Alonso: That’s why there are fewer safety cars in F1

The Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix was the last race this season where the safety car was involved during the race. Since then, we’ve only talked about the safety car once, when it was smashed at Monza – and now that nine races have been held without it. He wasn’t even needed at the Singapore Grand Prix, even though he had to be called to the track in every previous race due to some incident.

The current SC-free stage is so long that the last time it happened was between the 2003 Hungarian Grand Prix and the 2004 Spanish Grand Prix. The obvious explanation for its absence is that there are no accidents that justify its use.

The deeper reasons began to be dissected by Fernando Alonso, who traced the unusually calm picture of the race in terms of accidents to the current F1 racing machines. According to Aston Martin’s Spaniard, cars that use ground interaction should be handled much more delicately and carefully, which means less risk and thus fewer incidents.

“It’s not easy to drive these cars. The problem with them is that it is difficult to get one hundred percent out of them. If we drive them at 90 percent, we’re faster when appropriate because we don’t expose the floor to unpleasant lean angles or clearances,” explained the two-time world champion. “We don’t go to the limit where everything falls apart.”

According to Alonso, the cars are unrecognizable when driven at their peak, and he is not the only one who experiences this from the field, according to his claim. As an example, he just mentioned the time trial in Baku, where he just made it through Q1, then practically accelerated from one stage to the next by 1.1 seconds without any apparent change, and easily entered Q3.

“These cars are happier when we drive them at this speed,” the Spaniard referred to the 90 percent. “This is a bit against the instincts of the pilot, who would give 110 percent with the new tires in qualifying if he could. But with this car, you have to manage it.”