New Rules Approved for Wet Race Restarts

Bethonie Waring · Mar 13, 2017

The FIA World Motor Sport Council have approved the new rules surrounding restarts during wet races, including details agreed with the teams.

This won’t be the end of the safety car in wet conditions but we will no longer see the lead driver bunching up the field for a safety car restart as wet standing starts are to be introduced.

The aim is to retain the excitement of race starts.

Laps behind the safety car when used to restart a wet race will no essentially count as extra formation laps. When race control deems conditions good enough, the cars will line up on the grid again, ready to restart the race proper.

All drivers will be required to use the wet weather tyre at this point. Following the safety car into the pits to switch to Intermediate or slick tyres will earn a ten second stop-go penalty.

Drivers starting from the pits are allowed to join the formation laps, but don’t have to. That means they’ll have more fuel for the rest of the race, which could be an advantage as they’ll have less need for fuel saving, but the extra weight won’t help.

Once the cars return to the grid, those starting from the pits will have to return to the pits.

For more Formula One news and discussions head over to the RaceDepartment Formula One sub forum and join in with your fellow community members.

Do you think this will make wet races more exciting? Let us know in the comments below!

ThatRacingGuy · Mar 13, 2017

Okay i jyjusfound a thirth reason why am i starting to have faith in this takeover.

Joseph Wright · Mar 13, 2017

The takeover has got to be one of the best things to happen to F1 this century.

InsaneOzzie · Mar 13, 2017

Bah! never thought this idea would see the light of day TBH, one of Bernie's final moments of madness.

These guys are allegedly the worlds best drivers, yet they have to have their hands held in the wet, FFS let them race, if they can't race in the wet like any other category I can't see why their classed as the pinnacle of motorsport. To many rules being made to pander to the teams in my book, just go back to basics F1 and race cars, stop complicating something that's not complicated.

Dirk Steffen · Mar 14, 2017

#LetThemRace
Every single time in season 2016 I was twisting in stomach cramps when you had the worlds best drivers roll around the track behind a mommy car when it was raining.

Rain is part of racing - live doesn't stop when it is raining.
The solution is not to stop racing when it rains but to provide proper tires and make sure that tracks have proper drainage.
Let them race. Drivers who are not up to it can pit.

Boby Kim · Mar 14, 2017

Mmm...lets see what changed:
old situation: yellow behind safety car, wet tires dry track, rolling start, everybody into pits for inter or slicks.
New situation: instead of rolling start a standing start.
Wow....a true improvement

F1 needs to grab them balls and learn from Max how to race in wet conditions

M-Bimmer · Mar 14, 2017

Let's see how things will be this season.

Ben Lee · Mar 14, 2017

Charlie Whiting has no balls, nor do a lot of the drivers.

Bethonie Waring · Mar 14, 2017

Everybody says "let them race" but I think it has to be taken on a case by case basis. Yeah, I want to see things like Max in Brazil more than the 10 hour delays in the race (or it seemed like 10 hours) but, at the same time, I want drivers to stay relatively safe.

Chris · Mar 14, 2017

Bethonie Waring said:
Everybody says "let them race" but I think it has to be taken on a case by case basis. Yeah, I want to see things like Max in Brazil more than the 10 hour delays in the race (or it seemed like 10 hours) but, at the same time, I want drivers to stay relatively safe.

Agreed.
So many people seem to forget that Jules Bianchi was killed less than 3 years ago primarily because of unsafe conditions. Safety is paramount.

Ben Lee said:
Charlie Whiting has no balls, nor do a lot of the drivers.

I don't think you appreciate just how violent a Grand Prix car is. If you ever have a go in one, I bet you anything you'll change your mind when it comes to the driver's sexual organs and realise that these drivers are essentially fighter pilots on the ground.

But hey, it's so much easier to have balls when you're behind a keyboard.

Kakusso · Mar 14, 2017

The decision to bring the safety car or to stop the race should be based on objective facts like the height of the water in the track. If it remains subjective, race directors will tend to be extra cautious, since any incident might be imputated to their decision. Extra cautious can mean only allowing the race to restart when the drivers would choose to use the intermediates, when in fact wet tires are no longer the best option.

