The safety car is an official vehicle — typically a high-performance road car — that leads the Formula 1 field at a reduced pace when conditions are too dangerous to continue racing but not severe enough to stop the session with a red flag. All drivers must form up behind it in race order and maintain a set gap. Overtaking is not permitted while the safety car is out. The safety car is deployed for incidents such as crashes, debris on track, or adverse weather. Racing resumes when the safety car returns to the pit lane.
Example: The safety car is out following the incident at turn seven — the drivers are bunching up behind it now.
The safety car is different from the virtual safety car. A real safety car physically leads the field on track; a virtual safety car is an electronic system that simply limits the drivers’ speed using a delta time target.
See Also: