Blue Flags and Lapping - always trouble

Sometimes the fast cars end up right back behind the slow cars again. So how do you manage cars in two different races fighting over the same bit of track?

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Writing / Illustration / Animation / Editing / Narration:
Stuart Taylor

Music: "Chess Moves" by Telegrams

sharecode: chainbearsharef1

[preachey]

Video idea: Tamed Corners! With the return to Turkey, everyone is talking about Turn 8 - but modern cars will just plough around it flat out, removing much of the challenge and magic. We're also just coming from Spa, where the same could be said for Eau Rouge - while still a dramatic corner, it's lost something ever since the drivers could just plant their foot through it. Copse is another one, now just flat out. It could be an interesting video to go over some famous corners and how their characteristics have changed with car development, when they got 'completed', and you could even go into the philosophy of if faster cars improve or harm the spectacle

[danieldj]

Rip vettel saying, 'blue flag blue flag, blue flag. '

[asmhsn]

I think there will be a blue flag galore at Bahrain’s “oval” circuit this year.

[JamesV]

This’ll be very relevant at the 2020 Blue Flag Airways Sakhir Grand Prix

[darksemmel]

the beep at 9:50 had me running around my apartment looking for the source of it :D

[AndrewJJ-]

"Pre-1995: Blue Flag was just advisory"

Senna, to Irvine: *My fist is more than just advisory.*

[FreedomIII]

Well, this video aged well. This video would be a good recommendation for one Michael Massi circa Abu Dahbi 2021 lol

[tomford]

"The blue flag means there's a race going on and you aren't in it!" ~Mike Stephens (R.I.P.) of Hallett Motor Racing Circuit

[matthooigray]

Fun qualy and a chain bear vid, couldn’t ask for more

[MeyerGP]

F1: Lapped cars can unlap themselves


F1 Game:

[echaitea]

I've got an ideal solution for lapped cars— they can just ghost themselves

[CN]

Vetted before 2020: "blue flag, blue flag, blue flag!"


Oh, how the turntables...

[FalconsTech]

It's been many years since I last watched a NASCAR race, but when a similar unlapping system was introduced in that series, it was seen as a great improvement. It allowed for good cars caught up in a wreck to be back in contention for a top finish, sometimes even wins. Obviously open wheel racing is nothing like NASCAR, but I still see the ability to gain back laps under caution/safety car as nothing but a positive.

[hannesgroesslinger]

You forget the reason why the blue flag rules were "clarified" in 1996:

Ferrari had an agreement with Sauber (who used Ferrari customer engines) and Minardi (who had some kind of technical partnership as well), so that those cars would immediately move out of the way when a Ferrari was about to lap them.

There were some races where Minardis and Saubers agressivley defended against being lapped by a Williams or McLaren, costing them a lot of time, but they immediately moved over as soon as they saw red in the mirrors.

So the rules were adjusted such that they had to move out of the way for everybody.

[samfitzpatrick]

With the amount of turbulent air of this generation of cars, blue flags are a necessary evil. Cars round Monaco or Singapore wouldn’t be able to lap others and circuits like Barcelona and Hungaroring would be very tricky. Maybe the 2022 regs will open the possibility to remove blue flags

[MultiTito]

10:37 I swear I knew this was coming lol

[narendrapanse]

Thank you so much. From now on, the Windows 10 system generic "loading" animation will be forever associated with this video in my mind. The video is interesting, as usual... but you just made the 'loading' animation interesting as well. It helps, because Windows 10 updates take a bloody eternity to complete - and one has to just sit there staring at 6 dots chasing each other in a circle.

[quantumltu]

Well, Endurance racing has it's own way of dealing with blue flags: the faster car has to find the way around the slower cars, meaning that it some scenarios a car that's being lapped may fight to stay on the lead lap

[FriedrichHerschel]

Personally, I like the system with blue flag just being a heads up that the slower driver does not have to battle for the position. The faster car, that is ALREADY ahead one lap should be more then capable of going to the bad side of the track to overtake - and that's what it is, an overtake. Who wants to get ahead? The faster driver? So he has to do put in the effort.

[adamdickinson]

1:29 "so naturally during the race you've got the fast cars at the front and Ferrari at the back"