Vettel: Virtual Safety Car software is poor

Sebastian Vettel has accused rivals of taking advantage of poor Virtual Safety Car (VSC) software, which the Ferrari driver claims is open to exploitation.

Speaking after finishing fourth at the Spanish Grand Prix, a race with a VSC period and a safety car period, Vettel said, “The FIA is supplying us with a system that makes us follow a delta time. So everyone has to slow down by 40%. But I think everyone is aware you can have a faster way to go under virtual safety car other than just follow the delta, by saving distance.”

“We should have a system that doesn’t have a hole in because it forces us to drive ridiculous lines around the track. Everyone is doing it so I don’t think it’s a secret. I think our sport should be in a better shape than supplying a software that is just poor, and allows us to find some extra performance that way,” lamented the four times F1 World Champion.

But FIA race director Charlie Whiting is adamant that the current software is beyond exploitation or manipulation, “I’m not aware of any problem. I don’t know what he’s talking about, honestly. The VSC has a map in the ECU which is 30% slower than a quick lap. Drivers have to follow that lap.”

“It’s measured every 50 metres of travel along the track. It measures where it is relative to the reference lap and gives you a plus or minus. Every 50 metres the drivers are reminded if they are above or below.”

“They are allowed to go negative [quicker than the reference time] but as long as they are positive once in each marshalling sector and at the safety car one line [it’s OK]. Even if someone does go slow, as long as they get to zero by that point it doesn’t matter.”

But Whiting said the FIA would investigate the situation if some form of evidence came to light, “If it’s measured every 50 metres then any advantage you can get for taking a different line on the track is going to be absolutely minimal. I can sort of see what he’s saying, but given that the racing line is the optimal one, one would think it’s a little difficult.”

“If they have some evidence of this we’ll obviously have to have a look and see if it can be manipulated. From what we can see over a lap and a half, as long as they are at zero at the VSC ending point I don’t think any advantage can be gained.”

“Where the advantage can be gained is coming into the pits and going out of it. But everybody knows that it’s not new,” explained Whiting.