Blue Flags and Lapping - always trouble
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- čas přidán 4. 09. 2020
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Sometimes the fast cars end up right back behind the slow cars again. So how do you manage cars in two different races fighting over the same bit of track?
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Rip vettel saying, 'blue flag blue flag, blue flag. '
I think he's being intentionally slow to get more blue flags.
Vettel getting blue flagged by a force india or whatever the fck they're called
2020Ferrari things
In one year he went from “COME ON BLUE FLAG, MOVE!”
To: “another blue flag, guess I’ll move over again 😔”
czcams.com/video/0xAHhfhHR8A/video.html
As soon as the video started the song came to my mind. xD
I think there will be a blue flag galore at Bahrain’s “oval” circuit this year.
the + 5 laps race
Eh, true, but given that the track is mostly straight it'll be NBD to yield compared to a lot of others.
lap time difference will be smaller too though, think of that, so if the williams' are only 1 sec a lap slower then in a 90 lap race then they wouldnt even get lapped twice
I think they should adopt the NASCAR approach of letting lapped cars fight back.
Wozrop doesent make sense at all in F1. Because lapped cars are usually 1-2sec slower per lap in a race. There is not much fight back in there.
Video idea: Tamed Corners! With the return to Turkey, everyone is talking about Turn 8 - but modern cars will just plough around it flat out, removing much of the challenge and magic. We're also just coming from Spa, where the same could be said for Eau Rouge - while still a dramatic corner, it's lost something ever since the drivers could just plant their foot through it. Copse is another one, now just flat out. It could be an interesting video to go over some famous corners and how their characteristics have changed with car development, when they got 'completed', and you could even go into the philosophy of if faster cars improve or harm the spectacle
Turn 8 in turkey will harm some pirellis real bad. My guess is pirelli will blow up the tires around 30psi and bring in the concret rubbers. 🤓😅
i do agree that all the corners you named are now diferent with the way the cars are built now but, with all the racing happening i dont think those corners have lost their magic. Eau Rouge still had a big accident just a year ago (R.I.P Hubert) and most of those corners are still a challenge to go flat out on!. i do agreee a video about it would be cool. but dont forget 2022 should be different than what we see now
130r is another one that they take flat out now.
Reminds me of Keke Rosberg telling he has a pic on the wall of himself top of the Raidillon all wheels 1 foot off the ground. When that could happen, it was a very different corner for the driver.
Yeah but it is flat out because they changed it in 2003 or 2002
This’ll be very relevant at the 2020 Blue Flag Airways Sakhir Grand Prix
@Formulagodcomments Sponsor Edition
you mean the 2020 +5 laps race
oh god Blue Flag airways, always late
@An0n his comment is 6 month ago bruh
the beep at 9:50 had me running around my apartment looking for the source of it :D
"Pre-1995: Blue Flag was just advisory"
Senna, to Irvine: *My fist is more than just advisory.*
And Piquet to Salazar (not that it would've mattered anyway).
"The blue flag means there's a race going on and you aren't in it!" ~Mike Stephens (R.I.P.) of Hallett Motor Racing Circuit
Fun qualy and a chain bear vid, couldn’t ask for more
A fun race?
@@apexinstinct it did seem that way
ApexInstinct extremely fun race
@@matthooigray Haha yeah it was great! Just my luck lol
looks like you got a great race too
I've got an ideal solution for lapped cars- they can just ghost themselves
Yeah why did the did the FIA never thought of this?!?
eucalyptus oil change and tire rotation and I will be there at the same time I don't have a car so I can you send me the link to the video of the link to the video of the link to the video of the link to the video of the link to the video of you playing tonight or I can do it for you are you are you still looking to get to the bottom of this email and the video 📷 you send the I don't know 😋 the same time I was in 😋😣 I can do 🥺 I don't know 😋 the link 😣🖇️😣🖇️😣🖇️ I don't have 🥺😖 the video I can you 😧 you get home 😖🏡🏡🏡😖🏡 you send this is ankward I can 🥫 you get a chance can 🥫 you send it to the video 📷 the same thing 🤫 you send the email 😣😣 I don't think I will have 🥺😖 I don't have any money from my account and I have to go to work and come y I will have a look and let the kids play with the kids play with the kids play with you and that you have a great day and a half to get a car and I have to be at the same as the link to my Google the link for the link to the video of the link for the next week or two ago I was in the loop as you are aware that I have a car so I can do it goes to the bottom of the page 😣 the link to the video of the guy who was so nice to see you again soon I can get a chance to reactor I can do that for you and your family a very happy and prosperous new year and I will be there at the same time I don't have a car so I can you send me the link to the video of the link to the video of the link to the video of the link to the video of the link to the video of the link to the video of the link to the video of the link to the video of the link to the video of the guy I can do it tomorrow or I could just keep your head
F1: Lapped cars can unlap themselves
F1 Game:
in online its crashing out the leader
BC648 or: F1: lapped cars can unlap themselves
Ocon (Brazil 2018): allow me to introduce myself
It used to happen, but they somehow messed it up in F1 2017 which is why they removed it. N o clue why they haven't fixed it yet though...
