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101-433: This is the first Mercedes Formula One car fully designed under British designer and engineer James Allison since his return to the role of Technical Director in 2023. The car is driven by returning drivers George Russell and 7-time World Drivers' Champion Lewis Hamilton , in his final season with the team. The car has achieved nine podiums, four fastest laps, three pole positions, and four victories; with Russell winning in

202-409: A caution period such as an obstruction on the track or bad weather. The aim of the safety car is to enable the clearance of any obstruction under safer conditions, especially for marshals and/or await more favourable track conditions weather-wise. By following the safety car, the competitors' tyres remain as close as possible to operating temperature while their engines do not overheat. A safety car

303-458: A "safety car" period, which would see marshals wave yellow flags and hold "SC" boards, pending the car in question entering the track. From 2007, all Formula One cars must have LEDs and/or displays fitted to the steering wheel or cockpit, which inform the driver which flags are being waved. A yellow LED is illuminated when the safety car is deployed. The safety car is driven by a professional driver (since 2000, by Bernd Mayländer ), accompanied by

404-571: A 30G crash involving Max Verstappen . The system saw its first extended deployment at the 2015 British Grand Prix after Carlos Sainz Jr. 's power unit failed at Club Corner of the Silverstone Circuit . The Full Course Yellow condition is the Formula E version of the Virtual Safety Car. In this condition, all marshal posts will wave yellow flags, accompanied by a sign that says "FCY" with

505-592: A brief 15 km demo day at Silverstone with the first proper running held as part of their 200 km filming day in Bahrain before pre-season testing commenced. Pre-season testing commenced on 21 February with Russell driving the entire day. Russell stated "The W15 felt nicer to drive compared to the W14. We will continue to maximize our time here to gather data to find the sweet spot." On Day 2, Hamilton completed over 100 laps and confirmed his teammate's positive reception of

606-401: A car during the parade laps. Depending on the driver's skill, some drivers are allowed to pace the field right up to the dropping of the green flag. Some famous drivers have been Jay Leno , Richard Hammond , Luke Wilson , Rob Gronkowski , Guy Fieri and many others. The beneficiary rule (informally known as the "lucky dog" rule) states once the safety car is deployed, the first car not on

707-399: A co-driver to assist with operations and communications. The safety car has both orange and green lights mounted on its roof in the form of a light bar . The green lights are used to signal that it is possible to overtake the safety car; this is only done until the race leader is immediately behind the safety car and at the head of the queue of race cars following. From 2015, the safety car

808-483: A controversial start when the pace car did not return to the pits when the green lights came on. The front running LMPs slowed down but some of the GT cars could not react fast enough, resulting in collisions and heavy damage to all three GTE Pro class Porsches which caused them to retire. The GTE Am class IMSA Performance Matmut Porsche and GTE Pro JOTA Aston Martin were also caught up in the carnage. An accident occurred during

909-510: A fourth-place finish. The victory earned Russell his second career win and the team's first since the 2022 São Paulo Grand Prix . Mercedes locked out the front row in the British Grand Prix , with Russell qualifying on pole and Hamilton in second. However, Russell was forced to retire from the race on lap 35 due to a suspected water issue. Hamilton held off Verstappen and Norris in the changing conditions en route for his first victory since

1010-517: A gap of less than a second in the last five laps. Hamilton could not make a move on Russell in time however, as the latter took the chequered flag. After the race, the stewards found Russell's car to be 1.5kg under the minimum 798kg weight limit, therefore disqualifying him, and Hamilton was promoted as the race winner, earning his 105th career win. For the Dutch Grand Prix , Russell qualified in fourth place, while Hamilton ended up in eleventh after

1111-440: A leading driver may have had over the remaining field of competitors. This effect can make racing more competitive upon full race resumption; conversely, it has also contributed to faster leading drivers being negated just rewards for their efforts prior to the caution period. Subject to the racing regulations in force, it is not uncommon for drivers to be allowed to make pitstops during safety car periods. This situation may provide

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1212-430: A miscommunication came when delivering a message to Hamilton to undercut Verstappen. Hamilton set the fastest lap. In Canada , Russell qualified on pole position, setting an identical time of 1:12:00 with Verstappen. Hamilton qualified seventh. The race started with a wet conditions and Russell held on to the lead from Verstappen at the early stages, but made mistakes that allowed both Verstappen and Norris to catch up. At

1313-454: A mistake during his final Q2 run prevented him from advancing to Q3. Following the session, Hamilton was given a three-place grid penalty for impeding Sergio Pérez during Q1. Despite starting from fourteenth, Hamilton made a strong comeback to finish eighth in the race. Russell, who was running in fifth, was forced to make a late pit stop to defend against a charging Carlos Sainz Jr. Ultimately, he finished seventh, after being unable to recover

