World of F1 critical on new safety car rules

As the Canadian Grand Prix was hit by four safety car periods, a lot of F1 people are critical on the new safety car rules. The regulations regarding a safety car period have been changed this season and last weekend was the first time the procedure was applied.

The FIA regulations concerning the safety car period prescribe:
* When the order is given to deploy the safety car :
the pit entry will be closed until all cars on the track have formed up in a line behind the safety car. A ten second time penalty will be imposed on any driver who enters the pit lane whilst it is closed. Any car which was in the pit entry or pit lane when the safety car was deployed will not incur a penalty. If it is deemed necessary for the safety car to use the pit lane cars following it will not incur a penalty.

During the Canadian Grand Prix, this part of the regulations seemed to form a problem for Fernando Alonso and Nico Rosberg. Both drivers were forced to come in as they were running out off fuel and this in a lap that the safety car was sent out. Both drivers received a ten second stop-and-go penalty, which ruined their race.

McLaren's Ron Dennis said: "I was frustrated by the impact of the safety car on our race. It is a change that was made for good reasons, but that has too much unpleasant consequences in this race. I hope that the FIA and the other teams have learned something from this race and that we can, in the middle of the season, adapt the regulations, to prevent other drivers from getting penalised in the future. Everybody can be the victim of this."

Dennis added: "It doesn't work in F1. How ridiculous would it have been if we ran out of fuel because of the safety car? It's just unfair, not only towards us, but towards everybody."

Fernando Alonso, the double World Champion, said after the race: "I came into the pits for the first time on lap 24 as I had no more fuel so basically there was nothing I could do. It was a shame as this resulted in a ten second penalty but I guess that unfortunately those are the rules but there was no alternative other than to stop on track with no fuel."

Williams driver, Nico Rosberg, was penalised as well. The youngster said: "I had to stop for fuel on lap 23, which meant I missed the re-fuelling window by 13 seconds and that effectively ended my race. New rules punish people who pit immediately after the Safety Car comes out, so I was given a 10s stop-go penalty and all I could manage after that was 10th place."