@@JNST2023 still no clue why lapped cars arent ghosts. in almost every case they re just trolling and trying to take everyone out
@@keisuketakahasi4584 in online they can be ghost... It's a lobby setting
Well, this video aged well. This video would be a good recommendation for one Michael Massi circa Abu Dahbi 2021 lol
This was slightly foreshadowing…
"the system works, until it doesn't"
Vetted before 2020: "blue flag, blue flag, blue flag!"
Oh, how the turntables...
😂😂😂😂
eucalyptus oil change and tire rotation and I will be there at the same time I don't have a chance to reactor you are doing well and that you have a great day and I will be there at the same time I don't have a car so I can you send me the link to the video of the fuck are you doing today I hope you have a great day and I will be there at the same time I don't have a great day and I will be there at like a great day and that you will have me the link for you to come over 🤯🤯 you get a minute please 🥺 you send the money to pay you are doing good I will be the one to reactor you are doing well and that you have a great holiday and a half and half I AM
@@olegpetrovic ?
It's been many years since I last watched a NASCAR race, but when a similar unlapping system was introduced in that series, it was seen as a great improvement. It allowed for good cars caught up in a wreck to be back in contention for a top finish, sometimes even wins. Obviously open wheel racing is nothing like NASCAR, but I still see the ability to gain back laps under caution/safety car as nothing but a positive.
It is, the problem is that in oval racing getting your lap back is a quick process, often it takes less than a lap to pass the field drive around and join the back. In F1 its completely different due to the length of the tracks... Even at pace car speeds it can take multiple laps at full race speed to catch up to the field, and often the ones unlapping themselves are running to a minimum speed, not the potential of the car, making the whole process longer
@@zwartvalk2738 that was unnecessarily aggressive
@@zwartvalk2738 Absolutely no one cares about whether you like nascar or not.
@@TaikaJamppa oval racing its boring my friend its not nascar itself because i've seen their road course races and they are really good
I'm sure I've seen this in Indy Car back in the day as well, especially at the Indy 500, but I could be wrong.
10:37 I swear I knew this was coming lol
With the amount of turbulent air of this generation of cars, blue flags are a necessary evil. Cars round Monaco or Singapore wouldn’t be able to lap others and circuits like Barcelona and Hungaroring would be very tricky. Maybe the 2022 regs will open the possibility to remove blue flags
I agree. We should remove blue flags but, just for the races. I honestly think that blue flags can ruin a race.
I think this shows more the inadequacy of those circuits to allow faster cars to overtake. As a compromise I think blue flags should be used on these circuits , but on all others the top drivers should have to overtake the slower cars on track as they used to back in the day. The only problem that I could foresee that would be left is cars from junior teams owed by the same parent company, so Alpha Tauri, or even just customer teams, say Racing Point to Mercedes, might get in the way more of their parent team, whilst letting the others through, but I think something could be done to warn teams to be consistent.
I just remember the days when drivers like Senna and Schumacher were so much better at overtaking traffic that it enhanced the racing, it gave more chances for the front running teams to be slowed down and thus there were more potential battles, but I know some will say it caused more headaches, and some drivers were just a real pain to overtake and caused too many incidents. I just don't think lapped cars should move over and let the front runners through, the faster cars should have to overtake, thus not compromising their races, but that's just me.
Blue flags will always remain because there will always be a difference in performance and there will always be problems for the drivers trying to identify which car is coming up behind them. Removing them entirely would be ridiculous and dangerous, it's an imperfect rule but one that can't be removed entirely. The stewards are generally fair when it comes to handing out penalties for ignoring blue flags and only do so if you're actively impeding the progress of faster cars where clear and obvious opportunities to let them by have been refused.
