Don't you think the safety car was out for a bit too long at the start?

2 or 3 laps would have been fair enough, its not as though the conditions were improving under SC so why not let them get on with it?|||I quite agree with you, as do the rest of my family. We were watching it together in bafflement as the safety car was out for about 10 laps. I agree with Alonso who said on the team radio "we can clear the water, conditions are okay" and Vettel who said "we've had worse". They should have had the 2-3 laps under the safety car to prevent a dangerous pile-up at the first corner upon the start of the race, but then left them to it.|||Firstly, all the drivers got home. While that doesn't make races interesting, it does mean we have moved beyond the Spartacus Chariot races. Using this logic the Safety Car should have been out longer.


Next, when you consider that there were only 4 cars that didn't finish the race, this race was by normal race standards average to slightly better than average in terms of attrition. Using this logic the Safety Car could have been pulled in a little earlier.


Thirdly, in a sense all races are governed by the outcome of the Qualifying rounds. Drivers aim for Pole position for a reason: it gives you an advantage over the rest of the field. This race was probably more weighted in favour of those in the front over those at the rear than is normal, or more correctly, it was more heavily weighted against those at the rear or who fell to the rear than in a normal race. Using this logic, the Safety Car made no difference.


To conclude, I think the Safety Car was out as long as it could have been for the race to be taken seriously, and it was out long enough to ensure every driver got home safely. Right or wrong, no one was injured or killed, the race is taken seriously and the points will count at the end of the year.|||Well Charlie Whiting would have heard the drivers talking to their teams and we did hear a couple saying that the conditions were pretty bad so even though it makes for a crappy start, they obviously have to be as cautious as possible. Although it was pretty funny about Renault and Alonso saying that there was no need for the safety car in the hope that they would influence the decision to bring in the safety car!|||I think so. The safety car start was needed I feel, as the normal start could of been chaos, lots of misjudged braking and no one knew where the lying water was. Could of been called in a lap or 2 earlier as the low speeds were causing more problems on the last couple of laps due to lack of heat in tyres and brakes.


Still impressive that 16 cars finished considering the weather.|||We kept on seeing footage of the rainmap from on the pitwall and the whole damn map was just blue. Cars were still losing traction behind the safety car.





I think that by monitoring the in car radios, the stewards made a very reasonable assessment, and we got a good race out of it.|||They must have been worried about the chance of heavier rain.