Safety Car: the FIA ​​will review the regulations

Michael Schumacher, penalized at the end of the Monaco Grand Prix, will have allowed the FIA ​​to examine its regulations concerning the attitude that drivers must adopt when the safety car is on the track for the last lap of a Grand Prix. Last Sunday, while the safety car was still on track during the last lap of the Monaco Grand Prix, returning to the pits a few seconds before the checkered flag waved, Michael Schumacher had overtaken Fernando Alonso in the last corner of the circuit, snatching sixth place from the Spaniard.

To explain his action, the German driver affirmed that he had understood that the Grand Prix was once again placed in normal racing conditions following the removal of the safety car. “ What we understood from the message "safety car in, track clear" meant that we were returning to racing conditions, that's what I did and I overtook Fernando », declared Schumi. The latter had been penalized, article 40.13 of the sporting regulations specifying that any overtaking is prohibited up to the finish line when the safety car is on the track in the last lap. But, following protests linked to the signage on the circuit, which suggested that the race was restarting for the few hectometers remaining, the FIA ​​chose to clarify the regulations in this area.

« The problems noted during the final lap of the Monaco GP of the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship revealed a lack of clarity in the application of the rule prohibiting overtaking in the presence of the Safety Car, explains the FIA. Adjustments to the regulations are necessary to clarify the procedure that cars must follow when the last lap of the race is controlled by the Safety Car and to make the signage for teams and drivers more consistent. »

« These adjustments should make it possible to prevent the type of problem observed during the Monaco Grand Prix from recurring in the future. The Formula One Commission, on the proposal of the F1 Sporting Working Group, will submit an amendment to the Sporting Regulations to cover this issue to the World Motor Sport Council which will ratify it at its meeting on June 23 in Geneva. »