Webber unlapping himself during SC period

[keysersoze]

I don't get it. When he was over a full lap down, why was Webber permitted to pass all the cars, then drive around the circuit and rejoin at the tail end of the lead lap?

[Koz]

I don't get it. When he was over a full lap down, why was Webber permitted to pass all the cars, then drive around the circuit and rejoin at the tail end of the lead lap?

To prevent traffic for the front runners. So all the cars are running in the correct order.
We used to have this rule a few years ago, too. It was most notable in wet races, where we could see how "fast" the track was.
Then at some point rules changed and this wasn't allowed anymore. And it was confusing before we had no idea who was racing whom. It was very chaotic and to and extent quite foolish.

We had a thread somewhere, where I am pretty sure I advocated bringing this rule back.
After what happened today, this has to be changed.

But we can't just say keep track position, can we?

[Robinho]

whilst his position on track was unchanged, lapped cars are allowed to rejoin the same lap. I think its purely a product of the lap calculations that they have to overtake and run the lap, rather than just dropping to the back and having the lap added to their chart, although I would suggest the latter would be preferable if they can work the IT side of things so they appear to have one more lap than actualy recorded. Why they should get the lap back in the 1st place I don't know. If you scrapped that the lapped cars could just drop to the back of the snake (in order) and save waiting for them to overtake and get back on the rear of the train, probably a couple of laps behind the SC could be saved

[Knock-on]

I don't see why they don't pick up behind the SC in the order they are on track. If the leader has lapped a car then why should 2nd place get the benefit of getting on the leaders gearbox because of a unrelated incident?

Leave the lapped cars where they are and just make sure they get out of the way in the restart.

Simples

[steveaki13]

I don't see why they don't pick up behind the SC in the order they are on track. If the leader has lapped a car then why should 2nd place get the benefit of getting on the leaders gearbox because of a unrelated incident?

Leave the lapped cars where they are and just make sure they get out of the way in the restart.

Simples

This

I would also add. Why do they need to gain a lap? What right have they to gain a whole lap? If cars a lap down need to get out of the pack then drop them to the tail of the snake but stay 1 lap down.

Example

SC - Positions 1-12 Lead Lap, Positions 13-16 +1 Lap, 17-19 +2 Laps.

Then cars stay where they should be on lap charts and the restart is not affected by traffic.

But ultimately I would just do what Knockie Said

[The Black Knight]

To prevent traffic for the front runners. So all the cars are running in the correct order.
We used to have this rule a few years ago, too. It was most notable in wet races, where we could see how "fast" the track was.
Then at some point rules changed and this wasn't allowed anymore. And it was confusing before we had no idea who was racing whom. It was very chaotic and to and extent quite foolish.

We had a thread somewhere, where I am pretty sure I advocated bringing this rule back.
After what happened today, this has to be changed.

But we can't just say keep track position, can we?

I hate this stupid rule. The safety car periods have gotten ludicrous. For removing a car from the track it now takes about 7-8 laps minimum for cars and the likes to unlap themselves. The way it was a few years ago was fine.

[AndyL]

I don't see why they don't pick up behind the SC in the order they are on track. If the leader has lapped a car then why should 2nd place get the benefit of getting on the leaders gearbox because of a unrelated incident?

Leave the lapped cars where they are and just make sure they get out of the way in the restart.

Simples

I agree completely. There is absolutely no need for special rules to deal with lapped cars. I never understood it when people complained about backmarkers being in between the leaders when the safety car goes in. It could only be because there were backmarkers between the leaders before the safety car came out. It's not the job of the safety car to change that. The guy behind the backmarkers will get the benefit of blue flags as soon as the racing resumes.

[schmenke]

Not to mention the purpose of the SC is to slow the field down. It defeats the purpose if a driver is expected to speed past a queue of cars to simply to reorder the field.

[Ranger]

The guy behind the backmarkers will get the benefit of blue flags as soon as the racing resumes.

The 2011 Singapore Grand Prix was the muse of the new Safety Car regulations.

Because of lapped traffic, after 1 lap of racing after the Safety Car, 2nd place was already 9 seconds down on the leader. He was 4 seconds down by the time he even reached the green flag.

Losing 5-10 seconds to the leader because of lapped traffic is not a situation I would like to see repeated.

That doesn't mean the current Safety Car rules are perfect either.

[dj_bytedisaster]

I agree completely. There is absolutely no need for special rules to deal with lapped cars. I never understood it when people complained about backmarkers being in between the leaders when the safety car goes in. It could only be because there were backmarkers between the leaders before the safety car came out. It's not the job of the safety car to change that. The guy behind the backmarkers will get the benefit of blue flags as soon as the racing resumes.

^^^
THIS

Had the safety car not come out, they would have had to deal with the back markers anyways, so why the manipulation of track positions?