FIA Thread

[jumpingfish]

How do you feel about letting the cars on the current lap through the lapped cars? They are lapped anyway why unlap at all?

The only problem with that is, when the leaders lap cars well in to the points, which happens a lot, its unfair on some of those. Lets say Ricciardo was battling Leclerc for 7th and 8th. The leader just lapped Leclerc in 8th and the safety car is brought out. That would then mean Leclerc ends up a lap down on Ricciardo, when in reality he was 2 seconds behind him after allowing the leader to lap him under blue flags.

What difference does it make if both Ricciardo and Leclerc are still in 7th and 8th places, Ric is 1 minute behind the leading car, Lec is 1min02sec behind? I don't see any problem there

[NathanOlder]

How do you feel about letting the cars on the current lap through the lapped cars? They are lapped anyway why unlap at all?

The only problem with that is, when the leaders lap cars well in to the points, which happens a lot, its unfair on some of those. Lets say Ricciardo was battling Leclerc for 7th and 8th. The leader just lapped Leclerc in 8th and the safety car is brought out. That would then mean Leclerc ends up a lap down on Ricciardo, when in reality he was 2 seconds behind him after allowing the leader to lap him under blue flags.

What difference does it make if both Ricciardo and Leclerc are still in 7th and 8th places, Ric is 1 minute behind the leading car, Lec is 1min02sec behind? I don't see any problem there

But after the restart Leclerc will be 1min 40sec (a lap) behind Ricciardo. Thats not fair at all

[Just_a_fan]

What I really don’t get is why lapped cars can unlap themselves anyway?

It was brought in as a way of spicing up the show. By getting the lapped cars out of the way, it brought the race leaders back together and thus made for excitement at the restart.

The safety car has always been unfair on those that have built up a gap to the car behind, and likewise massively helps those that were dropped by the driver ahead. It's why I'd prefer a local slow zone with racing speed allowed on the rest of the track.

[AeroDynamic]

My solution would be, don’t unlap anything. Why should the leading car have to lose time overtaking backmarkers and the nearest rivals don’t have to? Isn’t this a sport that polices unfair lasting advantages? Wouldn’t it be a ‘lasting advantage’ to gain ground (time) on other drivers you didn’t earn from racing??

Make them overtake the cars too. Race distance and advantages achieved in race should be maintained and remain the same condition before SC. We should abandon the elements that invite luck. Pit stops under safety car should not give you any advantage at all, why should it? If you come into the pits you should serve a time penalty to compensate, or just do away with the changes under safety car and close the pit lane.

[Partymood]

You pay me enough, I can interpret All to mean some too ! ROFL.

Hope they Payed Masi enough to retire on.

I think he could have retired before the last race of 2021, see Silverstone. Had he done is job then we wouldn't be here discussing AD

Hard to have these conversations when people like you don't know the facts. Five Stewards made the Call at Silverstone. Masi had nothing to do with it.

https://www.fia.com/sites/default/files ... r%2033.pdf

I sure is hard to have such conversation. It has been clear for everyone who wants to see it that FIA has been helping Merc ( Masi or whomever for him). Everything else is just an exercise in retoricks

[S D]

How do you feel about letting the cars on the current lap through the lapped cars? They are lapped anyway why unlap at all?

The only problem with that is, when the leaders lap cars well in to the points, which happens a lot, its unfair on some of those. Lets say Ricciardo was battling Leclerc for 7th and 8th. The leader just lapped Leclerc in 8th and the safety car is brought out. That would then mean Leclerc ends up a lap down on Ricciardo, when in reality he was 2 seconds behind him after allowing the leader to lap him under blue flags.

I don't agree. Ricciardo and Leclerc are both behind the Leader. They would both move behind the safety car and behind the leader and allow 2nd through 6th to pass through until they reach 7th and 8th.
I am saying that there is no unlapping at all.

[Big Tea]

Q: Had Hamilton pitted would the decision have been okay to let them fight it out on the race track?
Should the FIA put into consideration Mercedes choosing not to pit Hamilton and Redbull pitting Verstappen for fresh tires or should it purely be a racing decision?

If so then it would be a tactical decision to not pit the leader to ensure that unlapping would not occur.

Mercedes' decision was based on what had gone before and what was written in the rues: the likelihood was that either the lapped cars would be unlapped and the race would finish behind the safety car and Hamilton would win, or that the lapped cars would be left in place and be in the way and thus give Hamilton a chance.

