F1 Moves to Limit Dangers of Crash Debris

Formula One organisers will be able to suspend and re-start races behind the safety car next year to reduce the risk of tyre blowouts caused by dangerous debris from accidents.

Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn said at the Italian Grand Prix that two important safety initiatives were under way.

"Next year there will be the ability to suspend the race behind the safety car, so when the safety car goes out it picks up the group of cars, comes round and it can stop," he told a news conference organised by tyre maker Bridgestone.

"The clock keeps running, but the cars just stop on the grid or in an appropriate place."

Brawn said the track could then be cleaned before the race resumed behind the safety car, which would pull into the pits after a lap.

"That means that we have an opportunity then to look at the tyres, make sure they're okay, put blankets on them to keep the temperatures and pressure up," he said. "I think for a severe accident, when there's debris on the track, that's the safest way."

Formula One has had several serious accidents caused by blowouts this year, with Germany's Ralf Schumacher missing the last five races before Monza as a result of a big crash at Indianapolis in June.

Carbon fibre materials used in car construction can shatter into sharp shards in the event of a crash, becoming potentially lethal if a driver then gets a puncture at more than 340kph.

"If the safety car is on because of an off-track incident, then of course the safety car will keep running because there's no need to stop it," explained Brawn.

At present Grands Prix are stopped in the event of a red flag incident and re-started from the grid, unless the race is declared over. The Briton said Formula One's governing body had also asked teams to look at different ways of making cars' bodywork to produce less debris in the event of an accident.

"The first tests look very encouraging," Brawn said. "Both ourselves and Williams have carried out experiments where we still use the same materials but we basically cover them with a very tough, high strength material like Xylon or Kevlar.

"And that seems to reduce the debris emission enormously. So you can smash a component like that but all the debris stays together."

Brawn said teams were looking at using the new methods on front wings, bargeboards and other such items.