Williams’ Alexander Albon questioned the integrity of the new F1 safety car rules, where lapped cars are only given “one lap” to regain their laps.
Following the controversial decision by Michael Masi to allow only five cars between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen to eliminate lap delays at the final round of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix last year, rather than all eight cars. F1 has tweaked the rules ahead of the 2022 season.
The wording of the rule has been amended that if a lap-delayed vehicle regains its lap when the safety car is dispatched, it must pass through an “all” lap-delayed vehicle.
Alex Albon thinks the change is good, but it’s not perfect to be given only one lap for it.
“I think they decided the rules because of the Abu Dhabi case, but they only have one lap to catch up, which isn’t enough,” said Max Verstappen.
“First of all, I don’t think there is a problem with the safety point, but we were driving at full throttle and there was a safety car on the course.”
“I don’t know if that’s what we want. Of course, I’m going to drive as hard as I can to catch up with Rudlap, but I’m not sure if that will improve.”
“For me, it got worse as the field expanded. We were racing behind others in a way. Maybe we need to review it.”
In the second half of the race, when Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Pierre Guthrie’s car burned, new safety car regulations were immediately enforced at the Bahrain Grand Prix.
A safety car was dispatched for Marshall to extinguish the AT03, after which a message was displayed on “all” lap-delayed vehicles.
One lap later, when the last one of the six lap-delayed vehicles passed the final sector, the driver was informed that the safety car would enter the end of the lap.
At that time, Lance Stroll, who led the six lap-delayed cars, was running just 20 seconds before race leader Charles Leclerc.
Article 55.13 of the F1 Competition Regulations stipulates that the safety car will pit in after the lap-delayed vehicle has unlapped.
“Unless the course staff thinks the presence of a safety car is still necessary, the official message sending system will send the message” LAPPED CARS MAY NOW OVERTAKE “to all competitors. Then the safety car will return to the pits at the end of the next lap. “
Category: Category: F1 / Alex Albon / Williams