F1 » Heidfeld blasts 'stupid' safety car rule

Absolutely spot on, both Heidfeld and Barrichello have suffered through not fault of their own. Should have been changed after the first incident tbh

The way I see it, the rule is in theory a good idea on safety grounds, but if a team can prove that a car is about to run out of fuel & the driver doesn't gain from the stop, they should not get a 10 second stop go penalty.
The teams could even let the FIA know in advance which lap the cars will be in for fuel, as long as it is secure & other teams cannot see the infomation.

While the safety car rules are understandable, they could be tweaked. At the moment no one knows when a car is due in the pits until the car gets to the pit lane. However, if once the good old fashioned Pit Board has gone out for any particular driver to pit for fuel and then there is a safety car incidence the driver should be permitted to pit for fuel. Meaning that the intention was signalled and not opportunist move. The stop should be compulsory, to stop any spoofing.

There is a simple solution - teams should ensure that their cars have sufficient fuel onboard to cope with the number of laps during which they are not allowed to pit (I presume this is a fixed number or could be made a fixed number?). This strategy would then become another item in the team''s armoury that other teams will need to judge (i.e. it would not be a regulation - merely a way for teams to avoid running out of fuel or having to take a penalty.) Teams that run a car to the last possible lap before refuelling do so at the risk of the safety car being deployed. That is the measure of the risk - BMW took that stategic risk and lost the gamble.

Dave, do you realise what you are saying?
Teams don't play safe on the chance that a safety car may be deployed! Why would they, knowing that their closest rival might not be playing safe and gaining precious seconds over them.
Wake up m8, smell the coffee!!

There's an even simpler way of avoiding this problem altogether - do away with fuel stops - as it use to be. To many races have been won or lost due to pitlane strategy becasue of re-fuelling rather than on track action. What excitement is had from watching a potentially close race spoilt because one of the drivers has had to come in for fuel?

A solution to this situation is quite simple, as soon as a car is filled, the team notifies race control as to the predicted lap of their next pit stop. Should this occur during a saftey car period it would then be allowable. An allowance of plus or minus a lap should be built into the regulation. This takes away the gamble that a saftey car will prevent a fuel stop, thus eliminating the "ban Luck factor".

Completely agree with 190mph, do away with pitstops and the drivers will have to attempt to pass on track instead of hanging around until the stops before banging in a couple of quick laps to get ahead.

only pit stops to change a punctured tyre or to replace broken body parts and fuel tanks big enough to fuel to the finish...............sorted

Had it been Kimi caught out by this and not scored any points, how quick would the FIA have changed the rules for their best friends at Ferrari?