when the yellow flag first went out can go back out to the track and complet 1 flying lap. Only the car that caused the yellow flag cannot go back out.
Everyone that was past the yellow flag can complete their laps, but drivers behind it must return to the pits and abort their current lap.

Hope that makes sense. What do people think ?

[Nowhereman]

Needs to be fixed quick.
Remaining time is put on hold, car that caused it it out.
Cars on the track resume with remaining time.
If your in the pits, your out.

[astracrazy]

Needs to be fixed quick.
Remaining time is put on hold, car that caused it it out.
Cars on the track resume with remaining time.
If your in the pits, your out.

So just red flag the session, no yellow flags in quali. It would work and would be much safer for everyone involved and prevent drivers from being more tempted to keep pushing. But it could be very stop start.

the other argument is, the drivers aren't forced to do there lap at the end of the allocated time. Its the risk they take.

I don't think anything needs changing. Remember the 3 timing sectors are not the sectors used for yellow flags. I'm sure every driver who completes there lap when a yellow flag out will of been checked that they let off in that sector by comparing to any previous lap.

[beelsebob]

Needs to be fixed quick.
Remaining time is put on hold, car that caused it it out.
Cars on the track resume with remaining time.
If your in the pits, your out.

Won't help – if you're out on a hot lap with a minute or two remaining, you don't have enough fuel for another hot lap without returning to the pits.

So just red flag the session, no yellow flags in quali. It would work and would be much safer for everyone involved and prevent drivers from being more tempted to keep pushing. But it could be very stop start.

Because the problem occurs only when there's so little time remaining on the clock that even if the session was red flagged, no one would be able to get around and start a hot lap in time.

[astracrazy]

So just red flag the session, no yellow flags in quali. It would work and would be much safer for everyone involved and prevent drivers from being more tempted to keep pushing. But it could be very stop start.

Because the problem occurs only when there's so little time remaining on the clock that even if the session was red flagged, no one would be able to get around and start a hot lap in time.

i wasn't suggesting it, i was just replying to the previous past. yes it would improve safety but that's it.

I don't think the rules need changing. teams/drivers leave it late so they risks come with that. its part of it, as long as the let off (and are proved to do so) i don't see a problem with it.

[hyde and zeek]

Could reset clock like in other sports when there is a penalty, say best lap time + 30 secs if red flag at the end of session with not enough time left for hot lap. Rules can be rewritten.

Yellow or red for safety with more then 3 mins left, red only with less then 3-mins left. If less then hot lap left on red, then reset hot lap + 30 sec. Only on reset per Q session.

Burying fast cars in the back because of yellow in Q3 creates it's own turn one problems as they "try" to get back up from front ahead of actually slower cars that they would have qualified in front of. Then again, like NASCAR, some eyeballs may tune in to see turn 1 carnage.

[Nando]

Yellow flags should be kept to a minmum,

Suzuka, Kimi spinning, completely unnecessary, Kimi knows what to do.
Korea, the most ridiculous yellow flag i have ever seen in my life. An embarrassment to the sport.

[Cam]

The flags are not the problem. When leaving your run until the very last minute, problems can occur, as we've seen many times with drivers being caught out with flags or other cars impeding - which effects the qualifying time.

In Korea, Jensen and Vettel may have solved their issues by running first up when the lights turned green. Would they have had a better lap time running early? In Vettels case - probably not, in Jensens case - probably yes.

The flags are there for a safety reason and it's the teams responsibility to balance the risks with timed runs.

[Just_a_fan]

They could go back to single lap qualifying. For those new to the sport, this was each driver had an out lap, a flying lap and and in lap. Grid based on the times of the flying lap. Starting order based on the championship standings in reverse (so title leader goes last). The driver had the track to himself (he started his out lap as the previous driver was doing his in lap).

Or we could just say "hey, you chose to go out late in the session so live with your decision". That's the grown up way of looking at it.

I remember single lap qualifying. It was rubbish. The only good thing about it was that Coulthard was rubbish at it and so tended to start each race lower than he would with today's format. That's quite funny when you listen to him now...

[hyde and zeek]

Indycar does solo laps, and as a spectator, boring . . . why to much time between seeing who ends up on top.