Would a safety car every race help F1?
The Chinese Grand Prix was turned on its head by the appearance of a late-race safety car. With aerodynamics stifling close racing, perhaps extreme measures are called for
Although the closing laps at Shanghai were riveting, let's not get carried away. Had Pierre Gasly not put a clumsy move on Toro Rosso team-mate Brendon Hartley, there would have been no safety car, and no opportunity for Red Bull to steal a march by bringing in both its cars for soft tyres.
To that point the Chinese Grand Prix had been pretty much standard Formula 1 fare: a long string of cars, each separated by a couple of seconds, and not much in the way of racing. Yes, there was a lead change, Valtteri Bottas getting ahead of Sebastian Vettel, but it came about in the pits, not on the track. Tyre stops: this is where the order changes come from these days. It was with astonishment that I learned that in a recent fan survey there was apparently considerable support for a return to refuelling.
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