it wouldn’t be an F1 weekend without a little chat about the rulebook, eh? Well, heading into the Monaco Grand Prix this weekend, the FIA have introduced a new rule designed to more tightly enforce the speed of cars under a virtual safety car or safety car, specifically in areas of a track that are under double-waved yellows.
Now, because every race is someone’s first, if you didn’t know, double-waved yellows under the FIA mean: “Reduce your speed significantly, do not overtake, and be prepared to change direction or stop”, usually because a car is partially blocking a track, or marshals are working on the track itself.
Cars under a safety car or VSC have to adhere to a certain average speed in yellow flag conditions, known as a “delta time”. But starting at the Monaco Grand Prix, the deltas speeds will be reduced and more strictly enforced around these dangerous accident zones.
Tim Goss, the FIA technical director who developed the idea, explained the reasoning behind the changes: “There are occasions [under the current rules] where cars can legitimately temporarily increase their speed to recover any time they have lost relative to this reference time.”
“What we want to do now is to extend the use of the delta time concept to ensure that cars are strictly slowed to the required delta time when double-waved yellow flags are shown, so we are introducing a dedicated reference speed limit in the area where those flags are displayed.”
The drivers’ steering wheel displays will also be updated to warn them specifically when a part of the track is under double-waved yellows, which hopefully will make the system clearer for drivers – and fans – to understand.
Do you agree with the yellow flag changes? Hit us up in the comments!
