How F1 safety cars work: virtual vs. real and ideas for improvements (2024)

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The ending of the 2024 Australian Grand Prix put a spotlight once again on Formula One’s safety car procedures after George Russell’s scary-looking crash on the last lap left his Mercedes tipped on its side.

Sitting in the middle of the track and still in the driver’s seat, the British driver began calling over the radio for a red flag, which would have suspended the race. Race control instead opted to use a Virtual Safety Car (VSC), one of its many tools for ensuring driver and marshal safety in the event of an incident, alongside yellow flags, a regular safety car and the red flag. It took 12 seconds for a VSC to be called from the moment the last-lap incident happened.

These tools all have different purposes, vary in how they impact a driver’s race, and play a role in teams’ strategy plans. The standards are constantly evaluated by the sport’s governing body, but debates and suggestions for improvement do arise from the drivers, teams and the FIA.

Here’s what you need to know about safety cars and the critical role they play in F1.

The types of safety cars and their impacts

There are two types of safety cars: virtual and real.

Virtual safety cars (VSC) were introduced in 2015 following Jules Bianchi’s fatal crash during the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix, to control cars’ speeds during yellow and double yellow flags. Bianchi hit a recovery vehicle that was removing another car that had skidded off the track. He suffered fatal head injuries and died in July 2015.

A VSC slows cars down without deploying a vehicle on track during cautions. The FIA determines the lap time for the cars at each track, and during a VSC, gaps between the vehicles are maintained using a ‘delta’ speed they must adhere to. When the VSC procedure is initiated, FIA light panels will show “VSC” and a message is sent to the competitors. Once it is deemed safe, competitors will receive a message that the VSC is coming off, and the light panels will turn green about 10 to 15 seconds later. Normal racing may then resume.

Whether a VSC or safety car is called depends on a multitude of factors, primarily the level of risk. According to Article 56.1a of the FIA’s sporting regulations, a VSC “will normally be used when double waved yellow flags are needed on any section of track and Competitors or officials may be in danger, but the circ*mstances are not such as to warrant use of the safety car itself.”

Regular safety cars are physical vehicles that impact strategy and essentially neutralize the race. Cars become more bunched up as they follow the vehicle around the track, and cannot be more than 10 car lengths apart. Drivers can’t overtake one another during a VSC or a safety car, but exceptions do apply. During a safety car period, one exception is if the safety car tells a lapped car it can overtake.

Former DTM racer Bernd Mayländer has driven the safety car since 2000, but he’s not alone in the vehicle. A co-driver helps with communication and operations. Both are required to stay in the car for the entirety of the race, so they’re ready to go when needed.

This weekend = 50th anniversary of the @F1 Safety Car. 👏

Time to let driver @BerndMaylaender take you on a very special tour of the @MercedesAMG GT Black Series. 👀 pic.twitter.com/kpNWoGidsD

— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) June 16, 2023

These safety-minded measures impact strategy. During actual safety car periods, teams practice fuel saving and make cheap pit stops. Drivers typically flood the pitlane to capitalize on the reduced time for a better pit stop as they swap for fresh tires —though those who have pitted beforehand can miss the advantage and see their race derailed. The restart process can be challenging, too. Tires tend to lose grip and temperature during this period, and the scramble to get going again can get bumpy.

How the system can be improved

One question that lingered after the 2024 Australian Grand Prix is whether the safety systems should change in some way.

Russell was left stranded in the middle of the track, the car tipped on its side, on the last lap of the race, and cars were still finishing the grand prix. The Mercedes driver called it “an incredibly uncomfortable position to be in” considering where he was on the track — “on a blind bend, 250 kilometers an hour, right on the racing line with the car half upside down, you know, waiting for disaster to happen.”

According to the FIA, a marshal immediately began waving a physical yellow flag to warn oncoming drivers. Russell said Thursday, “Fortunately I had a 10-second gap behind me and I think it was 10 or 12 seconds before the Safety Car came out. But in the space of 10 seconds, you can have five, six, seven cars if that was on Lap 1 of the race, and probably been hit numerous times, even with the yellow flag.”

The light panels switched to yellow flags in the area 1.6 seconds after Russell’s incident, and around five seconds after the impact, it was upgraded to double yellow flags. It took 12 seconds total after the incident for a VSC to be called.

There are a few reasons why the race wasn’t red flagged, including that there weren’t any cars immediately following Russell. If the incident occurred in the middle of the race rather than the final lap, a red flag likely would’ve been used because the car would’ve needed to be recovered. Given it was the final lap, it was safer for the drivers to pass at a slower speed before returning to the pits.

It’s natural to question whether safety systems should be updated, and the FIA is always evaluating incidents and safety standards. Russell’s comments came before the FIA clarified the safety procedures in Melbourne, but the sentiment stands given how rapidly technology evolves. The Brit offered a suggestion that an automated system could be introduced in the future.

“I think we need to find a way that if a car is in a danger zone, automated VSC straight away within half a second or so, because those seconds count,” Russell said. “Lives are at risk. We’ve seen it spar numerous times in the past, cars, aquaplaning. I think it’s time with the technology that we have to make steps in this area.”

This is an updated version of a story originally published in March 2023.

(Lead image: Clive Mason – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images; Design: Eamonn Dalton/The Athletic)

Madeline Coleman is a Staff Writer for The Athletic covering Formula One. Prior to joining The Athletic, she served as a writer and editor on Sports Illustrated’s breaking and trending news team. She is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Follow Madeline on Twitter @mwc13_3