1414-444: A mixed qualifying session as Russell qualified third while Hamilton was ninth. Russell finished fifth after suffering a power unit heating issue that required him to lift and coast . Hamilton finished seventh after suffering an issue with his seat, which suddenly cracked midway through the race. Wolff claimed the team was losing around 0.5 seconds per lap due to the engine issue, which also hampered their customer team, Williams . In

1515-461: A mostly bare carbon fibre and black livery, though with a silver nose cone and their title sponsor Petronas 's teal as an accent. The car had a different sidepod shape, and the team switched from pull-rod suspension to push-rod suspension . The team focused on resolving W14's unpredictable axle issue. The cockpit position shifted further backward, something that Hamilton has been vocal about starting from their 2022 car . Hamilton and Russell drove in

1616-412: A reasonable speed so as to ensure that the competitors' tyres are as close as possible to operating temperature and their engines do not overheat. For incidents during the first three laps, the safety car also has an advantage over the traditional red flag; with a red flag, it would take a minimum of fifteen minutes to restart the race, and the two-hour limit would not start until the cars were ready for

1717-520: A second formation lap. With regards to the time limit, the race is being scored and the time is also counting while the safety car is on the track, and the race resumes. The first use of a safety car in Formula One is reported to have taken place at the 1973 Canadian Grand Prix , where a yellow Porsche 914 was called for duty following various incidents under treacherous weather conditions. Controversially, on that occasion, it took several hours after

1818-546: A serious head injury which led to his death, the FIA established an "accident panel" to investigate the dynamics of the accident and ways to minimize the risk of a crash during similar circumstances that do not warrant the deployment of a safety car and cannot be simply managed with yellow flags . The accident panel recommended the implementation of a "virtual safety car", based on the " slow zone " system used in Le Mans racing. Compared to

1919-422: A strategic advantage since any scheduled refueling, tire change or maintenance may be carried out while other competitors are lapping at lower speed, and the drivers who pit then simply rejoin a queue of cars all running together. During normal racing conditions, such interventions would typically involve losing significant terrain over those drivers that remain on-track. Another notable effect of safety car periods

2020-520: A yellow background. This condition is often decided by the Race Director whether it is appropriate to implement it or not. The fans (if they are watching the race on TV) and drivers can hear the Race Director declare the FCY on the radio. Once the FCY is implemented, all drivers must activate the FCY limiter, which, similar to the pit speed limiter, keeps the car under FCY speeds despite the throttle being flat to

2121-406: Is also preferred over stopping the race ( red flag ) and restarting as the latter takes longer. During a caution period, the safety car (which generally consists of an aptly modified high-performance production car) enters the track ahead of the leader. Depending on the regulations in effect, competitors are not normally allowed to pass the safety car or other competitors during a caution period, and

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2222-423: Is not required to wait until all backmarkers have caught back up to the queue. When the safety car is ready to leave the circuit, it will turn off its orange lights to indicate that it will enter the pit lane at the end of the lap. Drivers must continue in formation until they cross the first safety car line, where circuit green lights and flags will indicate they are free to race again. The safety car must maintain

2323-409: Is that racing cars consume less fuel until full race resumption, which can allow competitors to run longer distances on a tank of fuel than would otherwise have been possible and/or reduce the number of pitstops required for the duration of the race. In Formula One if an accident or inclement weather (typically, heavy rain) prevents normal racing from continuing safely, the Race Director will call for

2424-599: Is used in a race, extra time will be added in order to compensate for the missed racing time due to the safety car. The first use of a pace car in automobile racing was at the inaugural Indy 500 in 1911. The officials at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway have been selecting a pace car and its driver for the Indy 500 each year since that first race. The first pace car was a Stoddard-Dayton driven by Carl G. Fisher . In recent years Chevrolet models have been chosen as

2525-468: The 2009 FIA WTCC Race of France in Pau , France . A succession of first-lap accidents caused the safety car to be placed on standby, with yellow flags waving on the start-finish section of the track. The safety car driver - a local politician - then proceeded to drive onto the track at slow speed, without official approval, moving across the pit exit line immediately after exiting the pits, instead of confining to

2626-431: The 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix , ending his winless streak of 56 races, which lasted for over two years. In the process, he became the first driver to win the same race ( British Grand Prix ) nine times. This marked the first time Mercedes won back-to-back races since the 2021 season . In Hungary , Hamilton claimed his 200th career podium with a third-place finish in a race that saw him making contact with Verstappen at