Edit: Standing starts in the wet don't seem to be a very good idea.

Andrew Harper · Mar 14, 2017

Bethonie Waring said:
Everybody says "let them race" but I think it has to be taken on a case by case basis. Yeah, I want to see things like Max in Brazil more than the 10 hour delays in the race (or it seemed like 10 hours) but, at the same time, I want drivers to stay relatively safe.

Yeah exactly. I think if there was a race with torrential rain I can see the teams and drivers demanding a start behind the safety car no matter what the new arrangement is. Yes I agree with those above, there have been times in the last few years where both drivers and viewers have wondered why they were running for 45 minutes behind the safety car on an almost dry track. So I kind of approve the new ideas, but I can see start line accidents happening if it's very wet. I would imagine the ECU guys will now be writing code for specific wet start engine maps right now!

However, safety does come into it of course and the other thing that occurs to me is I would like to see a full field of cars make it into the race. If we lost half the field due to rain induced accidents by lap three that would make slightly boring watching. Especially if you were there and had just paid £300 to attend the thing.

The one thing I do approve of is if a car goes off in the wet and it's in a tricky recovery location, they can bring out the safety car as much as they like. Protect the marshals at all costs.

Celestiale · Mar 14, 2017

Andrew Harper said:
However, safety does come into it of course and the other thing that occurs to me is I would like to see a full field of cars make it into the race. If we lost half the field due to rain induced accidents by lap three that would make slightly boring watching. Especially if you were there and had just paid £300 to attend the thing.

Well if that would be the case, one easy solution would be that the drivers are more careful the next time. If you are slow enough, you can avoid any incident. Those races would at least divorce the men from the kids..and give good drivers in bad cars the opportunity to snatch something.
The way it was last year it was just hilarious. Drivers swapping to Inters at the start of the race tells you really anything you need to know...

Andrew Harper · Mar 14, 2017

Celestiale said:
Well if that would be the case, one easy solution would be that the drivers are more careful the next time. If you are slow enough, you can avoid any incident. Those races would at least divorce the men from the kids..and give good drivers in bad cars the opportunity to snatch something.
The way it was last year it was just hilarious. Drivers swapping to Inters at the start of the race tells you really anything you need to know...

Yes you're right, but what I'm referring to is things like aquaplaining. You can drive at 10mph but if the tyre won't cut through the the water because there's so much of it you're going to have an accident no matter what you do behind the wheel. Each race is different of course and that's kind of what I mean in that it's down to the race director as to what's considered the best action at the time

I wouldn't bother with talking to the drivers in their cars as they can never agree anyway!

Celestiale · Mar 14, 2017

Andrew Harper said:
Yes you're right, but what I'm referring to is things like aquaplaining. You can drive at 10mph but if the tyre won't cut through the the water because there's so much of it you're going to have an accident no matter what you do behind the wheel. Each race is different of course and that's kind of what I mean in that it's down to the race director as to what's considered the best action at the time I wouldn't bother with talking to the drivers in their cars as they can never agree anyway!

Yeah fully agree.
However about aquaplaning...back in the days i learned, when you are slow enough, there is no aqua-planing, no matter how much water

this refers to cars with double the weight of Formula 1 cars of course, but it should still apply to Formula 1 cars. Looking at real life conditions with my own car, i was driving in very heavy rain quite often here, never had a problem with aquaplaning. Never had to go slower then something like 130kph on the Autobahn because of rain in my life (more then English or American speed limit

). I don't know, i'd think that the drainage of FIA Formula 1 race tracks is at least as good as German roads...i could be wrong though, no expert on race track drainages

Not saying they should race in a monsun, but in conditions where Amateur GT3 drivers can manage the rain, the same should apply to the very best pilots on the planet - yes i know, the cars are much harder to drive, but anyway.
Fully agree on the drivers part - they should never listen to them. Or let's alter this a little. As soon as the first driver says he is ready to race, they should race.
Rain is the only condition where you see the true skills of the drivers, and not just the level of their cars. I for one relish that, and i am happy for every proper wet race we can possibly see

James Cook · Mar 14, 2017

More nonsense.

You either race in the rain or you don't. These are supposed to be the best drivers piloting cars with the most advanced tyres on top-level circuits.