Sebastian Vettel has suggested a tweak to Formula 1’s timing software, which would allow drivers to regain a lap under the safety car without having to make it up on track.
This was in response to Vettel being asked what was to blame for the situation that arose during the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola two weeks ago, where Racing Point’s Lance Stroll passed marshals who were still clearing the detritus from George Russell’s crash while at speed.
Stroll was among a group of lapped cars who were waved past the safety car to regain their lost lap, as is standard practice under the safety car since the rule changed to allow them to do so at the start of 2012.
The FIA has already said investigations are under way to find a way to reduce the risk of a repeat of this, with Vettel suggesting a simple solution that would require the timing systems to credit drivers with a lap they have not completed.
“We should probably focus more on the solution,” said Vettel when asked where the blame lies for what happened at Imola.
“I think the reason why we are physically unlapping ourselves is because we can’t work out a software that actually just resets us.
“So we have to do the extra lap, which sounds quite embarrassing, but that’s what I believe is the truth.
“I guess going forward, we would just probably put some effort into the software that the lapped cars are not forced to actually physically unlap themselves, but you can just reset the lap on the screen, and put them in the place that they are. That would be the solution.
“Obviously, as a consequence, you had in the past people trying to catch the field, also in other categories crashing. That can’t be safe, under full course yellow to go out and crash. Plus, as you’ve seen or witnessed in Imola, people working on the track trying to do a favour for us, recovering the car that was stranded there, cleaning the track.
“I think they work in the contrary, these two things. We should just focus on the solution, which I believe is purely software-related. Given that it’s 2020, I think it should be possible.”
Vettel’s solution is elegantly simple in that it would allow the lapped cars simply to drop to the back of the queue of cars. This would put them in the same position they would be had they been waved around and claimed the lap back.
While a software change, which would need to be integrated into the existing timing technology and might not be as simple to implement as it sounds, would be a good solution there are other factors to consider.
There will be an impact of tyre wear and thermal degradation by eliminating the time spent at speed to catch the pack, but this won’t have an enormous impact and would cancel out the potential tyre temperature advantage for those cars.
More significant is the impact on the 105kg fuel allowance for the race given that there will be a potential advantage to those who are credited with a lap that they do not have to complete. But this could presumably be tackled by deducting an amount calculated based on the average use that teams could be informed of.
The key thing is that the system should be safer for marshals and Vettel’s solution would ensure they are not confronted with drivers travelling at close-to racing speeds. But this could also be achieved without software changes if the decision was made to return to the system used in 2010-2011 with cars not allowed to unlap themselves.
This decision was motivated by the desire to avoid lapped cars getting in the way of battles further up the order, but by shuffling them to the back of the queue and leaving them a lap down, this will be prevented. This would mean that a car that had just been lapped would lose ground to one that was yet to go a lap down but not far ahead before the safety car, but it’s impossible to come up with a system that is entirely equitable.
Either way, there’s a simple solution here that the FIA should aim to implement for 2021, giving time for the software and systems to be adapted.
STROLL WANTS NO REPEAT
Stroll also wants the situation to be addressed so there is no repeat given the safety concerns.
He was not specifically warned about the marshals still on the track, although their presence was covered by the fact the double-waved yellow flags were showing – although Stroll appeared to confirm he didn’t spot the flags.
“Warned of them? No, I was given the message that lapped cars were allowed to overtake the safety car and catch the back of the train, so I followed those instructions,” said Stroll.
“I saw the marshal on the track, of course, and immediately lifted off and was as safe as I could be in that section of the track. But I wasn’t warned and I wasn’t expecting to see anyone on the track once I got the message that I was allowed to overtake the safety car and catch the back of the train.
“Thankfully, nothing bad happened there. But we’ll have to address it and make sure that something like that doesn’t happen again.”
GPDA chairman Romain Grosjean says the matter will be discussed in Friday’s drivers’ meeting during the Turkish Grand Prix weekend, although he suggested it was not a “big deal”
The Haas driver was among the drivers in the group that was waved past the safety car and drove past the marshals, albeit carrying less speed than Stroll was.
“I don’t know what could have been done better,” said Grosjean.
“Obviously, I was a bit surprised that there were marshals on track at a point that we were going quite fast, and it was just made worse by the fact that it was a blind spot on the track. But also, they were trying to clear as much as they could as quickly as they could for the race to resume.
“Probably, yes, we can bring that up in the drivers meeting just to make sure that at least we get the communication so we are aware of what’s coming.
“But it wasn’t a big deal. I guess it’s just that it was a bit of a surprise at the time and it’s never nice to be driving and see people and I guess for the people being on track it’s never nice to be seeing cars coming quite fast.
“We were not unlapping ourself at the time and therefore we were just pushing to catch the back of the pack before it restarts.”
