El Scorchio wrote: ↑Tue Sep 15, 2020 9:05 am
Andres125sx wrote: ↑Tue Sep 15, 2020 7:07 am
Did FIA provided any explanation about the SC switching off lights so late?
There was a quote from Bottas in a BBC article about it, where the team, or teams, raised concerns about it, but they were told it wouldn't change because (not even kidding) it was good for 'the show'.
That's drivers ploughing into each other at high speed. Good for the show.
Bottas said Mercedes had raised their concerns about the potential for exactly this sort of incident before the race at Mugello. They had noted that the FIA had been delaying the safety car lights going off further at every instance over a series of support races during the weekend.
"Our team opened up the discussion this morning before the race that it is a bit of a concern here," he said. "But they said basically they are going to keep doing it because it is better for the show.
Oh and Masi, defending himself and the decision makers, claimed this:
“Simply put, they can criticize all they want. If we have a look at a distance perspective from where the lights were extinguished to the control line, probably not dissimilar, if not longer, than a number of other venues."
Which was a blatant lie.
It was the shortest distance compared to previous races - there's a clear trend of doing it later and later from race to race.
In Austria the lights turned off with 33% of the lap distance and several corners to go.
In Silverstone it was down to 30% but still a long distance, entirety of hangar straight + 4 corners
Spa 18% ... blanchimont + bus stop
Monza 18% ... back straight + parabolica
Mugello 18% ... roughly one corner to go whilst waiting for the SC to dive into the pits, so realistically just the straight
In absolute distances it went from 1.5km+ to less than 1km - the 1.5km they had in Austria would have given Bottas the last chicane and the last corner to dictate the pace.