Kovalainen proposes blue flag ban

 Kovalainen proposes blue flag ban
Heikki Kovalainen (FIN), Bahrain Grand Prix, Friday Press Conference, 12.03.2010 Sakhir, Bahrain / Copyright: Davenport / xpb

Heikki Kovalainen's proposal to help spice up the racing in formula one is to scrap blue flags, according to Lotus team boss Tony Fernandes.

In an interview with Bloomberg, the Malaysian entrepreneur said Kovalainen, the new team's Finnish driver, proposes that "lapped cars should not be blue flagged, which may allow time for trailing cars to catch up to the leaders".

Currently in F1, blue flags are waved when a lapped car needs to allow higher-placed cars to pass.

The issue of boring races has been high on the agenda in the wake of the 2010 season opener in Bahrain, the first GP since 1993 without refuelling pitstops.

"There are going to be boring bits in every sport," said Fernandes in an interview in Kuala Lumpur.

In fact, had Sebastian Vettel's Renault spark plug not let him down last Sunday, F1 could have staged a wheel to wheel battle for victory between the German and Fernando Alonso.

"I was getting some relaxed laps and was maybe waiting for the last ten laps to attack," Fernando Alonso confirmed to Italy's Autosprint magazine, "but then we were lucky with Vettel's problem."

Mark Webber was initially highly critical of the processional Bahrain race, but as he touched down in Melbourne this week he predicted there is "no way the next four races will go like Bahrain".

"I think there will be some other races this year that won't be like that," the Australian told local media.

"The fuelling thing is not such a big deal," added the 33-year-old. "The cars are so quick and that's what we like (and) the spectators love, but trying to get the balance of good racing is always difficult."

 

Source: GMM

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 sideskraper sideskraper
Agreed. Blue flags are counter productive to the efforts of a large proportion of the grid. Drivers should be able to fight to unlap themselves. It makes more sense with today's conservative race strategies than in the past. If a back marker is making themselves a nuisance to the front runner then they should be told to back off with the blue flag. Otherwise they should be allowed to fight their way back.
March 17, 2010 9:22 am
 chris25 chris25
I will have to agreed with this, no blue flag at all. The big problem is, will the slow cars are able to catch up or the fast cars will have to stay behind the slow cars every time?
March 17, 2010 10:02 am
 astroturf777 astroturf777
only thing would be: will a 'B' team block to assist the 'A' Team (think red bull/torro rosso.) i know there's no 'customer cars' from 2011 but there will still be suppliers, will a ferrari powered car favour a ferrari and block a red bull renault? will there be back room agreements with discounts etc? i think it's a great idea mostly and would make it more exciting - but less fair. why should a driver's perfect weekend be spoiled by the politics of engine suppliers? or just a bad driver. if the double diffuser has led to cars unable to overtake it's against the spirit of the 09 rule changes - we have ugly cars, designed to allow for more overtaking yet they allow the double diffusers to dirty up the air and give no tow... How to make it interesting: no double diffusers, wider rear wings with less surface area allowed (so it looks better from the front) top 10 qualifiers have to start on the actual tires used in the q3 session, 11-24 have no regulations on mixed compounds, bigger difference hard/soft, thursday practice and additional engines to teams finishing previous year in bottom half (inc new entrants). these changes would mean: teams could overtake, top 10 would need to 2 stop as they would all qualify on a fast fading soft compound, giving more chance of strategy playing a part (due to tyre wear), bottom guys get to chose their tires based on track position, not regulations (and chose a 1 stop or 2 stop strategy based on their mid pack battles), bottom teams from previous year have more chance in testing to develop their car up to front runner pace - making for better racing later in the year when there's a title on the line and it's heaps more intense.
March 17, 2010 12:26 pm
 sideskraper sideskraper
You're making too many assumptions. What I said was shelve the Blue flag unless a backmarker is making a nuisance of themselves. That would eliminate the backmarker wrecking the day of the front runners. Plenty of other forms of motorsport allow lapped cars to fight, and the Indy on the weekend proved how that can really add to the excitement. I agree that Bridgestone can increase the spread of their compounds. Everything else is pure semantics because it would have to be brought in next year or further into the future. If there is anything that F1 engineers have proven time after time is that if you place an obstacle in front of them, they will find a way to overcome it. The only other thing that will really make an impact for a lot of the backmarkers (be they teams or drivers) would be to allow much more liberal testing regimes. Something easily done.
March 17, 2010 4:32 pm