@@DjDolHaus86 I agree with you, I think blue flags are a good idea in terms of telling a driver that a leader is coming up behind them, but your comment on penalties being handed out for impeding I have to disagree with. It seems, after listening to this video, I thought that it was a hard and fast rule but it doesn't seem to be, that the emphasis is on the car being lapped to get out of the way and off the racing line to let the frontrunner through. If they don't do this after 3 blue flags they will get penalised.
If, as it seemed you suggested, that say Lewis was coming up to the car that was last to lap him, and whilst going down a straight Lewis had attempted to slipstream and then overtake, as he would with a pass on a driver for position, and the backmarker swerved to protect being lapped then, yes, I'd agree you should get penalised for that, but that's not what is happening here. No overtake is being attempted because the frontrunner expects the slower car to just get out of the way. This to me is a big problem.
Monaco is a problem of its own
I played the f1 game and seen monaco races
There is no way you can even get alongside the car in front before the next corner and that makes overtaking impossible
It has been this way forever
Senna was in front of mansell in one race and he was stuck right behind him for the whole race
🎵 blue flag blue flag blue flag🎵
You forget the reason why the blue flag rules were "clarified" in 1996:
Ferrari had an agreement with Sauber (who used Ferrari customer engines) and Minardi (who had some kind of technical partnership as well), so that those cars would immediately move out of the way when a Ferrari was about to lap them.
There were some races where Minardis and Saubers agressivley defended against being lapped by a Williams or McLaren, costing them a lot of time, but they immediately moved over as soon as they saw red in the mirrors.
So the rules were adjusted such that they had to move out of the way for everybody.
1:29 "so naturally during the race you've got the fast cars at the front and Ferrari at the back"
Well, Endurance racing has it's own way of dealing with blue flags: the faster car has to find the way around the slower cars, meaning that it some scenarios a car that's being lapped may fight to stay on the lead lap
They also have the FCY. FIA should introduce both features in F1
Endurance racing also has vastly different lap times for the different classes and even for cars in the same class, they dont have nearly the same amount of dirty air. What works in endurance racing wont work in F1
@@andreagconti F1 does. It's called the Virtual Safety Car.
Yeah, it's the because of the massive speed difference between the classes, cars shown the blue flags are sort of obliged to stay on the racing line so the faster cars can safely find a way around them
@@f1fan1998 not all endurance races are multiclass tho, like Spa 24 is all GT3 cars so the gaps aren't as big. It can be a little annoying watch cars hold up the leader in that race l.
Thank you so much. From now on, the Windows 10 system generic "loading" animation will be forever associated with this video in my mind. The video is interesting, as usual... but you just made the 'loading' animation interesting as well. It helps, because Windows 10 updates take a bloody eternity to complete - and one has to just sit there staring at 6 dots chasing each other in a circle.
What if, during the safety car, the lapped cars dropped to the back of the pack, and they were given credit for one extra lap in scoring?
Exactly, seems like the simplest solution by far
Just order all the cars in their position order (by dropping lapped cars back) and say everyone is on the leading lap
This.
That would give the (now unlapped) cars an unfair advantage in terms of fuel and tyre usage.
The main problem with this is that they get credit for a lap without using up the fuel and tyres that would normally be needed to make their way around the circuit. It might be a small difference if they would be unlapping gently anyway, but small differences can matter in F1.
Someone thought we would see A LOT of blue flags in monza. Well, I've got a great story for you.
For unlapping themselves under the safety car, I feel like it could easily be agreed to just let the leaders overtake them and drop to the correct place at the back of the train and just say that they did the extra lap even though they didn't
Personally, I like the system with blue flag just being a heads up that the slower driver does not have to battle for the position. The faster car, that is ALREADY ahead one lap should be more then capable of going to the bad side of the track to overtake - and that's what it is, an overtake. Who wants to get ahead? The faster driver? So he has to do put in the effort.
Agreed
Yeah but the leader is already first, he doesn't have to overtake anyone to stay first so why put obstacles in front of him
@@alexismandelias Because making the already weaker cars give way for the already stronger car is a negative feedback loop for the weaker cars. Be slow, get even slower to let faster cars past, etc.
@@FriedrichHerschel why can't we just find a middle ground such that 1) the slower cars don't lose much time 2) they allow faster cars to overtake them easily for example at straights they can move to the side
The teams themselves are more than capable of notifying their drivers as to the traffic situation around them, and whether they are racing for position or not. They don't need a heads up from the track officials.
