As part of the fall-out after Abu Dhabi, the FIA has tweaked the Safety Car procedure.

In an as yet to be explained move, in the wake of Nicholas Latifi's crash, as the field continued behind the Safety Car, race director, Michael Masi went against the established rules and rather than allowing all lapped drivers to un-lap themselves ahead of the restart ordered only those separating the title protagonists - Lewis Verstappen and Max Verstappen - to pass the race leading Mercedes.

On fresh rubber, and with no traffic in his way, this allowed Verstappen to get a clean run on Hamilton, who was on old tyres, when the race resumed.

You know what happened next.

In the latest update to the Sporting Regulations, issued in the wake of the news that Masi has been relieved of his position, the wording has been tweaked in order to avoid future 'confusion'.

Article 55.13, which had previously read: "Unless the clerk of the course considers the presence of the safety car is still necessary, once the last lapped car has passed the leader the safety car will return to the pits at the end of the following lap."

Now reads

"Unless the clerk of the course considers the presence of the safety car is still necessary, once the message 'LAPPED CARS MAY NOW OVERTAKE' has been sent to all Competitors using the official messaging system, the safety car will return to the pits at the end of the following lap."

While the move is not a direct response to what happened in Abu Dhabi, the tweak should speed up the restart process as the Safety Car no longer has to wait on the last lapped car to pass before it can withdraw.

Had Masi followed the existing rules it is unlikely there would have been time for a final racing lap, however it was allegedly the lobbying of Red Bull (and others?) that caused the race director make the fateful decision to only allow those five cars separating the leaders to un-lap themselves.

While Red Bull clearly had the motive to have the one racing lap at the end it is beyond comprehension that either F1's owners of the likes of Netflix would have wanted to witness such a dramatic season conclude behind the anonymous flashing lights of the Aston Martin Vantage at the head of the pack.

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by alvarezh3, 21/02/2022 14:34

"@GordonG47 & aroutis

Let's suppose you have been driving your heart out and you are the last car on the lead lap. You are about to start lapping the cars ahead of you, but do to the safety car condition they are going to allow those cars (about to be lapped by you) to position themselves right behind you without going around the track. Now you could be chased because you are saving fuel and the car behind you has an extra lap of fuel he can use to pass you, or better tires due to not using them an extra lap (who knows what other advantages he may have over you, I certainly can't say I know them all).

Tell me you are not going to complain if you get passed? The safety car "move over rule" has just been unfair to you!"

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2. Posted by Superbird70, 21/02/2022 14:02

"Why can' t the lapped cars just be left in place? It is a race after all and if there had been no incident they would still be intermixed with the faster cars."

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3. Posted by aroutis, 21/02/2022 8:20

"I agree with Gordon.
You're lapped for a reason. Could be an extra pit, could be cause you're slow.
Move out of the way and let the fast cars to move in front.
Simple as that. No excuses. "

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4. Posted by GordonG47, 21/02/2022 2:26

"My main gripe - WHY are cars allowed to unlap themselves? If you're lapped, you're a lap (at least) behind, you're too slow, you have no right to get back on the same lap. Get out of the way! @Kdxrider has it right."

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5. Posted by alvarezh3, 21/02/2022 1:24

"@Kdxrider

I though of your solution a few weeks ago, but when I started thinking of the consequences it causes, then you could have people complaining from both, the teams that have not been lapped and from those that have.

Cars that are lapped and don't run around to the back have more fuel (advantaged against the competition), are heavier (disadvantaged) and have an extra lap of unused tire and brake (advantaged). And these facts may not be be the only ones to take into consideration, I could be missing one or more of them.

You well know how picky teams in formula 1 are, you can never rule out that that solution could open the possibility for a team to open a whole can of worms with a protest, it's part of their DNA ! :-)

I like the solution, but there must be a way to maintain the competitors balanced (no advantage disadvantage between then with this solution).

All the best."

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6. Posted by Endre, 20/02/2022 21:14

"If they don't want a race end under safety car, then they should just say no safety car let's say 10 laps before race ends. Instead they can red flag and restart the race. It doesn't matter how lapped cars are unlapped"

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7. Posted by Wokingchap, 20/02/2022 20:06

"Kdxrider....that's a really good idea and surely quicker than the present rule."

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8. Posted by Pavlo, 20/02/2022 17:53

"The core of the solution is not the rules. The core is to absolutely avoid any agreements to “bend” the rules. As long as race director has to consider “the wishes of owners and Netflix” no change of rules makes anything better. And without such agreements the current rules are also good enough.
"

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9. Posted by BillH, 20/02/2022 17:44

"So long as ALL lapped cars are treated the same then that is the main thing."

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10. Posted by kdxrider, 20/02/2022 15:51

"It would seem to me, all that needs to be done is once the cars are behind the safety car, all the 'lapped' cars pull to one side and let the cars on the lead lap through, then all the lapped cars need to do is move back behind the last lead lap car in the order they were in."

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11. Posted by TokyoAussie, 20/02/2022 11:45

"I’m no lawyer, but I don’t see how that fixes the problem. Sounds more likely to create the problem. "

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FIA tweaks Safety Car procedure

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