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FIA agrees to new F1 red flag restart procedure

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A restart at the recent Australian Grand Prix caused chaos as drivers struggled on cold tyres, sparking a string of collisions at the first corner and triggering a new red flag .

Following lengthy discussions at the F1 drivers’ briefing in Azerbaijan on Friday night, Fernando Alonso is understood to have suggested tweaks to the procedure to help drivers better prepare for the restart.

The idea is that rather than leaving drivers with just a few corners left to warm up their tires before the restart, F1’s safety car, which has been the norm so far, will be given an early start to give the leaders more control over the pace.

The idea was agreed among the teams on Saturday morning, with F1 race director Nils Vetic confirming how the new procedure would work ahead of Saturday’s sprint.

Instead of the safety car leading most of the time before lights out, it will now be 30 seconds ahead of everyone else.

Safety car Max Verstappen, Red Bull RB19, Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes F1 W14, the rest start again

Safety car Max Verstappen, Red Bull RB19, Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes F1 W14, the rest start again

Photography: Glenn Dunbar/ motorsport pictures

An FIA spokesman confirmed: “This procedure means that the safety car will leave the pit lane and then immediately switch off the lights so that when the field leaves the pit lane after 30 seconds the speed will be determined by the lead car on the first lap to the grid.

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“This updated procedure has been implemented to allow drivers to more effectively manage their tire temperatures prior to restarting.”

While the new procedure is about to come into force for Baku, the FIA ​​is looking to find a more permanent solution after this weekend.

“The modification of the incident description is a temporary measure and the FIA, together with the teams and the FOM, will discuss the potential option of updating the regulations related to this topic as a permanent solution to the issue,” the spokesman added.

The new schedule for the restart process is as follows:

– 10 minute signal

– 5 minute signal

– 3 minute signal

– 2 minutes – The lap car will leave the pit lane to complete a lap and return to the pit lane

– 1 minute signal

– 15 second signal

– Pit Lane Exit Green Light – The light will come on when the SC exits the pit lane and will go off after 1 second.

– 30 seconds after the SC leaves the pit lane, all drivers leave the pit lane and enter the grid without overtaking.

– Standing start procedure

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McLaren repurposes old F1 factory as new composites facility

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The new composites department will be based at the same factory McLaren used before it moved its huge MTC facility two miles away from Woking center in 2003, and will start production later this summer.

The team believes the investment in its new manufacturing process is comparable to other major infrastructure upgrades that are also nearing completion, including its new MTC wind tunnel and F1 driving simulator.

It is equipping the new composites facility with the latest machines needed for this type of work, compared to the tools it already uses.

By moving the composites department to a dedicated stand-alone facility away from the MTC, it is understood McLaren will save significant time in the production of parts for its F1 machines, as well as the initial build process for new cars.

Speaking about the department relocation for this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix, McLaren team principal Andrea Stella explained: “I am delighted to say that the old factory has been converted into the new McLaren racing complex.

“This is really the final sprint and it will be done in a few months. It’s an amazing project.

“We’ve created some space at the MTC that we’ll use for traditional cars.”

McLaren old Formula 1 factory

McLaren old Formula 1 factory

Photography: McLaren

McLaren also owns another building near the old site, which is about to open as a new composites factory, and which currently houses most of its historic F1 car collection – although the MTC still has a large collection.

The warehouse for extra legacy machinery (pictured above) is also used to store spare kits – such as F1 weekend garage and pit wall components – for use by the McLaren team.

Once the legacy car is moved and permanently displayed on MTC’s famous Front Boulevard area, it will continue to be used to house such equipment.

Autosport was part of a select group of media who toured the building that currently houses the heritage collection outside the MTC, with team chief operating officer Piers Thynne outlining why historic cars and other elements – including parts Original drawings and the laptops needed to start and maintain old cars – an important development for McLaren.

McLaren old Formula 1 factory

McLaren old Formula 1 factory

Photography: McLaren

“The legacy teams are definitely part of the Formula 1 organization and it’s an interesting story as to why they’re there (away from the MTC in the current building),” Thynne said.

“We have invested heavily in various infrastructure projects in Formula 1, which has allowed us to have a longer ‘holiday’ in the warehouse than we originally wanted.

“But it’s related to our long-term infrastructure projects — wind tunnels, simulators, new complex facilities and other work that’s going on at the MTC.

“So, they’re on vacation there, they’re going to be back at the MTC at the end of the year, and rightly in front of the house on the boulevard.

“It’s important to have these show cars around us to remind everyone of our rich history.

“Apart from our day-to-day work, any inspiration (McLaren employees) might need, you can see it on the way to lunch or for a drink.”

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Explained: Ferrari's ambitious upgrades for the SF-23 in Barcelona

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At the Spanish Grand Prix, F1 entered a dedicated permanent track for the first time since the season opener in Bahrain. Due to the nature of the Circuit de Catalunya, teams usually implement a lot of upgrade packages on their cars, as it is well known that if a team performs well in Barcelona, ​​they stand a good chance of doing well for most of the remainder of the calendar. repertoire.

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F1 drivers fear unintended consequences of Barcelona track changes

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For the first time since 2006, the championship will do away with the oft-maligned slow 14-15 left-right corner and will revert to two high-speed open right-hand corners to complete a lap.

This has increased the top speed of the final corner to 170mph and is intended to allow drivers to follow the main straight more closely into the slipstream and overtake.

While single-car racing got rave reviews from drivers for the changes to improve lap speed during Friday’s practice session, they don’t think the tweaks will help the pass as envisioned.

With the Pirelli tires’ lack of overtaking so far in 2023 due in part to overheating rather than degradation, AlphaTauri driver Nyck de Vries believes that will again be a major factor this weekend.

He said: “Let’s not jump to conclusions, but obviously the main reason for the change was for a better game.

“I’m not sure if it’s going to give us a better game…the left forward has suffered a lot.

Insight: What we learned from Friday’s practice for the F1 2023 Spanish GP

“It’s a tough job at the front. You can feel it now, on long distances, when you’re behind other cars it’s hard to keep up.

“Now there’s a lot of focus on the front axle, whereas before, there was a little bit of both…they did (change) for the right purpose, let’s put it that way.”

Valtteri Bottas, Alfa Romeo Racing

Valtteri Bottas, Alfa Romeo Racing

Photography: Alfa Romeo

De Vries reckons it’s possible to advance two laps before “you end up paying the price” because of so much tire wear.

Drivers also mentioned the 2023 car, fueling concerns that the revised Barcelona lap would not lead to an increase in overtaking.

While the switch to ground effect is intended to help the car follow more closely, winter developments increase levels of dirty air. Drivers commented that this season was significantly harder to keep up with than the previous one.

Alfa Romeo driver Valtteri Bottas told Autosport: “The faster the more fun. (But the level of overtaking) will be the same. The last corner is hard to follow.

“It’s just faster, but I don’t think it will improve overtaking. It’s a bit bumpy over there.

“So, there’s a little bit of movement, which makes it more challenging, but it’s a cool corner. It’s superfast. Definitely more challenging, but also for the tyres.

“It felt like the tires were traveling a lot in those two corners.”

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