McLaren: "FIA has done the right thing" in F1 pitstop clampdown
McLaren says the FIA has done the right thing in clamping down on ultra-fast Formula 1 pit stops on safety grounds, rather than waiting for an accident before reacting.
As reported by Motorsport.com on Thursday, the FIA has moved to ensure teams are not using sensors and automatic systems to anticipate the individual steps involved in a tyre change to make them quicker.
From the Hungarian Grand Prix, the FIA expects there to be a minimum reaction time for key moments of the stops.
This is 0.15 seconds from the wheel nuts being observed to be tight to the jack man being told to drop the car, and 0.2 seconds from the jacks going down to the driver receiving the go signal.
It is understood the move has come amid concerns from some teams that some rivals may have been pushing the boundaries with automatic systems that left no leeway for error but did deliver super-fast times.
McLaren team principal Andreas Seidl said the changes to the pitstops would not force his outfit to do anything different, and he welcomed what the FIA had done.
“Safety for our pit crew is one of the most important things for us as a team,” he said ahead of the Styrian Grand Prix.
“It's such a very competitive battlefield in F1, and therefore I think it is good to clarify even further of what the FIA is expecting in order to be within the rules.
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF21, Carlos Sainz Jr., Ferrari SF21, and Pierre Gasly, AlphaTauri AT02, head the queue to leave the pits after the red flag in Q1
Photo by: Charles Coates / Motorsport Images
"I don't think it would change a lot for us because we always took, I would say, a more conservative approach here to make sure that we don't put anyone in the pit crew at risk.”
While the current chipping away of pit stop times, with Red Bull regularly delivering sub two-second stops, had not resulted in any major incidents, Seidl still felt it better the FIA got ahead of the issues rather than sat back.
“One reason why we welcome the initiatives on FIA side, is it's important also to anticipate problems or safety issues, and not always wait until they happen and then react,” he said.
“Therefore we're very happy with that.”
Seidl said that his outfit had always tried to balance what was allowed within the regulations regarding pitstops with ensuring that any system it did use didn’t pose any risk to the crew.
“With the way we do pitstops, it's pretty much exploring what was allowed by the regulations, but ensuring safety for our pit crew,” he said.
Previous article
Alonso: Abu Dhabi F1 changes "should be better for overtaking"
Next article
Horner: FIA clampdown could make F1 pitstops more dangerous
How F1's biggest crisis helped trigger its exciting 2021 season
Formula 1's return to Austria this weekend comes under exceedingly different circumstances to its last Spielberg visit, when F1 took its first tentative steps out of the global COVID shutdown. But the tightrope F1 walked in 2020 has ultimately led to the most exciting season of the hybrid era
Can Red Bull really win anywhere now it’s toppled a Mercedes F1 stronghold?
OPINION: Red Bull team boss Christian Horner reckoned Max Verstappen winning the French Grand Prix – an event where Mercedes had previously been dominant – would signal “we can beat them anywhere”. Here’s how that claim stacks up looking at the rest of the 2021 season
The IndyCar feature that Paul Ricard desperately needs in F1
OPINION: The French Grand Prix offered a surprisingly interesting spectacle, despite the headache-inducing nature of the circuit. But IndyCar's Road America race offered far more in terms of action - and the increased jeopardy at the Elkhart Lake venue might be something Paul Ricard needs in future...
French Grand Prix Driver Ratings
The French GP was a weekend decided by tiny margins both at the front of the field, as Red Bull inflicted a comeback defeat on Mercedes, and in the battle for the minor points places. That's reflected in our driver ratings, where several drivers came close to a maximum score
How Red Bull took French GP "payback" on a day of Mercedes mistakes
The French GP has been a stronghold for Mercedes since Paul Ricard's return to the calendar in 2018. But that all changed on Sunday, as a clever two-stop strategy guided Red Bull's Max Verstappen to make a race-winning pass on the penultimate lap - for once leaving Mercedes to experience the pain of late defeat it has so often inflicted on Red Bull
The new age of sponsorship facilitated by F1’s relevancy push
The age of the high-profile title sponsor is over, says JONATHAN NOBLE, but Formula 1’s commitment to technological innovation is attracting high-tech partners
How Britain’s lost Ferrari star epitomised a bygone F1 era
The 1956 Italian Grand Prix was over for Juan Manuel Fangio, along with his hopes of winning the world championship – until his Ferrari team-mate (and title rival) voluntarily surrendered his own car so Fangio could continue. NIGEL ROEBUCK recalls Peter Collins, a remarkable sportsman
The 'surprise' Mercedes time that puts F1's victory fight back on a knife-edge in France
Red Bull led the way after the first two practice sessions for the 2021 French Grand Prix, but only just ahead of Mercedes. There was all the usual practice skulduggery complicating the performance picture, but one aspect seen at the world champion squad gave it a ‘surprise’ lift, as it looks to leave its street-circuit struggles firmly in the past
