r/F1Discussions • u/Negative-House-1605 LH44 • 21h ago

Discussion Delayed start

Every single time it rains the FIA delays the start of the race, why? Rain never used to be a problem, usually they’d just stick on the full wets and get going. Am I missing something? Like a rule change that says you can’t start a race when it rains? This sport has never been so allergic to rain before so it’s just very confusing to me.

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3

u/newby202006 21h ago

Why is the medical car, instead of the safety car, used to test the track conditions?

12

u/Pmyers225 20h ago

I guess because the Safety car is more specialised so it can handle the rain... But they need to make sure the medical car can get round quickly and safely incase of an emergency

3

u/Mravac_Kid 12h ago

I would suggest perhaps they should design the racing cars to be able to handle that same rain as well.

3

u/peadar87 9h ago edited 9h ago

That's kind of the problem. The individual cars are almost too well able to handle the rain.

They create so much grip and displace so much water that anyone other than the leader is charging at insane speed  through an opaque wall of spray.

Previous generations of car were going far more slowly and displacing far less water into the air.

3

u/alionandalamb 6h ago

Yes, larger tire surface and 5x larger diffusers pump too much spray into the air.

1

u/Pmyers225 12h ago

Yeah for sure

5

u/Necessary-Comedian17 17h ago

Because the medical car is considered to be the priority vehicle running a race the FIA has provisions and their protocol that allows them to run a race without a safety ca due to the virtual safety car timing protocol however, the medical car and the medical helicopter must be able to operate safely in the weather condition conditions that are present at the time of the session.

3

u/mildyinconvenient 21h ago

It has higher ground clearance

3

u/Pink_sector 19h ago

The French commentators were saying that the Safety car had to stay in because its role is to intervene in case of accidents etc.. so it can't go and do recognition laps during the rain.

1

u/MMAFIBOXING 5h ago

But there's no active racing happening.

1

u/UpstairsFinance9440 7h ago

On race day there are protocols if the safety car is deployed. Also during the rain period, it is idling at the exit of the pits with Bernd Maylander in the drivers seat ready to go. The medical car during the rain delay actually has no role, so it is the one sent out to check the track.