Stopped starts after Safety Car: F1 regulations detail the procedure

The measure validated by the World Motor Sport Council, introducing standing starts in F1 from 2015, was specified through a draft of the Sporting Regulations for next season, published this Tuesday on the International Automobile Federation’s website.

Thus, from the moment the safety car is deployed, everything will first happen as it currently does (articles 40.1 to 40.12 of the 2015 Sporting Regulations): the cars will line up behind the safety car and the lapped cars will be allowed to un-lap themselves to get back on the lead lap. Drivers will be able to go through the pit lane. When the track has been cleared and the race can resume, a message will announce that the safety car will pull in at the end of the lap.

It is article 40.13 that has been significantly modified and explains the new procedure. Once the safety car has pulled away, all drivers will complete an additional lap, and the pits will be closed when the pack has passed the end of the pit lane. As in the current starting procedure, only two people from each team will be allowed to position themselves on the pit wall. The others will have to go inside the garages, for safety reasons.

At the end of the lap, the competitors must then take their place on the grid, in the position corresponding to their current place in the race. Once this is done, the five red lights will be illuminated and will go out progressively to give the starting signal.

In some cases, the race will not restart from a standstill even if it has been neutralized but will instead follow a rolling start procedure, with the pace set by the race leader. As announced, this will not be the case for the two laps following a start or a restart, nor in cases where there are less than five laps remaining in the Grand Prix.

The regulation also offers the race director the possibility not to proceed with a new grid start if they consider that the conditions are inadequate for a standing start (art. 40.14). It remains to be seen how the term “inadequate” will be interpreted, although it is likely to mainly refer to rainy weather conditions. Moreover, it is stated that if a race starts under a safety car regime, there will be no standing start (art. 40.17).