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We all have a lot to thank Jamie Whincup for. Perhaps if he hadn’t clattered into the back of Scott Pye during a ‘slow zone’ trial at The Bend, sanity wouldn’t have prevailed in such a significant way.
If you haven’t heard, Supercars and Motorsport Australia have elected to backflip on its controversial slow zone/slow down/Safety Car rules. And not just the convoluted evolution that was trialled at The Bend recently, but all of it.
That’s right, we’re back to the pre-2024 rules. No 15-second countdowns. No 80 km/h slow downs. No closed pit lanes. Just plain old common sense.
To recap, various iterations of controlling the field before the physical Safety Car takes effect have been in place since the start of last season.
The idea was to stop drivers being able to ‘race’ back to the pits to get a strategic advantage once a Safety Car was called. That, said a vocal minority, was too dangerous.
Instead the field would be neutralised with an 80 km/h limit. But that created a strategic anomaly, where drivers could clear compulsory stops without losing track position and vault their way up the standings.
We were heading towards a situation where there would be no strategic freedom, and everyone would need to run long, every stint, in case there’s a safety car.
So it was made even more complicated with temporarily closed pit lanes and dedicated slow zones marked by trackside boards. Which created even more problems – including the greatest Supercars driver of all time piling into the back of his teammate – even though it was never actually used in anger.
Now, we’re dumping the whole lot. And it’s exactly the right thing to do.
The reality is that there was never anything wrong with the old system. Yes, we can’t be reactive when it comes to safety. But there are no documented cases of so much as a near miss when it comes to cars crashing into already crashed cars, or recovery crews being endangered.
This all happened in a bid to fix a problem that didn’t exist.
Another reality is that if a crash is big enough to require immediate attention from medical or fire crews, the race will be red-flagged. That’s how modern motor racing is officiated.
In all other cases, if properly enforced, double waved yellow flags at the scene of crash will do the job just fine. There will be some grumbling from drivers about the ambiguity of obeying yellows, but if race control takes a sensible view of what is and isn’t dangerous, the lines in the sand will quickly become clear.
Make penalties harsh, too. That will ensure a conservative approach from drivers and the safety of those working trackside.
I’ll admit to being amazed that the toothpaste has been squeezed back into the tube. It’s unusual for such a comprehensive backflip to take place on a change made in the name of safety. Even if it’s the right decision.
So well done to Supercars and Motorsport Australia for recognising what had to be done.
At the same time, let’s learn a collective lesson about unnecessary rule making and phantom problem-solving, and save the headaches in the first place.
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