OK, new format time as we split into website only posts for the episode recaps and the newsletter will mainly be for a bit of a look ahead to the coming week and also to give you easy access to the riches of Brian’s video vault.

First things first, I (Rob) have had family over from UK this week and pretty much been out and about all week so am just sitting down to do this edition between FP1 and sprint qualy. Then I have to edit our predictions that were recorded prior to practice but have also fallen victim to my summer visitors. How can we be taken seriously as an F1 podcast when half of our outfit has such a blatant disregard for staying on top of things ;-)

Anyway, this weekend will see one of our fav tracks on the calendar make it’s 2025 appearance before it goes off into rotation hell.

We tend to see some rain and racing inchidents here so don’t be surprised if the Safety Car puts in an appearance or two.

On that note, this weeks special content is all about the history of said vehicle.

Will be interesting to see if McLaren dominate here and if so, will the pendulum swing back to Oscar’s side of the garage or will Lando keep his recent form going?

The tires being taken to Spa see the lesser spotted “non-sequential” range from Pirelli with the hardest C1 popping up and the C2 being skipped.

We tend to not enjoy one-stop races where it turns into a tire management snooze-fest so we’re hoping this move towards a harder tire does not encourage this strategy across the grid.

Oh well, time to quickly edit the prediction video and then settle in for Sprint Qualy.

What’s in the vault this week?

Diving into the marbles that make up the dirty side of the track is where you’ll find some subscriber only content!

This week may well see the safety car in action if we get the typical Belgian rain or if we get some typical Spa crashes.

But what do you know about the history of the safety car?

Let’s dive in…

First up, just what is a Safety Car?

Well, to put it simply it is a car that takes to the track to lead the race cars around at a slower pace to allow for safety work to take place on the track.  This mainly means that marshals will be out on track to maybe help move a stranded car or pick up debris after a crash.  

If the issue is too severe a Safety Car situation may be escalated to a Red Flag and the race stops.  If the race was not red flagged then when the track is clear, the Safety Car returns to the pits and the lead car has the job of restarting the race.

A Safety Car might also be deployed in extreme wet weather.  More on that later!

The first use of a safety car was way back in 1973 at the Canadian Grand Prix. It was a Porsche 911 and it's fair to say it's impact on the race was a little on the controversial side.

The Safety Car did not pick up the correct leader meaning that multiple cars finished out of position and it took many hours before the correct race result was determined.

The usage of the Safety Car was somewhat hit and miss as years went by without one being used at all.  Although we were treated to some crackers in the years when they were used.

One such beauty is what we started the blog with; The Lamborghini Countach

This was used in Monaco from 1981-1983 but they were not mandatory at all races.

It wasn't until 1993 that the sport formally adopted the Safety Car and the associated regulations at all races throughout the racing calendar.

We then set off on a period of varied cars as the sport cycled through a Fiat Tempra, Ford Escort, Opel Vectra, Honda Prelude, Porsche 911, Lamborghini Diablo, and the Renault Clio Williams.

Quite the varied list!  I always wanted a Clio Williams edition but could never afford either the car nor the insurance premium it would have required!

Then in 1996 Mercedes took the gig and supplied the Safety Car all the way up until 2021 when they then started sharing duties with Aston Martin.

There have been a number of evolutions to the rules that are in play when a safety car is deployed down the years.  

The main ones being as follows.

Closure of the Pit Lane

The Pit lane was closed immediately upon deployment of the safety car. Until all the cars had lined up behind the Safety Car and the pit lane open message was given could they enter the pit lane.  If you did decide to enter prior to this then you incurred a 10 second stop/go penalty that had to be taken after the race was green flagged again.  

This rule then got dropped in 2009 as computer software was used to calculate were each car is on the track and the determine when they are allowed to enter the pit lane.

Pit Lane Red Light

When the Safety Car and it's train are on the start/finish straight then a red light is displayed at the exit of the pit lane.  No cars are allowed to go beyond the light. If you do exit the pit lane under the red light then you are disqualified. 

Back in 2008 Lewis didn't see the red light and crashed into the back of Kimi who was sat minding his own business at the red light.

The tale of the lapped cars

Prior to 2010, lapped cars were allowed to un-lap themselves and catch back up to the rear of the Safety Car train.  In 2010 this rule was changed so that they could not do this.  It was not a popular change and in 2012 it was reverted back to allowing the lapped cars to pass.

Still not quite happy with this, F1 changed it's mind again and in 2015 another tweak was added to the rules to state that the lapped cars can get out of the way of the leaders and pass the Safety Car, however the Safety Car no longer needs to wait for them to complete the rest of the lap and rejoin the back of the line.

Are we going racing?  Is this a motor race?

The Belgian GP in 2021 has gone down in F1 history as the most ludicrous race ever.  

Yes, even worse than the tire debacle at the US GP in 2005!

You see, the thing with a Safety Car is that both the laps driven and the time taken are judged as being part of the overall two hour time limit and the official lap count of the race.  This meant that the two laps run behind the Safety Car in the monsoon of Spa were counted as official laps.

After the race was red flagged, half points were given out to the drivers despite the fact no actual racing had taken place.

Despite the fact the laps counted, there was no opportunity for anyone to change positions.  If you can't change positions then are you actually racing?  

The resounding answer was no and summed up well by Alonso:

"The only thing that I don’t agree with is why they do two laps and they give the points. Because we didn’t race. We didn’t have the chance to score points, many people. I’m P11, I didn’t have any green light lap to score a point and we didn’t score so that’s shocking. There was no way we could race today as we showed. It was only red flag situation or behind Safety Car situation, as we did. So how you can give points to a non-race?"

In response to this the rules were changed for point scoring to state that a minimum of two laps need to be run under fully green flag conditions for the points to come into effect.

THAT moment in Abu Dhabi

No Safety Car discussion is complete without opening up the wound of Abu Dhabi. We won't dive back into the detail here but essentially the world & F1 knows that the rules were not applied that day.  

If you don't know what this is referring to then I'm actually jealous of you as this moment has really driven a wedge into the Lewis/Max fan bases and turned what was maybe a healthy competitive banter divide into a gaping chasm of toxicity.  A chasm from which I wish we could all escape from and leave in the past.

Anyway, the rules have been tightened up to take away any grey area that may (or may not) have existed and allowed the "human error" to have occurred.

So, there you have it, a brief history of the Safety Car.

If one makes an appearance this weekend in Spa you shall be able to share your knowledge with your friends.