2727-556: The 2023 Monaco Grand Prix wasn't the main shortcoming in 2023, and added that the W15 would look significantly different from its predecessors. Wolff recounted that the team's simulator driver, Anthony Davidson , tested the W15 in the simulator, driving it in Melbourne and spoke favorably of the results, stating "The car feels like a car for the first time in two years." The W15 was unveiled at Silverstone Circuit on 14 February. The car sported

2828-454: The 37th America's Cup , with Mercedes-AMG F1 Applied Science partnering with their existing sailing and design teams, which include Ainslie, Giles Scott , and prominent naval architect and yacht designer Martin Fischer. On 21 April 2023, Allison returned to his previous position as Technical Director of Mercedes-AMG F1, swapping jobs with Mike Elliott , who had taken his place earlier. Allison

2929-584: The Alboreto corner of the Monza Circuit on the Thursday of the 2024 Italian Grand Prix . Both the passenger and the driver, Bernd Mayländer , were safe, and no interruptions were reported as there was another safety car at the site if needed. The race itself went on without any safety car deployments, extending a streak of such that started after the 2024 Spanish Grand Prix . The high amount of caution laps during

3030-586: The Austrian Grand Prix and Las Vegas Grand Prix , while Hamilton won the British Grand Prix and Belgian Grand Prix . Mercedes finished second in the 2023 season with the W14 , behind Red Bull , finishing ahead of Ferrari by 3 points. Team Principal Toto Wolff stated that the team would change the concept for the W15, including the way they laid out the chassis, weight distribution, and aerodynamics. Wolff added that changing almost all components could give

3131-470: The Saudi Arabian Grand Prix , Russell and Hamilton qualified seventh and eighth. Hamilton gambled by not pitting due to an early safety car , running as high as third and defending against Oscar Piastri for 20 laps. Russell finished sixth, 40 seconds behind winner Max Verstappen . Hamilton stated, "It's definitely not fun finishing ninth despite pushing as hard as I could, but we were lacking in

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3232-578: The Toyota Tundra , but prefer marketing the Camry Hybrid. However, Ford and Toyota manufacturer sponsored tracks will prefer the Mustang and Camry, respectively, instead of a truck, and occasionally, pickup trucks have been used as pace vehicles for Cup Series and Xfinity races. Since NASCAR does not allow speedometers or electronic speed limiting devices, the pace car circles the track at pit road speed during

3333-590: The warm-up laps . This allows each driver to note the RPM at which pit road speed is maintained. Drivers exceeding that speed on pit road will be penalized, typically a "drive-through" or "stop and go" penalty, costing them valuable track position. Since mid-2004, NASCAR official Brett Bodine has driven the vehicle during official race functions during Cup Series races. Other famous NASCAR pace car drivers include Robert "Buster" Auton and Elmo Langley . At many races, NASCAR has an honorary pace car driver that actually drives

3434-531: The 2023 IndyCar Monterey Grand Prix resulted in extended use of the Honda Civic pace car. This eventually led to the pace car almost running out of fuel. The Civic was then shown being refuelled by hand. During the opening pace laps of the 2018 Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix IndyCar race (the second race of a doubleheader weekend at the Belle Isle street circuit), a 2019 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 pace car leading

3535-495: The BMW into a number of rolls. The safety car was sent off the track into the Armco safety barrier at great speed. In the chaos, a Marcos LM600 coming around turn 11 locked up its brakes and spun into the wet grass on the inside of the track. Sliding back onto the track, it was hit from the side by a BMW Z3 . Furthermore, two E46 BMW M3 GTRs were damaged: one on the outside line hit the rear of

3636-531: The Marcos, and the other, on the inside line, slightly damaged its front right. The second M3 continued around the track, while the first slid into the grass before turn 12. The race was stopped, and there were no serious injuries to any of the drivers. On lap 57, ARCA driver Joe Cooksey ran into the back of the Pontiac Grand Prix pace car driven by Jack Wallace totaling the pace car, to quote Cooksey: "It might be

3737-517: The Opel Vectra was criticized as it had a low top speed, which was insufficient to keep the competitors' tyre temperatures high, and the Vectra's brakes faded on the first lap causing its driver to go slowly. Since 1996 , in order to standardize the safety car type/performance and also as part of promotional arrangements, the main supplier of safety cars has been Mercedes-Benz , with Aston Martin sharing

3838-537: The São Paulo Grand Prix, Mercedes announced they would cease development of the W15 due to a lack of available funding following a series of costly accidents since the summer break. Wolff revealed that the only upgrades for the W15 going into Brazil were two floors. Following Mercedes' 1-2 finish at the Las Vegas Grand Prix , Russell summarized the W15's performance as follows: “We struggle on bumps. When

