Restarts after the Red Flag
 

Am I the only one to think that maybe they need a better system to avoid the cars sitting on the pit line like happened today?

They had a really long hold, and with the regulations regarding engines they should give more consideration to the teams to help them preserve the cars. The powers that be know that no team is going to fail to run when there are only a couple of minutes left in the final qualification session, but even when more time is available the timing of laps is critical.

Why not make a system where they could have adequate warning of the restart time? That way the teams can keep the engines at the right temp and the tire warmers on until just before restart.

I'd hate to see that hardware being destroyed when the timing is off and they sit in that pit lane too long. Would a 1 minute until green signal be all that hard to do?

There was a start time published and adhered to, however the teams elected to queue in the pitlane in a bid to gain track position. They knew what they were doing and weighed the risks accordingly.

What Dave said.

What Dave Said

Then what Sonic Said

Always put a fast lap on the bank early in the session, the learning curve is steep.

What about if they gave an extra minute or 30 seconds? That way, they wouldn't need to queue in the pits.

But that would be pointless if the red flag flew, say 30 seconds from the end. An extra 30 wouldn't make any difference. Just leave it alone and accept that, on occasion, the fates deal some drivers a bum deal.

More than that, the restart time was anounced only two or 3 minutes ahead of time and everyone went out as soon as that message turned up. The only way to avoid such queues is to just restart the session without any warning, and thats just daft.

How about adding the fastest time of the previous (P3) session seconds to whatever time is remaining if qualifying time remaining is less than 3 minutes?