More detail about likely new Safety Car rules emerge
It was reported recently that the new system for the deployment of the safety car will be trialled during practice – probably the afternoon session on Friday and also Saturday morning – for the French grand prix next week.
The current SC rules are highly controversial, because the automatic closure of the pitlane upon deployment can penalise those drivers who are out of fuel and need to pit.
It was claimed that the proposed new rules will involve some special software for each car's standard ECU.
Renault's sporting manager Steve Nielsen reveals that, instead of finding the pitlane closed, drivers will now be required to record a minimum lap time for the first tour after deployment of the SC.
It is rumoured that the minimum lap time will be 20 per cent slower than the average time from free practice.
"He will get a time displayed on his dash, which he is not to go faster than. They then have five seconds to press a confirm button to show that they've seen the signal and from that stage onwards they're governed by the target lap time. That will ensure that all the cars go at a relatively slow speed," Nielsen told the team's official podcast.
However, he warned team bosses against rushing into actually applying the new rule too soon.
Nielsen said the Magny Cours trial "is purely an experiment to demonstrate to the drivers how the system will work".
"And if that's successful we will then go on and incorporate it into the rules as a proper regulation. Honestly, I think it's something that should perhaps be done for 2009," he added.