Hey! I was wondering if you could maybe do a video on what logical explanations there could be for the extreme tyre wear Mercedes had last 70th anniversary GP? I'm a RedBull fan myself, but couldn't help wondering why where was such a massive difference.. I mean, even on the hard tyres at the end of the race Hamilton was struggling more than Verstappen on older tyres. Couldn't be only the driver though, right? Love your video's by the way! Keep it up!
It’s a matter of how hard the car works the tires from a combination of factors like downforce, tow, etc. The Mercedes car works the tire harder to get it to the proper working temperature faster which works well when it isn’t too hot weather wise. When it becomes too hot the tyre will blister, loose rubber, and loose grip. And if your car is working the tires hard and the tire is already hot... it just gets worse and worse as you loose grip and slide around heating the tires even more
short answer, the mercedes has higher downforce in general than most cars which in turn puts more forces on the tires in the corners wearing the tires more
@@larry5289 Thanks for your explanation! And it makes a lot of sense! I do know that factors such as downforce and tow have influence on the tyres. But it would be great to go into detail a little more. For example I started asking myself why Mercedes, during a whole racing weekend in which they come across those problems, weren't able to adjust their setup so that tyre wear was minimized? And, is "the way the Mercedes works the tyre" directly linked to aerodynamics and therefore unchangeable for example?
Yeah its mostly the design of their aero that cause it, they could do some things like adjust the wings etc. The combination of their high downforce and the heat during that weekend is what caused the issue.
@@diovdL Safety cars can also heavily affect tire life as they can increase/decrease stints (2020 British GP) Also while under VSC/SC your tires are under less stress leading to decreased wear for those laps
2020 : No more Sebastian Vettel going “ Blue Flag Blue Flag “
He is the blue flag now
This is my first-ever season of catching basically all of the F1 races via Channel 4's highlights reels, all thanks to a friend of mine who's also been nerding out to me like crazy about F1 every time, and tbh?
I'm a fan of the safety car rule that permits lapped cars to forge ahead and make up their lost lap. It brings everybody back together properly again and gives the back markers a fairer fighting chance.
They don't deserve that fighting chance though
It's not really fair though, is it? They lost that time by being slower. What's fair about a driver being slower, losing time, and then regaining that time because some random person crashed?
Lapped cars slowing down during a safety car, and having the others overtake them is a better idea. It gives the lapped cars a slight advantage with tyre wear and fuel usage, whilst making the safety car stay out for the 'correct' length of time
10:38 max is gonna be mad again if he’s going to watch it another time lmao😂
Great video as always Chain Bear! Well done!
You wrote "Leader" and I read "Lewis". These days, It's mostly the same anyway, isn't it? 😅
*laughs in Monza 2020*
@@gabor6259 Yes! And I believe no blue flags were used in this race either.
Sad but true.
Not anymore!
Heres a really crazy idea! Just drop them back and say now they're un laped! Duhhhhh
Me waiting for max n ocon brazil 2018 ...
I was rewarded. Thanks for the great vid!!
Once upon a time, there were no flags except the checkered one, that must’ve made for interesting if dangerous racing. 🏁
Dangerous being the more important point.
Finally an ad which makes sense with the whole video. thats why i like Chain Bear. no pointless adverts, its all logical and seamless.
I'd love to see you do a video on possible solutions to the high speed differential on hot laps and prep laps. Keep up the great work.
Who else is here after watching Abu Dhabi?
The 24 Hours of Nurburgring in my opinion has solved the blue flag situation quite nicely. As the slower cars need to basically stick to the racing line and make no radical line changes so the faster car can overtake them. It keeps the racing fast for most involved and forces faster drivers to adapt to the given situation
That’s the rule of the entire endurance series not just Nurburgring
@@4zap7 My point still stands, I just used the Nurburgring as an example as it's a lot more clear to see as the track produces significantly different pace from driver to driver
@@Taz_XE076 Yes, but multiclass racing involves cars that are LITERALLY not in the same race, nobody cares about overall position, just class position, so there is no incentive to hold up a car in another class. Compare that to F1, where Red Bull has not 2 but 4 cars on track. Gasly would be much more eager to fight Hamilton than Verstappen, which would be an unfair advantage to teams that literally have control over other teams.
