Bojan Vrbnjak
"The safety argument for boxing stops is more than ridiculous,”He was angry Helmut Marko, Chief Consultant Red Bullwhen a few weeks ago FIA in Technical Directive No 22 (TD022) explained new rules to change wheels.
Red Bull in recent years records at the stops in the pits as on the conveyor belt, they are the series winners DHL Pitstop Award and they do their racer regularly in two seconds or so. TD022 it aimed to be precisely defined flows and that this makes changing wheels safer. Through different security levels and prescribed reaction times, boxing stops from Hungarian GP proceed more securely. But because it is Red Bull this technical directive sharply criticized, Yippee Nicholas Tombazis, the FIA technical chief sent to the teams new version TD022.
Tightening at boxing stops only since the Belgian GP
And in this new version the FIA did step back. First, the new rules no longer apply from Hungarian GP, but only after a summer break with the race GP of Belgium in Spa. However, there is a new version TD022 also concretely weakened in content. The original version foresaw two reaction times. It should pass first 0,15 secondsbefore the mechanic could on air pistols after attaching the wheel nut triggered “OK” signal. This corresponds approximately to the reaction time of man. With the prescribed reaction time, rulers want to preventto have the mechanics trigger the OK signal too quickly.
That reaction time was now deleted from the regulations. However, it remains to be seen wheel nut fully attached before the signal is triggered OK. The second reaction time during the wheel change remains. When race car drop from lifts, must pass at least 0,1 secondsbefore the traffic light turns green. The old directive provided here 0,2 seconds. In addition, the six-page directive is said to have some tightening partially mitigated. The common denominator, however, remains: Teams must FIA to make sure their stops in the pits are safe.
S the original technical directive The FIA didn’t just have that in mind Red Bull. The other teams are already expected to have a lot dangerous situations. And the FIA is in mitigation technical directives also agreed because the equipment for box stops is so specializedthat it is difficult to control. Next season Formula 1 there will also be a number of changes to improve safety at box stops.
