That sounds reasonable. Race suspended due to adverse weather and Race suspended due to adverse track conditions. Adverse track conditions do not validate changing setup or tyres, or fixing broken parts on the car, and merely suspend the race until the track conditions have been put right. A race suspension for adverse weather could permit setup and tyres changes to make the cars safer in those conditions.
I agree with the other posters who have said that if a race has been red flagged because of the weather they should be able to change their tyres, but if the race has been red flagged when it is dry then they should not be allowed to touch the cars. However I also think that there needs to be another rule which allows the cars to not start all bunched up, perhaps if a car was 5 secs ahead of the car behind then the car behind has to wait 5 secs to set off behind the SC. The reason I think this is necessary is because if the teams were not allowed to change the tyres yesterday and Vettel's tyres had fallen off the cliff he could of fallen to lower than 3rd place which he was effectively guaranteed before the red flag because of the gap the top three had pulled out and this would of been just as an injustice as Vettel being allowed to change his tyres.
Unfortunately Mifune, some idealistic things are simply not workable. In the event, it just so happens that the gaps between those at the front were negligible when the Red Flag was deployed in any case. But all rules need to be workable. How on earth would any time gaps be worked out with static cars about to take a re-start?
I know it is not ideal but I think that if you did not implement some kind of time gap rule then the possible situation of Vettel finishing below 3rd is much worse and injust than him being able to fit fresh tyres to his car. Neither situation is ideal and thankfully it is highly unlikely that we will revisit it again. My idea was (although I am aware that it is not really very appliable) that when they re-start behind the SC each individual car sets off after the car infront the X amount of seconds they were behind befoe he red flag came out and the cars would have to keep to the lap delta to keep the gap throughout the SC in-lap.
Limit the speed of the cars on red flags like they do in the pits. Let the front runners who had the major gap over the rest aka Button, Vettel, Alonso be given the same gap after the red flag. Everybody else behind who was within 5 seconds of each other has to just deal with being bunched up at the restart since the likely result would be the same. I don't know if it would work, but it's better than allowing the front runners who were leading becoming a sitting duck to somebody behind, somebody like sutil who needed to pit before the red flag.
IMO - on a red flag - no car can pit for anything........oops I'm editing here - meant to say 'or do anything to the car on the restart grid. thanks for spotting my mistake genji.
That's the case now, Bergkamp. If they come into the pits under a red flag then they get a drive through penalty. If they're already in the pits when the red flag comes out then they have to stay there until the other cars have left the grid at the restart. So I think - if they're not allowed to return to the pits, why should they be allowed to be worked on on the grid?
I agree with this. I cannot comment further as I had to listen to the end of the race on the radio rather than watch it on TV.
Hello StaceyUK. Welcome to the forum. Why not make your way here and tell us something about yourself? I was interested to read Hamilton say, "I got hit (in the race) and my rear wing was hanging off and I was asked to come in and retire, and I refused." The team clearly thought it was unsafe. If a driver's car is unsafe when the race is suspended under a red flag the he should be retired before the race commences. I read Peter Windsor's opinion and I completely agree that the rules allowing the car to be worked on under a red flag suspension were written "... when the tyre situation was very different: two tyre companies (Bridgestone and Michelin) were supplying tyres; tyre sets were nothing like as limited; and one set of tyres could retain its performance edge for much longer. Allowing tyre changes on the grid at Monaco effectively gave us a whole new, sprint-distance motor race that bore no real relation to what had preceded it – and that, in my view, makes no sense." And that was the big problem for me with the race: it was a great Monaco GP and a thrilling race but the result made no sense.
Pirelli have it spot on. Tyre changes shouldnt be allowed at a red flag. Effectively a free pitstop, which did detract from the spectacle, as rather than being all about defending in the end Vettel could bolt on the newest tyres he had available and drive off. Prior to that he was a sitting duck. RE McLaren. Yeah they shouldnt have been allowed to make the repair, but if its allowed in the rules, who are we to argue
Welcome back McLarenBluebird, not seen you in a while. I too would rather a red flag just mean stop and don't change anything, even if people where planning to stop for something anyway, its just the luck of the draw. As a McLaren fan I was obviously happy when I saw them fixing Hamiltons car, but really, it shouldn't be allowed in the rules.
Hello, McLarenBluebird. As you say, the rules decides what's allowed but that not stopping us and, more importantly, Pirelli pointing out that the rules are wrong for the current operating environment regarding tyres.
