What constitues as a "dangerous position"?

[KC]

According to the FIA's Sporting Regulations...

2003 F1 Sporting Regulations

Page 11 of 26

General Safety

Article 97
Save as a specifically authorized by the Code or the Sporting Regulations, no one except the driver may touch a stopped car unless it is in the pits or on the grid.


Page 16 of 26

The Race

Article 150
If a car stops during a race (except under Article 142c and d), it must be moved from the track as quickly as possible so that it's presence does not constitute a danger or hinder other competitors. If the driver is unable to drive the car from a dangerous position, it shall be the duty of the marshalls to assist him. If any such assistance results in the engine starting and the driver rejoining the race, the car will be excluded from the results of the race.

Article 142c refers to starting a race under rain conditions and does not apply to this situation. Schumacher's Ferrari should be excluded from the results for rejoining the race after receiving assistance from the race marshalls according to Articel 150 of the Sporting Code. Why was he not?

[Glen]

Because it says it right there, a couple of lines above where you question it!

"If any such assistance results in the engine starting and the driver rejoining the race, the car will be excluded from the results of the race."

[KC]

I can understand that reasoning. However, how many times have we all seen a driver go off in the the litter and end up with the engine still running and the car beached and his race is over? Every other time it has happened. Why is this situation any different than any other time? Because of the driver adn the team involved.

[LittleX]

The important phrase to me in Article 150 is "it must be moved from the track ".
It does not say "it can be moved back onto the track"

[Adam43]

It was certainly moved away from the dangerous position as quickly as it could be.

From those rules I see no problem (that it not to say these are the best rules we could have, but that is almost a different matter). Sam Michael said as much during the last race.

[Glen]

Originally posted by KC
I can understand that reasoning. However, how many times have we all seen a driver go off in the the litter and end up with the engine still running and the car beached and his race is over? Every other time it has happened. Why is this situation any different than any other time? Because of the driver adn the team involved.

Because it is very rare for the car to be half on and half off the track, and at the very most vulnerable place on the outside of the corner. Most often (virtually always) the push to get the car back to the track would be much more time consuming and dangereous, if not impossible, than deploying yellow flags and hauling the car out by crane. He was just lucky to end up where he did - mind you, Schumacher has a supreme knack for finding the best out of any situation.

[Speed]

What constitues as a "dangerous position"?

[Stephen Green]

If a car is fully into the gravel trap then it is virtually impossible to push it out, only in circumstances such as those on Sunday would marshals be able to remove the car from the gravel trap.

[krt917]

Yes, true.

Michael does seem to get lucky with this sort of thing, though I sometimes think he helps himself - when he goes off he does seem to be able to find bits of grass or whatever to get back on track. Not the case this time, but he was in a dangerous place, his engine was running and Sam Michael wasn't fussed so it seems OK.

I always hate to see a prefectly healthy car out of a race because it's beached and/or need assistance.