Formula 1 races are full of incidents, and it is almost impossible to compete at more than 300 km/h for close to two hours without anything happening. For this reason, the FIA, the governing body of the highest category of motorsports, introduced the figure of the Safety Car (safety car in Spanish) from the 1993 Brazilian Grand Prix.
Despite the fact that in the 1973 Canadian event, Eppie Wietzes started with a yellow Porsche 914 due to a collision between François Cévert and Jody Scheckter , the international federation did not regulate it until that test in Interlagos, and it has been evolving throughout of the years.
What is the Safety Car (safety car) in Formula 1?
Currently, the Safety Car is used to neutralize the races when an accident has occurred and reorganize the entire grid in order of classification on the same lap. As soon as the safety car is present on the track, the marshals wave the yellow flags to show the drivers the danger and that they can remove what prevents them from returning to competition speed (remains of materials such as car parts ).
When the Safety Car is deployed, the drivers must follow the car at a certain pace, much slower than usual, always following it and not overtaking, because otherwise they would face a penalty.
In addition to this, Race Direction has another tool at its disposal that was created after Jules Bianchi’s fatal accident at the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix.
What is the Virtual Safety Car (virtual safety car) in Formula 1?
The Virtual Safety Car is the virtual version, as the name itself suggests, of the safety car, and instead of a physical vehicle going out onto the track, the marshals show the pilots the initials VSC with illuminated signs while waving the yellow flags to indicate that there is a danger on the circuit.
The pilots, when they are under this period, must respect a so-called ‘ delta time ‘ (time pre-established by areas of the track), and can return to competition speed once the FIA gives the go-ahead with the green flag.
What differences are there between the Safety Car and the Virtual Safety Car in Formula 1?
The objective of both is the same, that of maintaining safety on the track during the course of a Formula 1 race. However, there are some essential differences that, in turn, are key to the development of the competition.
The engineers study in detail the possibilities of the appearance of the safety car or its virtual version, and although it may seem random, it can happen that a victory is decided by it.
In the case of the Safety Car , the single-seaters must follow together without overtaking (except for the lapped cars that can make up laps with the change in regulations), so the peloton is grouped together.
If a driver decides to go into the pits to change tires, he will be able to enjoy the advantage that going with new tires gives him, but if he does not have enough space with his rivals, he will fall to the bottom of the grid, since they are all together.
In the Virtual Safety Car , all the cars must follow a stipulated rhythm, so the differences do not grow or increase, but at the time of the restart, everything can change, since there is a period of uncertainty until the green flag reappears , ideal for shortening distances if executed perfectly.
When and how does the race resume after a Safety Car or a Virtual Safety Car in Formula 1?
As is logical, the grand prix return to competition speed once the marshals have removed the danger from the track, and it is Race Direction who makes the decision. The directors signal the safety car, which keeps its lights on, just like an everyday emergency vehicle, until it heads down the pitlane.
In addition, the teams receive a message from the FIA indicating that “the Safety Car is leaving on this lap” so that they can tell their drivers that the test will resume. At that moment, the leader is the one who takes command, and decides the moment in which to return to full throttle, as long as it does not exceed the limits of the regulation, which are stated in article 3.1.3 of the Sporting Regulations of the FIA that from the safety car line you can overtake no matter what the first does.
For the Virtual Safety Car, as there is nothing physical that indicates when the race resumes (except for the light panels), it is the teams who inform their drivers that the grand prix is going to start, with prior notice. of Race Direction. With the message “virtual safety car ending”, the single-seaters will have to be attentive, because in a period of between 10 and 15 seconds , the green flags will wave for them to compete again.
What do the FIA Formula 1 rules say about the Safety Car and the Virtual Safety Car?
The regulations of Formula 1 are very extensive, so much so that even the teams themselves and the governing body do not agree on how to interpret the regulations, but from article 4.12 of the FIA Sporting Regulations they try to clarify all doubts.
In this section some things are stipulated such as that it is a driver designated by the international federation, together with a co-driver, who will be on board the safety car in constant radio contact with the Race Direction, and that they will enter the circuit when the race be in progress at any time if indicated by the stewards because “competitors or stewards are in immediate physical danger on or near the track, but the circumstances are not such as to call off the event”.
At the moment of deploying the safety car, the message ” SAFETY CAR DEPLOYED ” will appear through the official messaging system, in addition to all the track marshals’ positions waving the yellow flags with a sign with the acronym ‘SC ‘ while the intervention lasts.
As stated before, no one can overtake each other, and the stewards can apply the different sanctions if deemed appropriate for, for example, erratic driving. All drivers must be less than ten cars away from the car in front and following a minimum time stipulated by the FIA ECU.
For the restart process, it will be the race director who indicates the moment in which the safety car will return to the pitlane with another message issued in the same way as when the Safety Car period is displayed, but this time with the sentence ” SAFETY CAR IN THIS LAP “, and from that moment the drivers will remain at a distance from the vehicle to restart the test when the leader crosses the line, leaving a space of ten single-seaters if necessary to avoid accidents. Of course, erratic driving and heavy braking are prohibited in this process, and the track marshals will remove the yellow flags and ‘SC’ signs, except on the last lap.
The biggest controversy may come with lapped cars, who will be able to recover a lap when the race director considers it safe to do so, by sending the following message ” LAPPED CARS MAY NOW OVERTAKE ” (“lapped cars can overtake now”), and although it is Less common, you can also prohibit splitting with the phrase ” OVERTAKING WILL NOT BE PERMITTED .”
Moving on to the Virtual Safety Car, things are a bit easier with article 4.13, since the only objective is to neutralize the race by keeping the distances between the drivers. The procedure is the same, only the messages change, with a ” VSC DEPLOYED ” when the virtual safety car is deployed, with the yellow flags flying and the ‘VSC’ signs at the marshals’ stands.
The drivers, obviously, as with the Safety Car, will not be able to drive erratically, always keeping the rhythm of the ECU set by the FIA, and at the moment in which the Race Direction sends the message ” VSC ENDING ” (“VSC ending”), the competitors must be attentive to return to competition speed between 10 and 15 seconds after the signal.
