At the Barcelona Grand Prix, Nick Heidfeld was penalised for refuelling while the pit lane was closed due to the safety car being on track following the horrendous crash of Heikki Kovalainen.
The BMW Sauber test driver, Christian Klien, has said that the current safety car rules are “really unfair” and many of the drivers feel the same way about the regulation that was introduced in 2007.
In a safety car situation, teams may not bring their cars into the pits until all the cars on the circuit are assembled behind the safety car and the stewards have declared the the pit lane open. There will be a ten second penalty for drivers who transgress; any drivers already in the pits when the safety car is deployed will not be punished.
To prevent teams abusing this rule by having its cars refuse to join the queue behind the safety car and preventing drivers that urgently require a fuel stop from making one, another new rule states that cars being driven unnecessarily or erratically will be reported to the stewards.
However, the fact that the cars use much less fuel when running behind the safety car should keep them from running out of fuel while waiting for the pit lane to open.
The penalty will not apply if a driver only stops to change to wet or extreme weather tyres and not take on any fuel.
Klien said in a report “If you are out of petrol, then you have to go to the pits.”
Heidfeld’s race was ruined at Barcelona after he was penalised, and said “It was the choice between running out of fuel on the track or getting a stop-and-go penalty.”
It is claimed that the unfair rule is on the agenda for the fourth coming meeting of the Sporting Working Group, however, the Ferrari boss doubts there will be a change before the end of the season.
0 comments so far
There are no comments for this post yet. Why not be the first by filling out the form below.