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Originally Posted by Dixie Flatline
I, too, also have reservations about the pitlane option.
Having done some statistics at university level, I can see where the traffic flow theory could be used to justify the pitlane option's safety. Yet, having observed the behaviour of, for example, a statistically modelled telecommunications network during my days as an electrical engineering undergraduate, you can always see some results that do not meet the statistical mean. In a real life situation, statistics can only take you so far. My problem with the option is that it could not be guaranteed to be safe each time my team's drivers passed through the pitlane - there are too many variables to be considered, such as the probability of another team's car pitting and then pulling out of its box, etc., engineers crossing pitlane, etc.
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If somebody wants to cross the pitlane, he *knows* whether or not another car is about to have a pit stop or not (because he can see whether or not a pit crew is standing outside).
And of course, this statistical model does not *quite* cover the pit lane situation. For instance, in the model there is some minute chance of 25 cars passing within a minute - whereas in this pit lane, that chance is zero. And in the model, there is some minute chance that there will be a 3 minute gap in which *no* car pass through - whereas that will not happen during the race (unless there's a pace car situation).
But I think the model is good enough. If 600 cars are passing through the pit lane, there are bound to be a lot of crossing opportuinities, even if they pass at completely random moments. And if there happen to be some hidden "pattern", this will only increase the number of gaps.