3939-479: The car in fifth and Hamilton qualified right alongside in sixth despite running the Austin-spec. Both drivers had a little battle on the opening stages after Hamilton overtook his teammate before Russell took the place back on lap 14. They made good progress after the pit stop phase and aided by Verstappen's 20-second time penalty. Hamilton finished fourth ahead of Russell after overtaking him on lap 65. Shortly before

4040-476: The car. The team ended their pre-season testing on a good note with both drivers finding the car much more stable and more predictable compared to its predecessor. Trackside engineering chief Andrew Shovlin was encouraged by the strong showing during the pre-season testing. Shovlin stated "The team has put in a lot of work to address the handling issues with the W14. So it's great to see that we have put these issues behind us." The season started in Bahrain with

4141-440: The case on Sunday, the original scheduled start time of the race. The entire incident took about two hours to clean up before the last 40 (later extended to 42 due to a Green-white-checkered finish ) laps were able to be completed. NASCAR subsequently added the use of the second safety car (used during race start situations) to protect the last jet dryer in other safety car situations. The 2011 6 Hours of Castellet got off to

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4242-399: The course on parade laps prior to the start of the race. These increase in speed, allowing for a flying start of the race. Furthermore, two other rule changes have been implemented. Since 2000, with one lap to go before going back to green, the pace car pulls off the track in turn one rather than in turn four. The current leader of the race is then assigned the task of pacing the field back to

4343-461: The crash causing a puncture (though no damage to his car or tires was done). Approximately 20 minutes after the crash, the cars that were still on the track had their engines re-fired and were directed to drive to pit road in order to reset the starting grid for the race start. An identical back-up pace car of the same make and model was brought out to pace the field, this time driven by former IndyCar driver and official Oriol Servià who regularly drove

4444-522: The current speed limit) on their dashboard display, and must keep their delta times positive, meaning they must be slower than the reference time. The system was similar to the Electro-PACER lights used in the Indianapolis 500 races from 1972 until 1978 , except that engine control units (ECU) were involved and could enforce speed limits under the current system. The VSC was tested over the course of

4545-568: The death of his wife. On 16 February 2017, Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport announced that Allison was to join the team in the newly created role of technical director, following the departure of Paddy Lowe to Williams Grand Prix Engineering . In April 2021, Allison became Chief Technical Officer at Mercedes-AMG. He also became the Chief Technical Officer at Ineos Team UK Britannia's America's Cup team. This role positioned Allison as technical lead of Ben Ainslie 's campaign for

4646-437: The drivers behind it are on the start/finish straight, there is a red light at the exit of the pit lane. Drivers who go past the red light are disqualified from the race. This has happened to several drivers during the years, such as Juan Pablo Montoya at the 2005 Canadian Grand Prix and Giancarlo Fisichella and Felipe Massa in the 2007 Canadian Grand Prix . At the same race a year later , Lewis Hamilton failed to notice

4747-407: The drivers will be subtracted, giving more energy saving tactics to the drivers and teams alike. Like Formula One, Formula E also has a safety car condition. From 2014 to 2021, a BMW i8 plug-in hybrid was used. Starting with the 2021 Rome ePrix , a Mini Electric was used, and a Porsche Taycan has been used since 2022. Formula E also includes a rule from 2022 which states that if the safety car

4848-501: The duties with them from 2021 onward. From 2007 , new procedures were applied for the first time during the Bahrain Grand Prix . The pit lane was closed immediately upon the deployment of the safety car. No car could enter the pits until all cars on the track had formed up in a line behind the safety car, they passed the pit entrance, and the message "pit lane open" was given. A ten-second stop/go penalty (which must be taken when

4949-483: The end Hamilton was third and on course for a podium finish, before Russell overtook him. Russell's third place was the team's first podium of the season. Hamilton finished fourth with the fastest lap. Hamilton would later criticise his race as one of the worst of his career for failing to capitalise on the car's competitiveness in Circuit Gilles Villeneuve . The Spanish Grand Prix saw Hamilton finishing on

5050-403: The field and being driven by General Motors executive Mark Reuss lost control and crashed head-on into the left-hand retaining wall coming out of the exit of turn two of the track, shortly after leaving pit road. Neither Reuss nor Mark Sandy, an IndyCar official who was a passenger in the car, were injured in the crash and were able to exit the vehicle after the crash. The cars participating in

5151-496: The final three races of the 2014 season, during parts of free practice sessions. The system was evolved taking into account drivers' feedback and was officially introduced for the 2015 season following ratification by the World Motor Sport Council (WMSC). The VSC was officially used for the first time, and for a brief period prior to the deployment of the actual safety car, at the 2015 Monaco Grand Prix , following

