ATLAS F1   Volume 6, Issue 25
		When a Rule Means Safety
		by Paul Ryder, England

Sunday's Canadian Grand Prix promised a duel for the win between the two leading protagonists of the World Championship, Michael Schumacher and David Coulthard. Instead, that promise was broken when Coulthard was called in to serve a 10-seconds stop/go penalty. Were the stewards too harsh in imposing this punishment on the McLaren driver? Paul Ryder investigates the incident and the rules behind the penalty. Coulthard, if anything, came off easy Controversy is never foreign to Formula One, and not surprisingly if you consider the rule-book contains 169 different regulations for a Grand Prix weekend. A touch of controversy surrounded Sunday's Canadian Grand Prix, when McLaren's David Coulthard was awarded a 10 second stop-and-go penalty that saw his chances of fighting for a race win completely diminished. The penalty came after the Scot and his team had faltered on the starting grid. Shortly before the cars took off for the formation lap (also known as the parade lap or warm-up lap), Coulthard, second on the grid, unintentionally stalled his engine and immediately alerted his mechanics to the problem. Those were quick to attend to his car and restart the engine. However, all this had happened at the worst possible time, as the mechanics had only seconds to start the car before the field would leave for the slow formation lap. The mechanics were able to successfully start Coulthard's car, however others had already began to leave their spots; Mika Hakkinen, behind Coulthard in fourth, had to drive around Coulthard's car and mechanics. Coulthard himself managed to get away from the grid and take his place in the formation lap by the time the cars had reached turn one. The McLaren engineers had also by then taken their places at the side of the track. Seemingly, everything appeared normal: Coulthard took his place in the field and made a clean start once the lights were off. However, it soon became apparent that Coulthard would be punished by having to make a 10 second stop-and-go in the pits during the race. So what exactly did Coulthard do wrong? Article 139 of the FIA's sporting regulations states that, "When the one minute signal is shown, engines should be started and all team personnel must leave the grid by the time the 15 second signal is given. If any driver needs assistance after the 15 second signal he must raise his arm and, when the remainder of the cars able to do so have left the grid, his team may attempt to rectify the problem. In this case, marshals with yellow flags will stand behind any car (or cars) concerned to warn drivers behind." In other words, all team members must be off the grid and standing at the sides of the track no less than 15 seconds before the cars leave for the formation lap. Basically, every Formula One car needs 15 seconds of being on its own, without any team members standing around, before all cars are able to move away. The intention of this rule is primarily to ensure the safety of team members. Tragically, this rule was instated in the FIA's regulations due to grieve experience, involving two Formula One cars and a mechanic of the Arrows team. At the start of the 1981 Belgian Grand Prix at Zolder, Riccardo Patrese, starting from 4th, stalled his engine on the grid. A crew member immediately leapt to assist him, realising by Patrese's waved hand that he had a problem. The mechanic rushed to the back of the car and attempted to manually restart the engine. Unfortunately, the field had begun to move away from the grid. Patrese's teammate, Siegfried Stohr, starting from 13th, was unable to avoid running into the back of stricken Patrese (due to various starting moves from other drivers), and tragically the Arrows mechanic was hit by Stohr's Arrows while he was trying desperately to restart Patrese's Arrows. The sight of an Arrows mechanic caught between his team's two cars was horrific, and while the mechanic was lucky to escape death in that incident, accidents as such can now thankfully be avoided due to professional and well thought-out procedures, outlined in the FIA rules and regulations. Formula One had learned from its mistakes in areas such as this. Coulthard, however, while accepting his penalty last Sunday, was also quoted as saying that the stewards should show more lenience in practicing the FIA's guidelines, and emphasised the fact that he did not gain any advantage and therefore, perhaps, was somewhat harshly penalised. Was Coulthard's penalty indeed too harsh? Not really, if you consider another section of Rule 139: "Any driver who is delayed leaving the grid may not overtake another moving car if he was stationary after the remainder of the cars had crossed the Line, and must start the race from the back of the grid. If more than one driver is affected, they must form up at the back of the grid in the order they left to complete the formation lap. If the Line is not situated in front of pole position, for the purposes of this Article only, it will be deemed to be a white line one metre in front of pole position." Let us consider for a moment a scenario where Coulthard and McLaren followed the 15-second rule to the letter. The Scot had obviously stalled the engine, but if the rules had been followed, he would have had to stay stationary in his position until all the other 21 cars had passed him, at which point the team would have been allowed to assist him in restarting the car. Furthermore, under the regulations of the above rule, Coulthard would have then had to start from the back of the grid. McLaren basically broke one rule, and in doing so avoided the penalising effect of another - that of seeing Coulthard start the race from the back. Therefore, Coulthard should feel lucky with the situation: as it happens, a 10-second stop-and-go penalty is a lot less of a punishment than starting from the back of the field.

Paul Ryder	© 2000 Kaizar.Com, Incorporated.
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