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In motorsport, a safety car, or a pace car, is a car that limits the speed of competing cars or motorcycles on a racetrack in the case of a caution period, such as an obstruction on the track or bad weather. The safety car aims to enable the clearance of any obstruction under safer conditions, especially for marshals and/or awaiting more favourable track conditions weather-wise. By following the safety car, the competitors' tyres remain as close as possible to operating temperature while their engines do not overheat. A safety car is also preferred over stopping the race (red flag) and restarting, as the latter takes longer.
During a caution period, the safety car (which is typically an appropriately modified high-performance production car) enters the track ahead of the leader. Depending on the regulations in effect, competitors are not normally allowed to pass the safety car or other competitors during a caution period, and the safety car leads the field at a predetermined safe speed, which may vary by series and circuit. At the end of the caution period, the safety car leaves the track, and the competitors resume normal racing. The first reliance on this safety measure occurred with the deployment of a pace car during the inaugural Indianapolis 500 in 1911.
Subject to the racing regulations in force, it is not uncommon for drivers to be allowed to make pitstops during safety car periods. This situation may provide a strategic advantage since any scheduled refueling, tire change or maintenance may be carried out while other competitors are lapping at lower speed, and the drivers who pit then simply rejoin a queue of cars all running together. During normal racing conditions, such interventions would typically involve losing significant terrain over those drivers that remain on-track.
Another notable effect of safety car periods is that racing cars consume less fuel until full race resumption, which can allow competitors to run longer distances on a tank of fuel than would otherwise have been possible and/or reduce the number of pitstops required for the duration of the race.
The safety car is driven by a professional driver (since 2000, by Bernd Mayländer), accompanied by a co-driver to assist with operations and communications. The safety car has both orange and green lights mounted on its roof in the form of a light bar. The green lights are used to signal that it is possible to overtake the safety car; this is only done until the race leader is immediately behind the safety car and at the head of the queue of race cars following.
From 2015, the safety car is not required to wait until all backmarkers have caught back up to the queue. When the safety car is ready to leave the circuit, it will turn off its orange lights to indicate that it will enter the pit lane at the end of the lap. Drivers must continue in formation until they cross the first safety car line, where circuit green lights and flags will indicate they are free to race again.
The safety car must maintain a reasonable speed to ensure that the competitors' tyres are as close as possible to operating temperature and their engines do not overheat.
For incidents during the first three laps, the safety car also has an advantage over the traditional red flag; with a red flag, it would take a minimum of fifteen minutes to restart the race, and the two-hour limit would not start until the cars were ready for a second formation lap. With regards to the time limit, the race is being scored and the time is also counting while the safety car is on the track, and the race resumes.
Formula One officially introduced safety cars in , after trials were conducted at both the French and British Grands Prix during the preceding season. From through , this saw cars of different brands being used as the safety car throughout the season and depending on the track visited; for example, they included the exotic Lamborghini Countach for the Monaco Grand Prix in the 1980s, or the Lamborghini Diablo for the 1995 Canadian Grand Prix to the more mundane Fiat Tempra used at the rain-affected 1993 Brazilian Grand Prix, and the high performance version of the Opel Vectra used at the infamous 1994 San Marino Grand Prix. In particular, the Opel Vectra was criticized as it had a low top speed, which was insufficient to keep the competitors' tyre temperatures high, and the Vectra's brakes faded on the first lap causing its driver to go slowly. Since , in order to standardize the safety car type/performance and also as part of promotional arrangements, the main supplier of safety cars has been Mercedes-Benz, with Aston Martin sharing the duties with them from onward.
From , new procedures were applied for the first time during the Bahrain Grand Prix. The pit lane was closed immediately upon the deployment of the safety car. No car could enter the pits until all cars on the track had formed up in a line behind the safety car, they passed the pit entrance, and the message "pit lane open" was given. A ten-second stop/go penalty (which must be taken when the race is resumed) was imposed on any driver who entered the pit lane before the pit lane open message is given. However, any car which was in the pit entry or pit lane when the safety car was deployed would not incur a penalty. This was infamously exploited during the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix when Nelson Piquet, Jr. wrecked his Renault shortly after teammate Fernando Alonso had exited the pits in what was later discovered to be an intentional crash designed to trigger a safety car and subsequent closure of the pit lane.