Thank you for the information once again
As a newbie to understanding this game, this is extremely thoughtful :)). Thank you!
The other problem with blue flag incidents that we had seen not few years ago. If two back markers fighting for position, and the leader of the race coming up to them. Then there is a chance that the one that is behind can slip pass the one they are fighting in the blue flag to let the leader past. Something that is abit unfair, as they really wont have any chance to defend themselves. The other is almost as before, but where the are fighting and cant really get to let the leader past. I cant remember on where, but I think in either 2018 or 2019 season we had that kind of incident, where two of the mid ish team drivers was fighting for position and possible points, which in case partialy ignore the blue flags given as they know they would lose pace or position to the other. I would say it is better to let the faster cars fight through the traffic as it adds somekind of entertainment and adds the things we do like to see. The wheel to wheel fightings. I mean why do they have to given their place, in a way, in the first place by getting the slower car to move out of their way?
I remember that, it was 2018 singapore I believe. and there was a big controversy about someone being penalised for not letting Hamilton pass after 3 blue flags. Even though the 3 flags thing isn't an official rule and there was no opportunity to let him pass because of his own fight.
A solution is when lapped cars are being passed that all position fighting must stop - for both the lappers and the lappees.
To go further, add a VSC style delta (between the cars on the same lap) to the lapper(s) and lappee(s) so that the race is neutralised for all in the vicinity of the lapping until the lapper(s) have passed the lappee(s) by a certain distance/time?
8:25 2021 Abu-Dhabi grand prix
F1: Blue Flag Blue Flag Blue Flag
NASCAR: We don’t do that here
I'm so glad I found this channel
I haven't watched a live F1 race in months, maybe years, but this man. His hard work and quality, fun stuff has been the singular reason I continue to be interested in F1. Thank you, Stuart
@TheBaconHunter nice how remaining anonymous gives you the courage to shit talk random people you don't even know. Gg
Yes. For example: the midfield fight right now. Or maybe a backmarker team fighting for points that could boost their WCC position which could decide the fate of the team
Verstappen goes brrr
“The rest of the field can’t have their races ignored, especially when often they’re the only ones in a real fight on a given Sunday.” - this casual statement is the real problem, the lack of consistent competitiveness through the entire field. Until F1 solves that problem, the best you can do is throw bandaids on things.
Its a sport, the job is to compete not for balance. What's next? A special boost to be given to the most popular driver as voted by fans?
In the 80/s and 90s the difference between backmarker cars and leaders were way way way more than they are now. To the point where they needed to introduce the 107% rule.
@@kicapanmanis1060 If that's 100% true, how come so many people are annoyed by Mercedes dominance (and/or Red Bull/Ferrari dominance during the appropriate eras?) When you're at the level of F1, it's not just a sport, it's a show -- and to have a good show, you need both competition AND balance.
Just because that was the way it was in the 1980s and 1990s doesn't mean it has to be that way now. You're right, you don't want to throw tons of gimmicks into the equation (though, if you watch any Formula-E, Fanboost exists, and is remarkably useless), but continued team dominance and the feedback loops that support it (as described on this very channel) do F1 no favours in the 21st century.
Why is there a beep at 9:52?
Glad I wasn't the only one that heart that. It scared me, thinking there was some alert on my phone or something.
Same i thought something in my house was going off
Ya it was so strange but I still can't figure out the reason behind it.
My suspicion is that it was the censor "beep" for while Max was swearing at the end of the video, but the video ended up longer and Chainbear forgot to move the beep up to where it needed to be with the audio clip at the end of the video.
Haha, indeed. Chain bear, plz clearify!
Nice to see you have used the new Bahrain variation as a graphic for this video!
Interesting information. Keep it coming :)
GUYS! I wrote this question in on July 6th and he already turned it around into a new video!!! CHAINBEAR, YOU'RE THE MAN!!!!!
Thanks for your clear, unbiased video. Im glad someone is thinking about this kind of thing. I sure wasnt
About the Safety Car: Why not let lapped cars pull back, align in race Order and then just say all cars are on the lead lap? Would be a lot less hassle than the current system….
Would save a free lap of fuel and tires which would give a very slight advantage to the cars involved
@@mattr791 safety car itself is a much much bigger disadvantage to the "cars in front" already. A lap worth of fuel and tyre wear would be a drop in the bucket.
