This week's Grapevine brings you information fresh from the paddock on: The Boredom Chestnut What is 'Safe'?

The Boredom Chestnut

Coming away from Hungary, following a dominant Ferrari performance and almost no overtaking in the race, there is no surprise that complaints that Formula One is boring are being voiced again.

In this case, there are two roots - the Hungaroring is notoriously difficult for passing, lending itself to processional races, whilst Ferrari's dominance leaves them the luxury of a controlled stroll in the park at the front of the pack.

Most team leaders disagree with Patrick Faure's assertion that Ferrari's dominance is harming the sport. It might be part of the cause of television viewing figures dropping off at the end of this season, but the fact the Championships have been wrapped is not the only issue. Dominant teams are as much a part of the way the sport works as are attempts to bend the rules to the limit. The dominance may not improve racing spectacle at the front, but it shows the remaining teams where they are going, driving them forward, and offers its own brand of intra-race and intra-season speculation for the media.

The issue of circuits which practically prohibit overtaking is another issue. There are frequent complaints about those tracks which leave it next to impossible to pass, yet the undisputed crown in the Formula One calendar is the grandfather of them all: Monaco. The issue concerns the difference between the casual viewing public - a good proportion of whom stop watching once the Championship is decided, or their favourite team is not winning - and the so called 'true fans' of the sport, typically characterised by the belief the a Championship should be decided by the team who put together a car which is competitive in varied conditions.

Look at Hockenheim's changes, which have made the circuit hard to distinguish from any number of modern tracks. To the average viewer tuning in on Sunday, the race now looks much like any other, fitting the profile. However, with the Championship decided, and Ferrari dominant on tracks like this, what does it now offer the average viewer? Having established overtaking is not trivial, will Joe Bloggs be tuning in, just because it is Hockenheim, next year? Or perhaps there would have been more draw for the old circuit, where there was the prospect of overtaking at the end of a straight, drivers struggling through the stadium with no downforce, and engines giving up spectacularly after being stretched on a track that is 75% full throttle.

Actually, ironically, it makes little difference to the average viewer. The proverbial Mr Bloggs is unlikely to know much about the event until he tunes in, and is filled in by the presenters - at which point, he is already just another viewing statistic. He'll be aware of which team is dominant, because they were probably in firm control at the last event he viewed. And he'll probably make more effort to tune in for races that are expected to decide the Drivers' Championship, and be less interested in those that follow. And most likely he won't get up early for races in Australia or Asia!

What is 'Safe'?

Following their penalty for releasing Mika Salo into the path of Pedro de la Rosa's oncoming Jaguar, Toyota are looking to the FIA to clarify the ruling on what constitutes a breach of article 66(F) of the sporting code: "It is the responsibility of the Competitor to release his car after a pit stop only when it is safe to do so."

The nature of the modern Grand Prix makes on-track passes either difficult (A1-Ring) or next to impossible (Monaco, Hungaroring). This ensures that there is a huge emphasis on pit stop strategy, where a single second lost on an in or out lap, or in the stop itself, can make the difference between winning and losing, let alone thirteenth and fourteenth places. The mechanics of the stops themselves are practised time and again by the teams and drivers, who can consistently turn around the cars in about a second over the time it takes to pump in the fuel.

Returning the car to the pitlane calls for exquisite judgement from the lollipop man to be sure the action will not impact another car. As all regular observers know, hardly any race goes by without at least one close call in the pits, normally with an incoming driver overlapping briefly with an another who has completed their stop. Given the drivers involved are supposed to be best in the world, having cars head in and out with inches to spare is considered an acceptable approach to take: counting the number of recent penalties for pitlane infringements is a good measure that it has been working.

Sadly for Toyota, when Salo was released, the Race Director decided it was into the path of de la Rosa: having taken a full second less in his stop, the Jaguar driver was well on his way when Salo was let loose just ahead of him. De la Rosa took avoiding action - nearly collecting the pit wall - to avoid the Toyota, as Salo capitalised on having his nose ahead to pull away.

In the context of the Hungarian Grand Prix, Toyota are not really worried about being demoted a couple of places - after all, few will remember who was thirteenth or fifteenth in a year. Although not expecting to set the world on fire next year, Toyota fully intend to be competitive in the medium term, when a pitlane mixup like this would cost Championship points. From their perspective, Salo was well on his way into the pitlane before de la Rosa reached the spot, so the Jaguar driver should have seen Salo would be in front, and could have avoided the incident by easing off. This is actually an important point: Toyota believe that de la Rosa saw what was happening, but kept his foot on the accelerator until it was necessary to take evasive action in order to miss Salo.

It's not surprising that the stewards did not see things Toyota's way - the rule seems to indicate clearly that the onus is on teams to ensure cars rejoin the pitlane in clear space. This leaves the driver of any car already in the pitlane needing only to worry about someone pulling in to a pit ahead of them.

The Toyota viewpoint is an interesting, and not necessarily invalid reading of the rules, in the context that drivers are expected to take reasonable measures to avoid collisions. Accordingly, asking the FIA for a tightening of the definition of 'safe' seems like a sensible request. That said, nothing is going to appear in the regulations unless someone can establish what 'safe' means, in measurable terms, in what is considered one of the most dangerous sections of a racetrack.