From , however, this procedure has been dropped, and replaced by software that calculates where a car is on the track and a minimum lap time it should take the car to get to the pits. Cars that enter the pits before this time limit has expired are penalised.
When the safety car and the drivers behind it are on the start/finish straight, there is a red light at the exit of the pit lane. Drivers who go past the red light are disqualified from the race. This has happened to several drivers during the years, such as Juan Pablo Montoya at the 2005 Canadian Grand Prix and Giancarlo Fisichella and Felipe Massa in the 2007 Canadian Grand Prix. At the same race a year later, Lewis Hamilton failed to notice the red light and slammed into the back of the car of Kimi Räikkönen, who was waiting at the end of the pit lane alongside Robert Kubica.
From , once cars were lined up behind the safety car, lapped cars were no longer allowed to unlap themselves before the race was restarted. This rule was abandoned from the season onwards, with cars now allowed to unlap themselves before the race resumes. However, since , the safety car does not need to wait for the backmarkers to catch up with the leading pack before returning to the pits.
The 2021 Belgian Grand Prix infamously became the shortest race in Formula One World Championship history and the first (and so far only) World Championship Grand Prix in history to be run entirely behind the safety car with no running taking place under green flag conditions, with two full laps completed behind the safety car before the race was red flagged on lap 3 and not restarted thereafter with results taken from the end of lap 1 with Max Verstappen declared the winner of the event and half points awarded to the top 10 classified drivers.
In response to the controversial safety car restart at the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the FIA reworked the safety car restart procedure: instead of waiting for the last lapped car to unlap itself, the safety car will now be withdrawn one lap after the instruction to unlap is received.
Since 2021, F1 has featured two official safety cars, both the Aston Martin Vantage and the Mercedes-AMG GT R that was already used in previous seasons. Since 2022, Mercedes provides a Black Series variant of the GT.
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The accident panel recommended the implementation of a "virtual safety car", based on the "slow zone" system used in Le Mans racing. Compared to the former, the safety car does not actually appear on the track. On top of not being allowed to overtake under yellow flag conditions in the affected sector, a "VSC" icon would appear trackside and on the drivers' steering displays, obliging drivers to not exceed the posted speed limit, thus resulting in a 35% speed reduction. All drivers are informed of their delta time (the difference between their speed and the current speed limit) on their dashboard display, and must keep their delta times positive, meaning they must be slower than the reference time. The system was similar to the Electro-PACER lights used in the Indianapolis 500 races from 1972 until 1978, except that engine control units (ECU) were involved and could enforce speed limits under the current system.
The VSC was tested over the course of the final three races of the season, during parts of free practice sessions. The system was evolved taking into account drivers' feedback and was officially introduced for the season following ratification by the World Motor Sport Council (WMSC). The VSC was officially used for the first time, and for a brief period prior to the deployment of the actual safety car, at the 2015 Monaco Grand Prix, following a 30G crash involving Max Verstappen. The system saw its first extended deployment at the 2015 British Grand Prix after Carlos Sainz Jr.'s power unit failed at Club Corner of the Silverstone Circuit.
In the last 50 years, the Pontiac Trans Am, Chevrolet Camaro, Chevrolet Corvette, Oldsmobile Cutlass, and Ford Mustang are the only models that have been selected as pace cars three or more times.
During the IndyCar Series season, however, Johnny Rutherford,
Servia pace car driver. Retrieved May 11, 2021 The pace car is deployed for debris, collision, or weather reasons. Since 1993, upon the waving of the yellow flag, pit road is closed until the pace car picks up the leader and passes the pit entrance the first time, unless track blockage forces the field to drive through pit lane. Another duty of the pace car is to lead the field around the course on parade laps prior to the start of the race. These increase in speed, allowing for a flying start of the race.
Furthermore, two other rule changes have been implemented. Since 2000, with one lap to go before going back to green, the pace car pulls off the track in turn one rather than in turn four. The current leader of the race is then assigned the task of pacing the field back to the green flag. After much consideration, this rule was added to prevent a situation much like the one that happened in the 1995 Indianapolis 500, when Scott Goodyear passed the pace car going back to green. In 2002, a "wave-around" rule was added, where the pace car waves by all competitors (if there are any) between the pace car and the actual leader of the race. This allows the leader to control the restart without any lapped cars in front of them. It also creates a strategy for cars to gain laps back, loosely resembling NASCAR's "Lucky dog" rule. However, the cars who get waved around are not allowed to pit until the green flag restarts the race (so they do not get the advantage of getting their lap back AND a free pit stop).