@@mattr791 A safety car is always unfair for the drives in front, as the pack is right behind them again. The tyre and fuel advantage added by not having to do a lap (add reduced pace) is marginal compared to the advantage of getting to unlap oneself, so I don’t really think this can be an argument.
@@DerSim688 Unless it's one of the faster ones and we're nearly at the end of the race, e.g. Sainz, Brazil 2019
All the drivers on the lead lap would need to know exactly which cars they can and cannot overtake, because overtaking behind the safety car is in principle not allowed. It would create even more chaos. The lapped drivers themselves obviously know they are lapped, so they can overtake the cars on the lead lap safely under the current rules.
And then there is the WEC where the lapped cars can stay on the racing line and the faster ones have to get around on their own
This is basically how it works in all motorsports that aren't f1
I mean thats how it should be, just "yo dont slow down for cars lapping you but please respect them and give them space"
Not defending F1's blue flags here, but with the speed differences between classes in WEC, you can't have F1 style blue flags because it would create situations where an LMP1 won't know if the GTE is going to move off the racing line to yield, or if they're going to stay on the racing line and make you go around them.
If the LMP1 is doing 200mph at the end of a straight and the GTE in front is doing 170mph, the last thing you want is to commit to moving out to pass them, then the GTE moves over to yield, because that's how you end up with high speed collisions and drivers being injured. It would be the exact problem we have in F1 right now with slow outlaps creating massive closing speeds, and you would potentially have that situation several times a lap.
It would be far more dangerous for WEC to have F1 style blue flags.
I was waiting for the Ocon/Verstappen reference! Brilliant!
Lol, that ending. I was wondering when you'd mention the Verstappen/Ocon incident.
I still think both were responsible; Ocon for not backing off against someone who's lapping him, and Verstappen for blindly slamming the door on someone with new tires that was alongside at the beginning of a chicane. Both could/should have given a 1/4sec so that they weren't fighting opponents who didn't matter. But both decided not to give an inch.
Honestly often times the most interesting drivers to watch are the mid-fielders. When Hamilton is up 12 seconds from 2nd it isn't very fun to watch, but if two drivers are duking it out for 9th all the way till the finish, then it's really fun to watch.
Great vídeo
1:03 to skip the front loaded advert
This was more exciting than the race this weekend is going to be
This aged really badly and its only been a day 🤣
One way to either gradually and/or semi introduce the “let lapped cars move to the back off the car line behind the safety car and just credit them a extra lap” rule is that on certain tracks like a sliverstone and especially back in the day a brands hatch that have at least 2+ different circuits/ paths is too use a patch off road as a “safety car short cut only path “ so using brands as the example f1 would only ever race using there the “full international circuit “ but if under full safety car you wanted to move the lapped cars “out off the way” on a certain lap quickly before going green flag again is that you would let the lapped cars leave the safety car train on that individual lap mid lap and turn right onto the brands “Indy /short circuit “ which almost immediately gets them back onto the home straight starting grid …… thus missing half/third off the lap out and thus cutting down the time needed to wait for this to happen pre green flag …… this halfway house rule is not possible on every track but at the same time doesn’t give the backmarkers as much extra fuel/less wear on equipment etc etc as just moving them to the back and giving them the extra lap …… I feel having this rule on certain tracks would add flexibility to slightly benefit the back off the field but not to any greater effect then the virtual safety car rule does to the front off the field extra more then the traditional safety car instead on vsc occasions.
As someone who grew up with NASCAR, this is my first introduction to blue flags. (It's not like I found this channel by never watching an F1 race, but when you know all the drivers in one racing series, and you don't have paid access to the channels that carry F1 in the US...) The graphic used to explain lap traffic is a normal state of affairs in NASCAR oval racing. Drivers being lapped are expected to contest the position - the unwritten rule is don't wreck the leaders when they make the move. If you're already a lap down, that's when you're expected to yield. On ovals that have two or more racing lines, the spotter will know what lane the passing car prefers and can strategize accordingly. If a caution is likely to reset the field, a driver might put up a hell of a fight to stay on the lead lap. Green-flag pitstops can work out with a car needing to stay on the lead lap to cycle out for a stage points. On long green-flag runs at certain tracks (and always at Bristol and Martinsville), the leaders will face lap traffic every lap. The 'lucky dog' rule complicates things further, but that's too much for a youtube comment.