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5252-456: The first time in history the pace car has been wiped out." After Footwork Arrows driver Taki Inoue retired due to an engine failure, he attempted to assist the marshals in extinguishing the engine fire, but he was hit by the Tatra 623 safety car. The incident injured his leg, though he would recover in time for the following Belgian Grand Prix. Before the start of the race, a drunken fan stole

5353-509: The flagman will display the yellow caution flag and the pace car will pull out of the pits and turn on the yellow strobes on top and/or behind the car. When race officials are ready to open pit lane, a green light will come on in the rear window of the safety car. One lap before a green flag, the pace car will shut off its lights to signal drivers to line up double file. Unlike most series in motorsport, owing to NASCAR's short-track roots, each track usually offers its own safety car, typically from

5454-444: The floor. Overtaking is not allowed under FCY conditions, but if a driver does overtake another driver, like when Jean-Éric Vergne overtook António Félix da Costa at the 2019 Rome ePrix , the driver who overtook the other driver can be penalised. For season 6 of Formula E , when there is an FCY period, everyone is no longer allowed to activate Attack Mode. For every minute spent under FCY conditions, 1kWh of energy kept in reserve by

5555-414: The former, the safety car does not actually appear on the track. On top of not being allowed to overtake under yellow flag conditions in the affected sector, a "VSC" icon would appear trackside and on the drivers' steering displays, obliging drivers to not exceed the posted speed limit, thus resulting in a 35% speed reduction. All drivers are informed of their delta time (the difference between their speed and

5656-405: The green flag. After much consideration, this rule was added to prevent a situation much like the one that happened in the 1995 Indianapolis 500 , when Scott Goodyear passed the pace car going back to green. In 2002, a "wave-around" rule was added, where the pace car waves by all competitors (if there are any) between the pace car and the actual leader of the race. This allows the leader to control

5757-527: The high-speed sections." In the Australian Grand Prix , Hamilton was knocked out of Q2 in Australia for the first time since 2010 . Russell qualified seventh, maintaining his Q3 appearance for the third consecutive race weekend. Hamilton retired early due to a power unit failure while Russell crashed out in a penultimate lap incident with Fernando Alonso . The result made Wolff want "to punch himself in

5858-603: The higher ambient temperatures increased the rate of tyre degradation. * Season still in progress. Italics indicate factory team. James Allison (motorsport) James Allison (born 21 February 1968) is a British motorsport designer and engineer, best known for his accomplishments in Formula One , where he is the technical director of the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team . Born in Louth, Lincolnshire ,

5959-471: The inside of it until the line ended. Race leader Franz Engstler came through the kink on the start-finish straight and was unable to avoid hitting the side of the pace car. Engstler commented "I saw the safety car coming out from the right and realized that I had no chance to brake... I really do not understand why he was going out of the pits". After this incident, the Portuguese Bruno Correia

6060-512: The jet dryer trailer and left driver's side of the truck. Montoya was treated at the infield care center and released unhurt. The driver of the Chevrolet Silverado Crew Cab, Duane Barnes, was taken to a local hospital for observation and was resting comfortably. He was an employee at Michigan International Speedway , a sister track of Daytona . The tracks often share jet dryer equipment on race weekends to help in case of rain such as

6161-575: The last lapped car to unlap itself, the safety car will now be withdrawn one lap after the instruction to unlap is received. Since 2021 , F1 has featured two official safety cars, both the Aston Martin Vantage and the Mercedes-AMG GT R that was already used in previous seasons. Since 2022 , Mercedes provides a Black Series variant of the GT. Following an accident at the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix , which saw driver Jules Bianchi suffer

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6262-433: The later stages. Russell had a poor qualifying session that put him 17th after he and Mercedes made an error during qualifying. He eventually recovered to finish the race in eighth. Belgium was the last race before the season entered summer break. Under rainy conditions, Hamilton qualified third and Russell in seventh following pole-sitter Verstappen's grid penalty. Hamilton started well, overtaking Pérez and Leclerc to take

6363-453: The lead for a couple of laps before he was overtaken by Verstappen. Hamilton finished the sprint in second place. Russell finished eighth. Hamilton qualified eighteenth, and Russell qualified eighth. Hamilton recovered to finish ninth and Russell finished sixth. In the Miami sprint weekend, Russell and Hamilton were knocked out on SQ2 and started the sprint race from 11th and 12th, respectively. In

6464-500: The lead lap will regain a lap. The Beneficiary will regain his lap once pit road opens. Bodine will signal that car to pass him through radio contact between NASCAR and that team. The free pass car must pit with the lapped cars. After previous being trialed at the NASCAR All-Star Race, at the 2009 Pocono 500 , NASCAR introduced a new "Double-file restart" rule that lines the field two cars on each row on every restart, similar to

