FIA working to stop F1 VSC cheating

 The FIA is working to “bulletproof” Formula 1’s Virtual Safety Car procedure after complaints were raised that drivers could cheat the system.

Under F1’s VSC, drivers must reduce their speed and stay above a minimum time set by the FIA while not driving unnecessarily slowly, erratically or in a manner that could be deemed potential dangerous.

Following last month’s Spanish Grand Prix, Sebastian Vettel suggested drivers were able to manipulate the VSC system by taking different driving lines through corners in order to go faster than they should be able to. 

FIA race director Charlie Whiting initially denied the VSC system could be taken advantage of, but said he now understands the Ferrari driver’s concerns after being shown new data.

“It’s the calculation that the system does when it looks at the speed of the car every 50 metres is based on the distance from the timing line. So, if you can shorten that, you can gain a tiny fraction,” Whiting explained. 

"The way we've calculated it with our software guys is you can possibly gain about 150 milliseconds per lap and in Formula 1 that's worth having.

“But that is the extent of it, as far as it was explained to be me by our software people. We can rectify it, and make it a bit more bulletproof."