After what happened last year, I thought it had been determined that tractor cranes and the like would not enter the track or any exposed trackside area under waved yellows, because there was a demonstrable need for drivers to slow down a good deal more than they were doing under local yellows. Local slow zones were proposed but we ended up with the virtual safety car because Whiting essentially said he either couldn't be bothered or is too incompetent to police local slow zones.
So now any incident requiring a tractor crane can no longer be dealt with under local yellows, so therefore has to be assessed according to whether it requires a VSC or a full SC (or a red flag). From a safety point of view, the only differenced between the VSC and the SC are (1) that the SC bunches the pack and therefore provides clear periods of time where people can go onto the track knowing that there is no race traffic coming past (not relevant to the recovery of the Sauber as access to the track wasn't needed for this), and (2) the speed of the cars.
Does anyone know if the VSC deltas are the same as the SC deltas (i.e. faster than the speed the actual SC does)?
When the SC is deployed there are two speeds - the delta speed you do as you catch the SC (provided you're not stuck behind a car that knows it will have to stack and is therefore cheating by running positive on the delta to impede those behind), and the speed you do once you've caught the SC. This is why the SC distorts the race.
When the VSC is deployed there is only one speed, but what I'd like to know is whether the VSC deltas are the same as the SC deltas, or if they're set slower to simulate the speed of the actual SC? If the latter, then it would be both fairer and (from the point of view of recovering the Sauber) safer to use the VSC for this, because everyone would immediately be restricted to a slower delta than they would if the SC had been deployed but nobody had yet caught it. If the former, then I guess it makes no difference from the point of view of the safety of having the tractor crane and marshals in the turn 1 gravel trap.
Either way, I suspect Disgrace is spot on - they needed at least a VSC because they were sending a tractor crane trackside, but they opted for a full SC because they wanted to take the opportunity to clear the debris from the lap 1 punctures, which means sending individual marshals onto the track at various points around the course, possibly to do jobs that take a little while like picking up many small pieces of rubber, sweeping the track, etc. That's better done under the full SC once the field has formed up.
Edited by redreni, 29 March 2015 - 21:30.