What idiot is in charge of the safety car?

amacachi

In Australia we had the farce of waiting a couple of laps to put out the safety car, and then missing on picking up the leader.
Today I think the red flag was only thrown when it was because again they sent the safety car out later than it should've been, then they hurried it out when Button was halfway around the track and again we had the stupid situation of both of them trying to catch the other.

Wonder if there's any chance of sorting it out.:mad:

Ghost Train

amacachi wrote: »

In Australia we had the farce of waiting a couple of laps to put out the safety car, and then missing on picking up the leader.
Today I think the red flag was only thrown when it was because again they sent the safety car out later than it should've been, then they hurried it out when Button was halfway around the track and again we had the stupid situation of both of them trying to catch the other.

Wonder if there's any chance of sorting it out.:mad:

The race director

I guess they can't wait for the leaders to come around before sending it out... they make the decision and out it goes regardless of where the leader is

Did we need a new thread for this

Sometimes, like at the start of a race its easier to time when to release the safety car, but in this case the conditions changed very quickly

amacachi

Well today they waited at least a lap longer than they should've. This then causes the leader to go even further without the safety car in front of him than if they just picked the leader up.

Why does it take so long to decide to send it out even if conditions aren't changing? It was obvious today the safety car was needed earlier than they sent it out. Had they waited for Button to get onto the start/finish straight then they could've picked up him straightaway rather than not at all.

Slutmonkey57b

Race director is an idiot. Has been for years. Seems to be a civil service job he can't be fired from though.

EvilMonkey

Since they messed about with the safety car rules a few years ago, almost every time its deployed its a disaster.

amacachi

LIGHTNING wrote: »

I didnt think their was anything wrong with the safety car deployment. I think the starting times for the last two races have been all wrong. Far too late in my view as it gets very hard to drive when the sun is directly in your eyes.

In Australia it took well over a minute from the Vettel/Kubica crash until the SC was deployed, then there was the silliness of the SC waiting for Button while he waited for the safety car on the other side of the track. This ruined the chance of having one last lap of racing.
Today because the SC didn't intercept the leader we once again had cars jockeying for postion. Obviously the rain prevented any great repercussions but the fact that the timing of the safety car coming out led to only 2 cars being on the lead lap must surely raise question marks?

Obviously the time the races were on was ridiculous.

rua1972

The safety car has been around for years now. But this season it seems the go all wrong. As said, in Australia the SC and Button were waiting on each other, sadly on two sites of the cicuit. After the Nakajima incident the SC stayed out way to long.
And now the SC came on track with no sign of the race leader, than again there was no sign of any driver with the downpour in Sepang.
As long the SC isn't used to spice things up i think it's doing a okay job. Maybe race control has a new rule book as well :rolleyes:

Sabre0001

amacachi wrote: »

Today because the SC didn't intercept the leader we once again had cars jockeying for postion. .

It was noted on BBC that even though the cars haven't been picked up, "they are running under SC conditions" - that means no overtaking. So while there is the risk of spinning, that is driver error because you are going faster than you are capable of (and that you would be behind SC). The red flag takes positions from last full complete lap. So again, if you spun you are at fault...

Thought the timing was fine. Yes, it should pick up the leaders straight away but if Button is halfway round the track and they do not deploy it, SC conditions do not come into play....and then you allow for people to jockey for position. It should however just stop on the main straight.

amacachi

Sabre0001 wrote: »

It was noted on BBC that even though the cars haven't been picked up, "they are running under SC conditions" - that means no overtaking. So while there is the risk of spinning, that is driver error because you are going faster than you are capable of (and that you would be behind SC). The red flag takes positions from last full complete lap. So again, if you spun you are at fault...

Thought the timing was fine. Yes, it should pick up the leaders straight away but if Button is halfway round the track and they do not deploy it, SC conditions do not come into play....and then you allow for people to jockey for position. It should however just stop on the main straight.

They're under safety care conditions but they're still meant to catch the safety car, which means going faster than the safety car. Plus the race can't be restarted until everyone has formed up behind the safety car which should only take on lap, possibly two. Of course in the end today it didn't matter due to the race being cut short.

shamrock321

I didnt see anything wrong with the way the safety car was deployed today, regardless of what was done today, safety car or no safety car, restart the race or not, the race director was going to come into to criticism. Just one of those situations.

amacachi

shamrock321 wrote: »

I didnt see anything wrong with the way the safety car was deployed today, regardless of what was done today, safety car or no safety car, restart the race or not, the race director was going to come into to criticism. Just one of those situations.

Not really, haven't heard many people say the race should've restarted.