End of the safety car

[adrianjordan]

Maybe time for a change of the actual car used.

I'm sure McLaren could rustle up a P1 or Ferrari a La Ferrari to use...

[Vasconia]

Ask Pirelli to make tyres which haven´t such a great problems to reach a correct temperature. That simple.

[Manoah2u]

Ask Pirelli to make tyres which haven´t such a great problems to reach a correct temperature. That simple.

exactly.

[Andres125sx]

Or simply force them to re-consider their compound choice for each GP, US tires shouldn´t have that heating problem

[Chuckjr]

Use a non-open wheel, but dedicated race car as the pace car, like an LMP1, so it is differentiated from the open wheel F1 cars, but plenty fast enough to get tires as hot as needed. No need for all those rule changes. Problem solved next race if they wanted.

[j2004p]

Maybe time for a change of the actual car used.

I'm sure McLaren could rustle up a P1 or Ferrari a La Ferrari to use...

Well Mercedes have a cast iron contract to provide the safety cars, not sure when this is next up for renewal.

Maybe their 'F1 engined' hypercar would do a good enough job as a safety car when released?

[zac510]

The drivers complain all over the radio but as soon as it goes green again they seem to have forgotten by the time they reach the first corner. Bad driving seems to have caused more accidents than low tyre temps.

[Manoah2u]

Use a non-open wheel, but dedicated race car as the pace car, like an LMP1, so it is differentiated from the open wheel F1 cars, but plenty fast enough to get tires as hot as needed. No need for all those rule changes. Problem solved next race if they wanted.

there is more to the pace car than just driving, so that is never gonna work.
the tire solution issue is simple as can be and would fix things enough.

if it was up to the drivers, there would be no safety car or they 'd drive so fast the marshalls wouldn't have time to do their work and we get dozens of laps passing for nothing.

it's the tire compound that hurt the most, not the safety car, not the track - though the tire compound has been based upon which track offcourse.

i also don't see the really big issue to be honest,
yes, tire temps were unpreferable.

welcome to reality, they were like that too in the good ol 80s and 90s, they couldn't read those temps like today and simply had to be more careful or deal with it better.

just let it happen, let them deal with it. only makes the race more interesting to see what happens during the restart. Mercedes having more trouble with colder tires than Ferrari, so Ferrari can overtake them. likewise the rest of the field, and vise versa offcourse.

the only issue here was that it is a street circuit, not a track with lots of runoff and space when you 'leave the track' due to an 'error'.

[F1NAC]

Well they have 2 SC if I recall corectly. Why don't leave one on normal road tires (Pirelli P Zero), and put another car on to slicks?

Or just have supercar like Ferrari or McLaren

[Roman]

Maybe we should remember that the modified Mercedes AMG SLS that is used as a SC now is not something I would call slow But of course I know that a supercar of some sort might be faster. But still then I doubt that a slightly faster SC would solve the tire heating issues the drivers claim to have on some tracks. Those tires are designed to withstand much greater forces (and only heat up then) than under SC conditions. And we should not forget that the SC is there to significantly slow the pack down and back them up as fast as possible to give the marshals the time needed to clear the debris etc from the track.

And honestly, those drivers claim to be the best in the world. If their tire temperatures drop, they should do something about it, like going left and right etc. instead of whining on the radio...

[Edax]

And honestly, those drivers claim to be the best in the world. If their tire temperatures drop, they should do something about it, like going left and right etc. instead of whining on the radio...

They do but as I tried to explain in my last post I see that weaving under the safety car to keep temperatures up as a safety risk rather than a solution. Cars are expected to follow the SC car in a single file for a good reason. Only the SC has a clear view of debris and marshals, and is continuously briefed on the situation on track, the rest have their view blocked by the car in front of them.

Any time you pull out of the file to heat tires you risk hitting debris or worse. That should only be allowed in the last lap under yellow when the track is cleared.

Alternatively you could ban the heating of tires under the safety car entirely. That way at least you equalise the situation. But I fear that in some circumstances (cold humid track) it is impossible to get the tires in a working range again.

[Vasconia]

Or simply force them to re-consider their compound choice for each GP, US tires shouldn´t have that heating problem

But not always, they even had some problems to make the tyres work in Monaco, if I am not wrong.

Those US look more like a SS.

[Roman]

Cars are expected to follow the SC car in a single file for a good reason. Only the SC has a clear view of debris and marshals, and is continuously briefed on the situation on track, the rest have their view blocked by the car in front of them.

Any time you pull out of the file to heat tires you risk hitting debris or worse. That should only be allowed in the last lap under yellow when the track is cleared.

I would guess that in 99% of all cases you only have debris and marshalls on one part of the track. I am trying to remember a SC where we had debris/marshalls everywhere on the track but I cannot (I didnt see the last race though). Drivers will know where there is debris as they always do more than one lap under SC, most times it is probably even more than 5. Furthermore they will be informed by their pitwall as the team has no interest in having their drivers crash into someone or something.

[FW17]

I think the safety car lights should have been turned off after turn 18 so that the leader would have been forced to be closer to the safety car longer into the main straight

[Manoah2u]

Though i still think the whole idea that there's something wrong with the SC based upon some odd view on the facts makes no sense,
if the discussion alludes to the issue of safety car lines , holding back the field, accelerating etc,
why not ditch that whole concept, and simply have the cars NOT be allowed to top a certain speed until AFTER they crossed the finish line -

essentially thus having a 'rolling restart', the SC will be way out of view, backing up the pack makes no sense or brings no benefit, and you'll have to wait untill crossing the finishline before you can floor it. that means that the back of the field still is in SC speed limit until they crossed the finishline, despite the frontrunners already going about. Give a penalty for drivers that push in the gas pedal or cross a certain speed limit before they cross the finishline (clear to spot on the data).

the only downside to that could be that whilst staying under the maximum speed limit, sneaky drivers MIGHT come and drive alongside the leader/the one in front JUST barely behind them.