The FIA has approved a new safety car system ahead of the new season after complaints that the old one penalised drivers.
Cars returning to pits placed under speed limit
The FIA has approved a new safety car system ahead of the new season after complaints that the one used for the past two seasons penalised drivers.
Introduced in 2007, the old rule saw the pit lane closed for the early part of a safety car period.
This was to prevent drivers looking to take advantage of a quick refuelling stop from travelling at high speeds through danger areas on the track heading back to the pits.
However, the rule unfairly penalised drivers who needed to refuel during the period that the pit lane was closed.
Rubens Barrichello, Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica all fell foul of the rule last season when they chose to enter the closed pit lane - and incur a 10-second 'stop-go' penalty - rather than run out of fuel.
New solution
Teams and the FIA have worked out a new solution, which sees drivers informed of their minimum expected time to reach the pits based on where they are on track at the time the safety car is deployed.
With speeds therefore automatically reduced, there will no longer be any need to close the pit lane.
"The rule introduced in 2007 was a bad one, and we've gone back to the 2006 regulations," FIA race director Charlie Whiting said.
"The only difference is we intend to implement a minimum time back to the pits."
Explaining the new system, he added: "When we deploy the safety car, the message will go to all the cars, which will then have a "safety car" mode on their ECUs.
"As soon as that message gets to the car, it'll know where it is on the circuit, and it'll calculate a minimum time for the driver to get back to the pits.
"The driver will have to respect this and the information will be displayed on his dashboard.
"If you remember, the reason we closed the pit entry was to remove the incentive for the driver to come back to his pit quickly.
"That's gone now, as you won't be able to reach the pits any quicker than your dashboard display allows you to."