Unlike most series in motorsport, owing to NASCAR's short-track roots, each track usually offers its own safety car, typically from the manufacturer, but in recent years, it has been a local dealer or association of regional dealerships-provided Safety car. Tracks that use Toyota safety cars will use a Toyota Camry Hybrid, while Ford tracks will use a Ford Mustang, while Chevrolet tracks use a Chevrolet Camaro and most Dodge tracks use a Dodge Challenger. If a manufacturer is promoting a new vehicle, they will often use the new car instead of the standard-specification safety car.
For the Truck Series, which races pickup trucks instead of cars, the safety "car" is often a pickup. Tracks affiliated with a local or regional Chevrolet dealership will use a Chevrolet Silverado, while Chrysler dealership-affiliated tracks will use a Ram Pickup. Ford-affiliated tracks will often use the F-Series, but Toyota-affiliated tracks are less likely to use the Toyota Tundra, but prefer marketing the Camry Hybrid. However, Ford and Toyota manufacturer sponsored tracks will prefer the Mustang and Camry, respectively, instead of a truck, and occasionally, pickup trucks have been used as pace vehicles for Cup Series and Xfinity races.
Since NASCAR does not allow speedometers or electronic speed limiting devices, the pace car circles the track at pit road speed during the Parade lap. This allows each driver to note the RPM at which pit road speed is maintained. Drivers exceeding that speed on pit road will be penalized, typically a "drive-through" or "stop and go" penalty, costing them valuable track position.
Since mid-2004, NASCAR official Brett Bodine has driven the vehicle during official race functions during Cup Series races. Other famous NASCAR pace car drivers include Robert "Buster" Auton and Elmo Langley.
At many races, NASCAR has an honorary pace car driver that actually drives a car during the parade laps. Depending on the driver's skill, some drivers are allowed to pace the field right up to the dropping of the green flag. Some famous drivers have been Jay Leno, Richard Hammond, Luke Wilson, Rob Gronkowski, Guy Fieri and many others.
The beneficiary rule (informally known as the "lucky dog" rule) states once the safety car is deployed, the first car not on the lead lap will regain a lap. The Beneficiary will regain his lap once pit road opens. Bodine will signal that car to pass him through radio contact between NASCAR and that team. The free pass car must pit with the lapped cars.
After previous being trialed at the NASCAR All-Star Race, at the 2009 Pocono 500, NASCAR introduced a new "Double-file restart" rule that lines the field two cars on each row on every restart, similar to the start of the race, instead of lead-lap cars on the outside and lapped cars on the inside. Also, the "wave-around" rule, similar to what is enforced in racing series sanctioned by IndyCar, was adopted to ensure the first car on the restart is the leader, and ensure there are no lapped cars ahead of the leader.
The supplier of the safety car in Grand Prix motorcycle racing is BMW M since 1999.
Unlike Formula 1 and other auto racing series, safety car is not used to control the field during yellow flag period.
NASCAR subsequently added the use of the second safety car (used during race start situations) to protect the last jet dryer in other safety car situations.
As the safety car was exiting turn 11, an approaching Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 drastically reduced its speed in response to the unusually slow safety car. However, a BMW a few seconds behind came around the blind turn at speed, colliding with the Gallardo and safety car. The collision destroyed the Gallardo and sent the BMW into a number of rolls. The safety car was sent off the track into the Armco safety barrier at great speed. In the chaos, a Marcos LM600 coming around turn 11 locked up its brakes and spun into the wet grass on the inside of the track. Sliding back onto the track, it was hit from the side by a BMW Z3. Furthermore, two E46 BMW M3 GTRs were damaged: one on the outside line hit the rear of the Marcos, and the other, on the inside line, slightly damaged its front right. The second M3 continued around the track, while the first slid into the grass before turn 12. The race was stopped, and there were no serious injuries to any of the drivers.
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