Sebastian Vettel believes F1’s “embarrassing” unlapping requirement during safety car periods could be addressed and prevented by a change to F1’s timing software.

Vettel was among a string of drivers at the recent Emila Romagna GP who overtook the safety car to allow them to unlap themselves ahead of a restart per the usual procedure.

But upon its release, the group of cars encountered several marshals working on or near the side of the track at the Acque Minerale chicane, leaving the latter in a potentially dangerous situation.

Vettel believes that such an incident could have been prevented by the ability for race control’s software to add an extra lap to a driver’s tally without the latter actually having to complete an extra lap.

“I think we should probably focus more on the solution,” said Vettel. “And I think the reason why we are physically unlapping ourselves is because we can’t work out a software that actually just re-sets us.

“So we have to do the extra lap, which sounds quite embarrassing, but that’s what I believe is the truth.

“So I guess going forward, we would just probably put some effort into the software that the lapped cars are not forced to actually physically unlap themselves, but you can just re-set the lap on the screen, and put them in the place that they are. So I think that would be the solution.”

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Vettel argued that the practice of cars unlapping themselves during a safety car period has also led to dangerous situation in other categories of racing.

“Obviously, as a consequence you had in the past people trying to catch the field, also in other other categories crashing. And that can’t be safe under full-course yellow to go out and crash.

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“Plus as you’ve seen or witnessed in Imola people working on the track, trying to do a favour for us, recovering the car that was stranded there, cleaning the track.

“I think they work in the contrary, these two things, and we should just focus on the solution, which I believe is purely software related. And given that is 2020, I think it should be possible.”

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