[Rules] Safety car - now not "releasing" lapped cars?

[Sodemo]

Just something I noticed from the China race, I see the safety car did not release the lapped cars to unlap themselves.

Has this rule bitten the dust?

[Matt]

Yes they definitely did.

[WapFlap]

They did untill they caught the leaders. Chandhok was a sitting duck when the restart took place. So I guess the rules are a bit changed, that they can pass untill the leader is behind the safetycar? Or am i Wrong?

[Alan Raine]

The safety car has a green light on top (to tell cars to pass) and waits until the leader catches him at which point the light goes to yellow. Any lapped cars directly behind the leader stay there.

[Jimmy Magnusson]

As it should be.

[racer69]

I think what Sodemo is getting at is that in the last few years, whenever a safety car was out, the lapped cars were "waved through" towards the end of each safety car period so as when the restart took place, the leaders were all line astern with no lapped cars in the way.

I noticed this too at China that this rule has been abolished

[Sodemo]

Originally Posted by racer69

I think what Sodemo is getting at is that in the last few years, whenever a safety car was out, the lapped cars were "waved through" towards the end of each safety car period so as when the restart took place, the leaders were all line astern with no lapped cars in the way.

I noticed this too at China that this rule has been abolished

Right.

Any idea why?

[TFHarv]

it kind of makes a mockery of the reason the safety car is out on track - "lets let the backmarkers through to mow down the marshals on track"

The safety car is out so that some obstruction that cannot be cleared under yellow flags can be removed from the track (in most cases).

They should not let any cars through if they were using the safety car for the proper reason which is instead of having to show a red flag and stopping the race.

They are not supposed to be used (as seems to be case sometimes) to bunch the cars back up because the race is split up too much.

[fourWheelDrift]

Originally Posted by TFHarv

it kind of makes a mockery of the reason the safety car is out on track - "lets let the backmarkers through to mow down the marshals on track"

As far as I can remember last year they waited until marshals had finished their work and the track was clear before waving lapped cars through.

I suspect the change to not unlapping lapped cars and the other change to no overtaking after the safety car line instead of start/finish are related. A major reason for getting rid of lapped cars is that if they were slow to get going others near the sharp end of the race couldn't overtake them until start finish and lost time on the leaders, under the current arrangements they can do so rather sooner.

[RichardC27]

Originally Posted by TFHarv

i
They should not let any cars through if they were using the safety car for the proper reason which is instead of having to show a red flag and stopping the race.

If you don't let the cars through though it can completely screw your race. Say, for example, you are sitting in 4th place, and the safety car picks you up first.

By not letting everybody through, the top three gain the best part of a lap on you and the rest of the field. Your race is ruined from that point on, hence why they let the field through. Having seen quite a few GT and club races totally spoiled in this way I'm glad the rule is in place.

I do agree with your point about the red flag, but that will never come back into F1 because of TV requirements.