6565-452: The lead, which he maintained throughout the opening stages of the race. Russell chose a single-stop strategy during the race, as opposed to the two-stop strategy favoured by most drivers, putting him in the lead of the race, but on significantly more worn tyres than Hamilton, who was behind Russell in second. Towards the conclusion of the race, Hamilton rapidly closed the gap between Russell and himself, with Russell having to defend his lead with

6666-567: The lost positions. In Italy , Russell qualified third, but due a mistake and running wide at the turn-one, he lost positions and could only manage to finish seventh in the race. Hamilton finished fifth, having started sixth on the grid. Earlier, Formula 2 driver, Kimi Antonelli made his Formula One practice debut, during the first free-practice session. In Azerbaijan , Russell qualified fifth, and Hamilton's qualifying struggles continued as he qualified seventh with difficulties in getting his tyres up to temperature. Russell would eventually finish

6767-401: The manufacturer, but in recent years, it has been a local dealer or association of regional dealerships-provided Safety car. Tracks that use Toyota safety cars will use a Toyota Camry Hybrid, while Ford tracks will use a Ford Mustang , while Chevrolet tracks use a Chevrolet Camaro and most Dodge tracks use a Dodge Challenger . If a manufacturer is promoting a new vehicle, they will often use

6868-420: The mediums. Unfortunately, the approach ultimately backfired, as Hamilton was unable to attack Verstappen and Norris ahead. At the end of the race, Hamilton fell into sixth while Russell fended off late charge from Leclerc to finish fourth. The "frustrating" race took its toll on both of the drivers, with Hamilton and Russell experiencing a suspected heat stroke that caused them to skip the media obligations after

6969-602: The mid-1990s. In 2000, he moved to Ferrari for five years. Allison returned to Benetton (by then known as Renault F1 ) in the role of deputy technical director in 2005. In 2009 Allison became technical director. In 2011, Renault F1 became Lotus Renault GP , before becoming Lotus F1 in 2012. On 8 May 2013, Allison quit as Lotus F1 Team technical director to be replaced by Nick Chester . On 29 July 2013, Allison rejoined Ferrari as chassis technical director and then technical director until July 2016. On 27 July 2016, Allison quit as Scuderia Ferrari technical director following

7070-540: The new car instead of the standard-specification safety car. For the Truck Series , which races pickup trucks instead of cars, the safety "car" is often a pickup. Tracks affiliated with a local or regional Chevrolet dealership will use a Chevrolet Silverado , while Chrysler dealership-affiliated tracks will use a Ram 1500 . Ford-affiliated tracks will often use the F-Series, but Toyota-affiliated tracks are less likely to use

7171-446: The normal drivers of the IRL pace car for all events. The pace car is deployed for debris , collision , or weather reasons. Since 1993, upon the waving of the yellow flag, pit road is closed until the pace car picks up the leader and passes the pit entrance the first time, unless track blockage forces the field to drive through pit lane. Another duty of the pace car is to lead the field around

7272-480: The nose". The race marked the first double DNF for the team since the 2018 Austrian Grand Prix . In Japan , Hamilton qualified seventh and Russell ninth, but finished ninth and seventh, respectively. During sprint qualifying for the Chinese Grand Prix , Hamilton qualified second, while Russell qualified eleventh. During the sprint race, Hamilton overtook polesitter Lando Norris in the first corner and held

7373-461: The official pace car, owing to the ability for them to be used at both major automobile races at the Speedway (typically Corvette at the 500 and Impala at the 400). The pace car is selected two months before the race runs, allowing the manufacturer of the selected pace car to produce replicas of that year's car, which sell at a marked premium to collectors and race fans. Pace car replicas are often seen on

7474-569: The older-spec before the summer break. The approach ultimately paid off as Russell finished the race in sixth aided by a late overtake on Pérez, despite the stewards penalized him with a 5-second penalty for the manner he overtook the Sauber of Valtteri Bottas . Mercedes handed Antonelli his second FP1 outing at the Mexico City Grand Prix in place of Hamilton. Despite crashing out in FP2, Russell puts

7575-412: The pace car and drove a lap around Talladega Superspeedway . Local police quickly pursued the fan around the track, setting up a roadblock at the exit of Turn 4 that led to his arrest. The pace car of the 1971 Indianapolis 500 , an orange Dodge Challenger driven by local auto dealer Eldon Palmer, crashed at the start of the race. As Palmer drove the car off into the pit lane to let the race cars begin

