First Lap Options

[RALFANATOR]

I think that with four car stranded on the grid and one car (MH) still on the grid!! maybe just maybe a restart should have happened . I can't complant with both of my cars (fav) just took off leading 1-2 but for the greater good of the race I think a restart would have been a better option

[EERO]

Considering that at least one car was still on the grid as the field came around, a restart was called for, or a red flag at least. I hate this Safety Car use-if they start Spa with it again this year, why I'm gonna...

[Damon]

If TGF had stalled a restart would have been called .

[ireshad]

I was praying for a restart as a Jordan fan. Knew there wouldn't be one though.

[R]

I think restarts are a thing of the past due to television obligations. If a race is restarted, it won't finish in time, and the TV stations will get problems with their schedules. (It sounds awful, I know, but it's the explanation I've heard, and it sounds plausible.) The only way a race will be red flagged and restarted is if the track is completely blocked.

[Ralf's Girl]

Originally posted by Damon
If TGF had stalled a restart would have been called .

You sound like Liz.

I did think that myself though...

I expected a restart, but they moved three of the cars very quickly, and perhaps if Hakkinen's car had been on the racing line the race would have been stopped but it wasn't in a particularly dangerous place on the track.

[Jaguar01]

Well they moved the four cars pretty quickly, although struggling with Hakkinens...which was kinda funny.

I dont think they would have restarted the race even if half the feild had stalled. Well ok the over exagerating it a bit but like someone said the races are ruled by their TV coverage and if they said continue an 11 car race we would have.

PS. i'm new here so hi how yall doin

[Maxmil]

Help me out here. What is the difference between a "Restart" and a "Red Flag" occurring at the start? I always thought a red flag stopped the clock and broke the race into two parts, even if it happened right after the lights went out. This usually leads to a timed race because it takes so long to bring the cars in, get them set up and start them again. This happened very, very rarely in the old days, - my experienced guests at the first GP in Detroit (1982) were really shocked when the red flag came out right after the start -but seems to be much more common now. Isn't a "Restart" like a full course yellow? In other words the cars and the clock keep rolling and then the cars restart on the fly.

[Jay]

Not quite.

For a race, a red flag means that the race has been stopped, all drivers should stop racing, and very carefully head back to the grid. If less than 2 laps have been completed, the cars are to reform in their original qualifying positions and prepare for a restart, meaning another standing start. Any driver that qualified for the original race may make this second start with his original or backup car. This also means that any penalties given to drivers, forcing them to the back of the grid are void.

If more than 2 laps, but less than 75% of the race has been run, the restart will be a regular standing start, but the cars will be in the order from the lap before the red flag was brought out. Although the cars may be worked on, drivers can't switch to their backup cars.

If more than 75% of the race has been complete, they simply use the standings from the lap before the red flag was brough out as the final results.

A Safety Car is essentially the same as a "Full course yellow" in the US.

[Jaguar01]

Yea if you remember back in 1997.

Olivier panis had that terriable accident. Broke his leg or something cant remember. Anyway it was on lap 57 so when the race was red flagged all the cars came back to their grid positions and stopped. The after a while the race was declaired over and Schumi was declaired the winner. Because more that 75% of the race distance was completed like Jay said

[Maxmil]

Originally posted by Jay
Not quite.

Thanks Jay, it was the two laps bit I had forgotten. Actually what happened in Detroit was a big crash in the first turn at the end of the straight on the first or second lap. It turned out that the organizers had neglected to provide any cranes, and it was going to take forever to clear up the mess so they red flagged it. The cars couldn't get through on a yellow when the wreckers came out.

Didn't we have another red flag in the 1990's where the winner had the lowest combined times for the two segments of the race?

[R]

Hill vs. TGF in 94 or 95? Can't remember which race or who won though.

[badoer fan]

Yep, Hill '94 and Magny-Cours '92

This used to happen where the times were added together, but everyone got confused, so they just start from their positions as of the last lap, and the times and positions at the end of what is effectively the second race count

[Damon]

It was the Japanese GP in '94 and I thought it was great, probably the best race of the year. The effect it had on the Championship raised the tention considerably, and to watch both drivers being forced to trade of lap times was fantastic. I prefered that to todays safety cars.