A lapped car is a Formula 1 car that is one or more full laps behind the race leader. Being lapped means the race leader has completed at least one more full lap than that car. Lapped cars must respect blue flags and allow the leading cars to pass without impeding them. At safety car restarts, lapped cars are often permitted to unlap themselves — driving past the safety car to rejoin the back of the lead lap — to prevent unnecessary traffic when racing resumes.
Example: The lapped cars are being allowed to unlap themselves before the safety car comes in — that should give us a much cleaner restart.
A lapped car and a backmarker are closely related but not identical. A backmarker refers to any slow or tail-end driver; a lapped car specifically means a driver who has fallen a full lap or more behind the leader.
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