The FIA will hold an Extraordinary Meeting of the Sporting Working Group at Silverstone next Wednesday, to discuss issues arising out of the European GP.
Chaired by F1 race director Charlie Whiting, the meeting will give the 12 team managers a chance to air their views on some of the controversies surrounding the safety car period in Valencia, and equally will allow Whiting to explain the FIA’s viewpoint.
Among the key issues to be discussed are the time it takes to confirm penalties, and cars getting stuck behind the safety car before being waved by.
Although tweaks are possible for this year, major changes to the system are unlikely to be introduced in the short term. However the meeting could be a springboard for new rules for 2011.
That could include the possibility of having the pit exit open throughout the safety car period, which would avoid the scenario suffered by Michael Schumacher, who caught the red light as the field was coming past. Those coming out of the pits would then blend into the queue at the safety car line.
There is also the question of a return to having a closed pit entry until the field is bunched up. That was tried for a couple of seasons but created problems for those who were coming to the end of their fuel loads and were forced to pit anyway and take a penalty.
With refuelling no longer an issue, there is no obvious reason why a closed pitlane couldn’t happen other than the fact that it could see pretty much the entire field enter at once, and there is an argument that not all pitlanes have sufficient space to safely cope with that.
In addition the rules would have to allow cars with punctures or damage to pit without penalty.
One thing which is unlikely to change is the specific reason why the two Ferraris were held up. They were not allowed to pass the safety car until after the Mark Webber accident scene because the safety car was itself following the medical car. The FIA regards protecting the medical car from race traffic as a key safety requirement.
Adam Cooper F1 
Hi Adam,
It is fine that all these issues are discussed.
However, Alonso and Massa were in fact following the safety car and preceding the medical car, as can be clearly seen in this picture:
http://www.todoformula1.net/fotos/europa-domingo/f1/3163/
In my opinion, the medical car would have been better protected by letting the Ferraris by.
Kind regards
In fact the safety car (and the Ferraris) let the medical car past at Turn 4, just after this picture was taken. It took a short cut across the chicane. You could argue that the safety car should have let the Ferraris past before that happened but remember this is all still just a few seconds after the safety car was dispatched and there was a lot going on in race control. Inevitably it takes a while for the safety car crew to ask what to do about the cars behind and it was Ferrari’s bad luck that the medical car got in front at that stage.
Thank you for your prompt reply.
I did not know about the medical car passing at turn 4 (I think it was not shown on TV). It was getting on my nerves all those comments about protecting the medical car when all evidence (available to me) showed that it was behind them in fact. Now it is clear and, even though it was really bad luck, at least it makes sense.
To me, there was no problem with the way the SC was used. The problems lay in two other areas: 1. The delay in penalties and 2. The reaction of some teams to feeling put out.
The SC is released onto the track in two ways depending on the accident. For a ‘big’ crash, such as Webber’s, the car is put onto the track asap to slow the field and allow the medical car to reach the accident unhindered and protected and also slow the cars on track because even with delta times, they’re not exactly going slowly. For smaller problems, such as a car parked off the side of the track, then usually the SC is ready but not released until the leader comes near pit exit. This is partly to reduce problems with those getting stuck behind the SC and needing to be let through.
Rules and regulations are fine, but I believe Formula 1 has the Safety Car procedure completely wrong. If it’s safety they want, why are cars allowed to race around the track, back to start/finish line? This is something that used to be done in NASCAR but was eventually banned there.
In my opinion, if a caution waves and a Safety Car period ensues, (a) the field must stop racing, WHEREVER they are, (b) the pits closed immediately, (c) the Safety Car will then pick-up the leader, and (d) the transponders will determine the order in which the field will bunch-up behind the Safety Car.
You can then, if conditions warrant, open the pits for those in the lead lap and in the next lap, for those one lap or more down. And don’t tell me they couldn’t handle that. Other series do it. Why not F1. Are they that incompetent. Chief Mechanics should be better at controlling the release of their cars into the pit lane.