Quote:
Originally Posted by Aysedasi
Neither. It is (I believe) you cannot work on the car while the penalty is being served. I stand to be corrected but I don't think the regs say anything about just 'touching' the car. You'd like to think that common sense would enable a differentiation to be made between touching the car and working on it, but it seems not. What if a tyre man slips and grabs the rear wing to prevent himself from falling. Is that working on the car? We all know it isn't. I would also say a jackman who has the jack ready to lift the car isn't working on the car, he is preparing to work on the car.
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I agree entirely with this, the problem being is that (especially as this is Formula One where every rule is pushed by the teams to create the maximum advantage) it that there has to be a very precise description of where the not working on the car/working on the car line is drawn. Taking the jack as one example, would it be permissible for it to be a) In position below the car, but not raised in any way, b)Raised and not quite touching (hard to police) the car, or c) Raised to the car but with zero force applied to lift the car? Then, the same consideration has to be applied to all of the other operations, wheel guns, wing adjustments, nose changers and so on, so not easy. Or should everyone (and equipment) be a set distance away from the car until the time penalty has elapsed (again a very difficult situation to police).
I am interested to see how this is tightened up or clarified, but at least we have something to discuss in the quiet times before the next race!