FIA: Safety car rules amended, again.

2010 F1 Safety car

FIA has altered the safety car regulations in wake of the incidents that took place during the European Grand Prix in Valencia. The new rules came into effect from the British GP at Silverstone.

In an FIA statement, motor sport’s world governing body have made it clear they will now decide when to deploy the safety car as it will “not necessarily join the track straight away”. “An assessment will then be made to determine when the safety car should join the track in order to try and ensure that no drivers will be unnecessarily disadvantaged. “In all cases we will attempt to pick up the leader, however, if this proves unfeasible for any reason, cars between the safety car and the leader will be waved through immediately.”

The grand prix of Valencia saw a number of incidents and resulting penalties after Mark Webber’s horrific crash. Hamilton passed safety car before it came on track after the incident which gained him an unfair advantage. He was later given a drive-through penalty which did not affect the final result in any way. Alonso was furious over Hamilton’s moves and eventually finished eight.

Michael Schumacher was also caught out by a red light at the end of the pit lane just as he was about to emerge on track at the end of a stop for fresh tyres. Lights at the end of the pit lane will now operate in such a way to ensure there is no repeat of what happened to Schumacher.

After the race nine other drivers were handed five-second penalties for failing to stay above the minimum time set by the FIA ECU when the safety car was deployed.

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