Question coming from a F1 newbie as of this year (thanks DTS)
Interesting race yesterday. Clever loophole exploitation on RB to put Perez back out to erase the time penalty. Supposedly F1 powers-that-be want to plug that hole so teams can’t do it again?
I guess the bigger question is should the loophole be fixed?
So how would such a rule be written? Say “if a car is out of a race under green for more than five minutes, the team must retire the car (which is defined as not permitted to race again in that race)”. But that doesn’t seem fair to a team in a race where less than ten cars are remaining (does this ever happen?) and it takes a while to get the car fixed.
Anyway, I am curious to see what becomes of this.
I was always (apparently wrongly) under the impression that if someone touched a car, that it could not continue to race. I assume this must just be for marshals, but could be extended to pit crew.
If the car needs help getting to the pits (i.e. a lift) it’s typically dq’d from the session (so if you crash out, red flag Q1 just cuz you’re stuck in gravel, that’s it for Q1 for you, even if the car is okay)