Had they pitted in either case they would have been behind Max and thus would lose in one case and likely lose in the other case. So it was a no-brainer to stay out.

It's worth reiterating that this situation only existed because Perez did a brilliant job slowing Hamilton down earlier in the race. This cut c.10s from the gap between Max and Lewis. Without that, Lewis would have probably been far enough ahead of Max when the safety car came out that Mercedes could pit him and come out ahead of Max. Perez deserves much more kudos than he seems to have received.

But in answer to the first part - no, the RD shouldn't consider what the teams are doing. It should really be a simple procedure: SC out, sort out the track, unlap lapped cars, SC in. That's it. The RD shouldn't look at anything other than that and shouldn't take any note of who is where on track (other than knowing if there are any lapped cars that need to be unlapped). If the procedure ends up with the race ending behind the SC then so what? If that is an issue for the teams and FOM, then just change the procedure to throw a red flag if a SC condition occurs in the last 10 laps. No working on the cars, just put fans in the sidepods and a blanket on the tyres and then do a standing restart.

Yip, If. then. else. No maybe this or that until you get to else, which would be a definite action

[NathanOlder]

How do you feel about letting the cars on the current lap through the lapped cars? They are lapped anyway why unlap at all?

The only problem with that is, when the leaders lap cars well in to the points, which happens a lot, its unfair on some of those. Lets say Ricciardo was battling Leclerc for 7th and 8th. The leader just lapped Leclerc in 8th and the safety car is brought out. That would then mean Leclerc ends up a lap down on Ricciardo, when in reality he was 2 seconds behind him after allowing the leader to lap him under blue flags.

I don't agree. Ricciardo and Leclerc are both behind the Leader. They would both move behind the safety car and behind the leader and allow 2nd through 6th to pass through until they reach 7th and 8th.
I am saying that there is no unlapping at all.

No the 7th place car didnt get lapped, bur the 8th place did. So now they would end up a lap apart instead of a few seconds.

[dans79]

So what's in it, that Max doesn't want the world to see.

https://www.racefans.net/2022/03/18/no- ... nsparency/

“I don’t think we need a full report,” he said in today’s FIA press conference ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Every other driver I've seen or heard asked about it, says it should be released for clarity, transparency or something similar!

[KeiKo403]

https://www.planetf1.com/news/martin-br ... al-action/

“I think there’s fear in the paddock among some people with a vested interest,” he told Sky Sports F1.

“They don’t want it to be seen that a mistake was made, therefore there’s any type of question mark over Verstappen’s World Championship. That’s inevitable in some quarters.

“But I suspect it’s more about any kind of legal ramifications, I don’t know, so I’m suspecting, with Michael Masi or something like that.”

Any speculation as to what the legal action could be and on what grounds?

[Just_a_fan]

So what's in it, that Max doesn't want the world to see.

https://www.racefans.net/2022/03/18/no- ... nsparency/

“I don’t think we need a full report,” he said in today’s FIA press conference ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Every other driver I've seen or heard asked about it, says it should be released for clarity, transparency or something similar!

MRDA (*)




(* For explanation MRDA is Mandy Rice-Davies Applies. During the prosecution of the Profumo Affair in 1960s UK politics, when James Burge, the defence counsel, pointed out that Lord Astor denied an affair or having even met her, she replied, “Well he would, wouldn't he?”. In the case of Max saying he doesn't want the FIA report to be published - well he would, wouldn't he?)

[Just_a_fan]

Hamilton has apparently agreed to pay a fine for missing the FIA Gala and that the money should go to a useful charity cause rather than FIA's bank account.

[NathanOlder]

Hamilton has apparently agreed to pay a fine for missing the FIA Gala and that the money should go to a useful charity cause rather than FIA's bank account.

Ah, so as expected, he was excused and paid a fine to miss it, so wont be banned for a race like some users here were hoping for.

[Just_a_fan]

Hamilton has apparently agreed to pay a fine for missing the FIA Gala and that the money should go to a useful charity cause rather than FIA's bank account.

Ah, so as expected, he was excused and paid a fine to miss it, so wont be banned for a race like some users here were hoping for.

The way things are going with the car, he might end up with the same result as a race ban!

[Wouter]

Lewis didn't got a fine. He donated €50 000 for a student. That has nothing to do with the FIA Gala.