7676-532: The pace car during caution periods. The incident delayed the start of the race by over 30 minutes from its scheduled start time of 3:50pm local time. The race eventually went green sometime past 4:20pm. Before the start of the final segment of the Sprint Cup Series ' Sprint Unlimited exhibition race at Daytona , the Chevrolet SS pace car caught fire and stopped off the track, delaying the restart. The fire

7777-452: The podium for the first time in the season behind Norris and Verstappen. The podium extends his consecutive seasons in a row where he finished on the podium to 18 seasons. Russell finished the race in fourth. The W15 achieved its first victory in Austria with Russell taking advantage of Verstappen and Norris' battle for the lead that saw them taking damage. Hamilton missed out on the podium with

7878-530: The race in third, taking advantage of the late crash between Sainz and Pérez. Hamilton recovered from his pit lane start to finish ninth. Mercedes released a special livery for the Singapore Grand Prix , to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the team's title sponsor, PETRONAS . Hamilton qualified third with Russell right behind. Mercedes were the only top running team to implement split strategy for both of its drivers, with Hamilton in softs and Russell with

7979-414: The race is resumed) was imposed on any driver who entered the pit lane before the pit lane open message is given. However, any car which was in the pit entry or pit lane when the safety car was deployed would not incur a penalty. This was infamously exploited during the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix when Nelson Piquet, Jr. wrecked his Renault shortly after teammate Fernando Alonso had exited the pits in what

8080-489: The race to figure out the winner and final results since the safety car driver had placed his car in front of the wrong competitor thus causing part of the field to be one lap down incorrectly. Formula One officially introduced safety cars in 1993 , after trials were conducted at both the French and British Grands Prix during the preceding 1992 season. From 1993 through 1995 , this saw cars of different brands being used as

8181-464: The race, except one driven by Alexander Rossi , stopped on the track behind the wrecked car as safety crews and track workers cleaned up debris from the accident and removed the damaged vehicle. Rossi, who was to start the race from the pole position and was directly behind the pace car when the incident occurred, was the only driver to drive past the crash and returned to pit road afterwards, causing concern to his crew that he may have run over debris from

8282-472: The race. Following the race, Mercedes confirmed that they will bring their last "substantial" upgrades to Austin and learning how to run under tracks that are prone to overheat the tyres. Mercedes officially introduced a large aero update for the United States Grand Prix with a new front wing, a front suspension package, new bodywork, and a revised floor. The upgrades left the drivers downbeat at

8383-436: The red light and slammed into the back of the car of Kimi Räikkönen , who was waiting at the end of the pit lane alongside Robert Kubica . From 2010 , once cars were lined up behind the safety car, lapped cars were no longer allowed to unlap themselves before the race was restarted. This rule was abandoned from the 2012 season onwards, with cars now allowed to unlap themselves before the race resumes. However, since 2015 ,

8484-431: The restart without any lapped cars in front of them. It also creates a strategy for cars to gain laps back, loosely resembling NASCAR's " Lucky dog " rule. However, the cars who get waved around are not allowed to pit until the green flag restarts the race (so they do not get the advantage of getting their lap back AND a free pit stop). In all NASCAR series, if the caution is out for debris, accident, or inclement weather,

8585-449: The safety car before the race was red flagged on lap 3 and not restarted thereafter with results taken from the end of lap 1 with Max Verstappen declared the winner of the event and half points awarded to the top 10 classified drivers. In response to the controversial safety car restart at the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix , the FIA reworked the safety car restart procedure: instead of waiting for

8686-513: The safety car does not need to wait for the backmarkers to catch up with the leading pack before returning to the pits. The 2021 Belgian Grand Prix infamously became the shortest race in Formula One World Championship history and the first (and so far only) World Championship Grand Prix in history to be run entirely behind the safety car with no running taking place under green flag conditions, with two full laps completed behind

8787-475: The safety car leads the field at a predetermined safe speed, which may vary by series and circuit. At the end of the caution period, the safety car leaves the track and the competitors resume normal racing. The first reliance on this safety measure occurred with the deployment of a pace car during the inaugural Indianapolis 500 in 1911. The use of a safety car has the effect of bunching competitors together, such as to eliminate any time and distance advantage that

8888-622: The safety car throughout the season and depending on the track visited; for example, they included the exotic Lamborghini Countach for the Monaco Grand Prix in the 1980s, or the Lamborghini Diablo for the 1995 Canadian Grand Prix to the more mundane Fiat Tempra used at the rain-affected 1993 Brazilian Grand Prix , and the high performance version of the Opel Vectra used at the infamous 1994 San Marino Grand Prix . In particular,

