F1 » Heidfeld blasts 'stupid' safety car rule

They should make them start the race on the same tires they qualify on. If they go supersoft they will have to pit sooner. This will still allow for some fluxuation of the grid.

Lex I was affraid of a comment like that. It did look pretty funny when they used to do that. Anything has got to be better than those green pants the Honda team is wearing this year.

They may need another rule that they are at least a minimum length. No short shorts.

The fact a car runs out of fuel in race should never happen these days. I have an old grey Fergie tractor and it has a reserve pick up on it and it's over 50yrs old. Why cant these cars have a reserve fuel pickup in their tanks or even a small reserve fuel tank on them so they get another few laps out of them. Pretty simple!
In this article it mentions the rules says the pit lane closed for a few laps while the safety cars is out...how much is a few?

Lets be real. Heidfeld is mad because it caused him grief. The fact remains that F1 ONLY brings out the safety car when the damage is severe. I have watched many F1 races where carbon fiber is on the track after decent contact and there are only local yellows. F1 does a fine job with the safety car yellow. This year we have seen more safety cars because of poor driving and No I do not consider Hekki's as anything but poor luck. Most of the time it repacks the field which is great. Nick is not a top 5 driver so I can understand his anger for missing on the opportunity.

F1Tos. remember when honda tried this??

Nobody gains from a safety car situation apart from the Marshalls and Barrichello, (When that **** walked out onto the track when the mclarens were romping away with it at Hockenheim) to be further disadvantaged like having to refuel then get a drive through is madness, Heldfeld did fantastic to finish where he did, if I were him I might have parked it somewhere to be bloody ackward. Solution remove fuel pitstops, they are dangerous anyway, do what they do in Moto GP they have to do the race on a specified quantity

derek0113. yes , no fuel stops would be ideal but there would have to be a considerable safety margin built in. remember the days when a car could come to the finish at full chat, only to come across another driver pushing his car to the finish line. LETHAL

RICH ARD yes I do remember but if their clever with todays technology when the reserve fuel is activated a loss of say 10-20% of power kicks in and that way it becomes fair play and the car gets back to the pits or ambles behind the safety car until the pit lane re-opens.

this is why i agree with what the commentators want for qualifying. the ''brundells'' want the final 10 cars to nominate a fuel strategy and create a rule preventing fuel safety. that way, the final qualifying is just a sprint and the safety car rule heidfeld is shouting about will not be too bad as the nominations will prove how much fuel is in the car. doing this with the rest is a good idea too but give the mid-field and backmarkers a longer time to choose.
i agree with the fact that the rule is stupid. in catalunya, it took out heidfeld and barrichello and i remember kovalainen being on course for 2nd and perhaps a win in his debut, until that rule reared its ugly head.

robert - what about the first safety car at the start? The track was not blocked and there did not appear to be much if any debris on the track.