A few ideas: Allow one car/safety car lap to unlap themselves. Either allow cars about to be lapped the ability to defend their position on the lead lap, or remove DRS when overtaking them, as they're expected to yield the position. Open pits under safety car only the next to last lap behind the safety car.
I love the way he says ‘especially if one car seems to have everything under control’ instead of ‘it means hamilton might have to defend for a minute’
I saw James answer a similar kinda question but if it were up to him he would remove blue flags altogether
Another fantastic vid dude 👍🏻
Maybe instead of unlapping themselves they could get virtually unlapped by falling back into the right order while in the safety car train. Depending on the track this might be faster.
Nice touch at the end there 😂
1:15 what an awesome animation :D
I've been waiting for a video on this subject for a long time now!
Japanese Super GT series seems to deal with slower traffic exceptionally well with the GT500 and GT300 class. It's core to the identity of that series the faster 500s having to battle through a whole field if 300s.
Astonishing racing!
The problem med blue flags just being a heads up is that there is no consequence of getting in the way.
And with teams and ties between teams, like engine suppliers, a back marker may have an interest in letting som cars by and battling others.
Like a Williams car may get right out of the way for a Mercedes but start battling with a Red Bull, interfering with the battle at the front of the race.
A perfect solution would be to just make the track long enough to not need more then one lap. That way the only ones to complain would be the paying customers, teams for needing more then one pit stop area, the owners for having to staff all these areas. etc etc. See... Perfect. :p
dzieki za ten materiał lightning dostanie kare :)
That loud bleep scared me, thought it didn't come from the video at first
The way NASCAR handles blue flags is very different, with it being used more as a “be aware” flag. Lapped cars aren’t expected to let the leader go, especially because you may be lapped multiple times in a race with such short laps. Lapped traffic can play a huge factor in races, but I think that sometimes we could benefit from having them get out of the way for the leaders. That being said, backmarkers are almost always aware of good races for the lead thanks to their spotters, so you’ll see them yield the position if the leaders are closely battling. It’s a good system that balances making navigating lapped traffic a a factor, while also allowing drivers to be gentlemen when there are good fights going on.
When they are behind the safety car they should put the lapped cars to the back but they should also be on the same lap as the leaders
Hi Stuart, I was just wondering if you could do a video on why the car spins if you floor the accelerator from a standstill (even with a locked differential), despite not making any steering inputs. Why don't drivers just get wheelspin and carry on driving in a straight line? Also, I just wanna say that I've been subscribed to you for a good few months now, and almost everything I know about f1 is because of you! Thanks so much
An idea I had for the safety car and lapped cars unlapping themselves, having the lapped cars drop to the back of the train and have their lapped status dropped rather than racing around the circuit to the back of the train. Itd give those cars another lap on their tyres free but its speed up the unlapping process a lot and tighten up the race a lot faster.
In my opinion, the main argument for unlapping under Safety Car is the safety aspect. If a backmarker is right in front of a car on the lead lap under Safety Car, they'd have to pull over immediately at the restart, essentially blocking half the track, which you really do not want to happen at a restart
I'm back watching this after Abu Dhabi 2021
There is a much more interesting point (for me) to why drivers should be allowed to unlap themselves under the SC:
Every single driver (aside from the leader) who wasn't lapped before the SC is allowed to make up any distance to the leader, no matter how far behind they were. A lapped car might only be 5 seconds behind the last non-lapped car (with the leader in between them), but after the SC he would still be a whole lap down while the unlapped car is now within a couple seconds of the leader.
Disallowing lapped cars to unlap themselves under SC would therefore create an artificial cut-off point, at which drivers in front of that point would benefit massively from the SC and drivers behind that point would not benefit at all (which by comparison means they would be at a disadvantage).
Either you allow everyone to catch up or you don't allow anyone to catch up (which is what the VSC tries to do).
Honestly, and I know I’ll get flack for this, I think NASCAR has a really high quality system for lapped cars.
In the green flag conditions with the blue flag, the system is much like F1’s pre 1995. It’s more of a suggestion, and in hopes of a caution or safety car, it gives them hope to actually race and keep their lap BUT it still lets them know that there’s someone faster racing for the track position.
Under caution, if the leader pits for tires or even fuel, the lapped cars get one lap back. If they don’t pit, the lapped cars drop behind the leaders. It allows for everyone on track to be racing for position rather than just giving free laps every time or worrying about the three blue flags unwritten rule.