8989-450: The safety car was instructed to slow down and let the entire field pass. As the safety car was exiting turn 11, an approaching Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 drastically reduced its speed in response to the unusually slow safety car. However, a BMW a few seconds behind came around the blind turn at speed, colliding with the Gallardo and safety car. The collision destroyed the Gallardo and sent

9090-411: The son of former Royal Air Force officer, Air Chief Marshal Sir John Allison , and Jill Allison, James was educated at Abingdon School and Cambridge . After graduating from Cambridge in 1991, Allison joined the aerodynamics department of Benetton Formula . After a couple of years at Benetton, he moved to Larrousse as head of aerodynamics, before returning to Benetton as head of aerodynamics in

9191-427: The sprint race as Hamilton could only muster sixth and Russell finishing fifth despite starting from second before losing out to Norris at the start. Hamilton blamed the upgrades after he qualified 19th for the race and retiring on the main event after he spun out into the gravel trap at Turn 3. Russell started from the pit lane after having crashing out of the qualifying session and the team had to run Russell's car using

9292-552: The sprint, Hamilton was penalized by the stewards with a 20-second time penalty for speeding in the pit lane during a Safety Car period, dropping him to 16th. Russell finished the sprint in 12th. Hamilton finished the main race in sixth, with Russell finishing eighth. Mercedes brought upgrades for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix consisting of a revised floor and brake duct, and a new rear and beam wing. Russell qualified sixth and Hamilton eighth. Hamilton took seventh place at

9393-470: The start of the race, instead of lead-lap cars on the outside and lapped cars on the inside. Also, the "wave-around" rule, similar to what is enforced in racing series sanctioned by IndyCar , was adopted to ensure the first car on the restart is the leader, and ensure there are no lapped cars ahead of the leader. During a reconnaissance lap, a 2024 Aston Martin Vantage safety car spun out and crashed heavily at

9494-440: The start, but neither driver made further progress. Russell pitted late for a new set of mediums, effectively swapping positions with Hamilton, with the former finishing behind, but with the fastest lap at hand. In Monaco , in qualifying, Russell out-qualified Hamilton with the former starting from fifth while the latter from seventh. During the race, neither driver was able to improve on their starting positions. Wolff claimed that

9595-567: The streets of Indianapolis weeks before the race is actually held, and a celebrity driver is usually used for the start of the race only. In the last 50 years, the Pontiac Trans Am , Chevrolet Camaro , Chevrolet Corvette , Oldsmobile Cutlass , and Ford Mustang are the only models that have been selected as pace cars three or more times. During the IndyCar Series season, however, Johnny Rutherford , Sarah Fisher , and Oriol Servià are

9696-409: The team its best chance to contend in 2024. Before the off-season break, Hamilton stated the team's mood was "positive", and he checked the team's progress with the W15 in their wind tunnel. Technical Director James Allison labelled the W15 project as "ambitious" and stated the team had made a lot of progress over the winter. Allison later clarified that the late introduction of sidepods starting from

9797-457: The track is bumpy we have to lift the car and go softer on the suspension. Certain circuits require us to be in a [ride height] window the car doesn’t like to be. But on smooth circuits like this, where we can run it low and stiff, we fly.” In addition, the W15 incurred higher tyre temperatures than its competitors. Commentators suggested that as a result, Mercedes outperformed during night races, like Las Vegas, but struggled during daytime races when

9898-455: Was appointed as the official safety car driver. A safety car caused a crash during the 2008 Dutch Supercar Challenge race at Spa Francorchamps . The Seat Leon was released too late, allowing the leading Marcos LM600 to pass while erroneously identifying the Audi TT DTM in 2nd and Mosler MT900R GT3 in 3rd as 'the leading pack.' Race officials immediately realized their mistake, and

9999-447: Was believed to have started in a trunk-mounted battery pack powering the lights. During a safety car situation on Lap 160 of the 2012 Daytona 500 , Earnhardt Ganassi Racing driver Juan Pablo Montoya 's car had a suspension part failure, and it lost control on turn 3, sharply veering into a safety truck and jet dryer trailer and causing a giant fireball. Sparks were seen emanating from Montoya's car right before its hard collision with

10100-415: Was later discovered to be an intentional crash designed to trigger a safety car and subsequent closure of the pit lane. From 2009 , however, this procedure has been dropped, and replaced by software that calculates where a car is on the track and a minimum lap time it should take the car to get to the pits. Cars that enter the pits before this time limit has expired are penalised. When the safety car and

10201-401: Was part of the design team for the cars that won the following Formula One World Constructors' Championships and World Drivers' Championships : Italics indicate factory team. Italics indicate factory team. Safety car In motorsport , a safety car , or a pace car , is an automobile which limits the speed of competing cars or motorcycles on a racetrack in the case of

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