The biggest unwritten rule they have is to allow leaders to race. If they’ve got a big lead, race them. If it’s a close battle, move and let them have their moment. Don’t affect the outcome at the front.
i prefer the blue flag being more of an awareness thing rather than an obligation to move out of the way, that would give the leader an extra challenge rather than leading the race comfortably, adding excitement and an extra variable for the strategies. But I may be talking from the perspective of a 1 team dominated season like we have now, and in a closer battle for the lead it becomes more penalizing for the drivers, but it's more entertaining for the viewers so
Again, inb4 the Alpha Tauri lets Verstappen by but purposefully fights the Mercedes.
One idea for allowing cars to unlap themselves without requiring extra laps for them to rejoin the queue would be to designate a lap where the lapped cars go through the pit lane and have that count as 2 laps instead of 1. By going through the pit lane they end up at the back of the queue immediately, and it would be relatively simple for the timing systems to mark anyone going through the pit at that time as having completed a bonus lap.
Only downside is it makes it possible for a car to finish on the lead lap without driving the full race distance, but that seems negligible at worst.
This should be an F1 sponsored channel. It’s the only reason I’m following(?) the damn thing. MotoGP is far superior in racing excitement, easier to follow, and riders effort and skill is clearly visible.
I feel like especially in an era of one or two teams dominating, blue flags are a great way to eliminate what little excitement is actually taking place during a race. Who didn't love Sirotkin fighting off faster cars in Singapore, but then was neutralized by blue flags so a clearly dominant car could trundle around at the front in a boring race nobody cared about.
Have them line up according to their position (most laps behind last) and unlap them all completely.
I think the FIA should add random cars to the track for the front-runners to navigate like in old racing games.
An important addition to keep in mind too, is that blue flags can help keep favoritism between teams at a minimum: In 2018, Estaben Ocon (then driving for Racing Point) would immediately let Hamilton’s Mercedes pass him on the track by conceding positions, even when they are on the exact same lap count.
However, if it was a Ferrari or Red Bull car that tried to lap and pass Estaben Ocon, he would “defend” by crashing into the side of their cars and pushing them off the track.
Agreed, I wrote something similar on my comments as well. There's a lot of alliances these days.
Kicapan Manis Yes, exactly. Unfortunately, t’s nasty drivers like Estaben Ocon that make Blue Flags a necessity in Formula 1.
Blocking would be against the rules, but the guys doing the passing should make the pass. The penalties for blocking would have to be severe (i.e. losing points).
I can't understand why companies pay for long ads at the start of videos, surely they realise everyone just skips them.
I was literally think about blue flags during FP3 earlier and whether Chain Bear should do a video on them, what kind of sorcery is this?
4:00 Lapped cars of the world UNITE!!
As I was told as a race driver, you should not change the line for fast car, that makes you more unpredictable in a corner, it's rather slow a bit and give way on the stright.
But that still problem a lot if you are in close combat with others... I guess it's not a issue in nowadays F1 then?
Whilst I would like a pre 95 blue flag system, the problem is not all tracks are easy to overtake on I.e. Monaco or other street circuits. This would cause leaders being stuck behind back markers for laps on end and letting the drivers behind them catch up.
Someone should go back in time and recommend this video to Ocon just before the 2018 Brazilian GP.
He was faster
6:25 most racing series use the same system as F1 , multiclass serieseseseseseses use the same system as F1 if the car being lapped is in the same class as the other , if it's a slower class the blue flag is only advisory
I think an important factor in the current formula is the dirty air. The races of the leading cars might get ruined having to endure in the dirty air of cars they will lap anyway.
on your point about lapped drivers dropping to the back under safety car, surely you could just artifically erase however many laps down they were but still have them slow down and drop back behind the leading cars rather than speed up and overtake the safety car which is a safety issue in itself as well as artifically extending safety car periods. This way not only do the drivers that are one lap down not lose out so much, drivers that are more than one lap down are also allowed to participate in the excitement of the restart.
In the current system, say you have two drivers near the back that are running within 5 seconds of each other both one lap down with the second of the two drivers catching the first, the race leader passes this second driver putting him two laps down and, before the race leader closes the 5 seconds to the first driver a safety car comes out. The second driver basically loses a full lap through no fault of his own and would have to drop to the back of the safety car queue anyway as he would be right behind the race leader. With my idea it lets the two backmarkers continue their scrap rather than have it artificially ended.