when was the safety car introduced in formula 1 races
Safety car The first use of a safety car in Formula One is reported to have taken place at the 1973 Canadian Grand Prix, where a yellow Porsche 914[5][6] was called for duty following various incidents under treacherous weather conditions. Controversially, on that occasion, it took several hours after the race to figure out the winner and final results since the safety car driver had placed his car in front of the wrong competitor thus causing part of the field to be one lap down incorrectly.[7]
2018 Formula One World Championship The championship started in Melbourne with the Australian Grand Prix. The race ended with a victory for Ferrari and Sebastian Vettel, who used a timely virtual safety car period—triggered by the stricken Haas of Romain Grosjean—to pass Mercedes's Lewis Hamilton and he successfully defended the position until the finish.[69] Kimi Räikkönen finished third in the other Ferrari ahead of Red Bull Racing's Daniel Ricciardo.[69] McLaren ended the first race of their partnership with Renault with a fifth and ninth place for Alonso and Vandoorne respectively.[70] Max Verstappen finished sixth after an early spin ahead of Nico Hülkenberg. Valtteri Bottas was eighth, having started fifteenth when he took a penalty for a gearbox change after a heavy crash in qualifying. Carlos Sainz Jr. completed the points-scoring positions in tenth. Charles Leclerc and Sergey Sirotkin both made their competitive débuts for Sauber and Williams respectively.[71][72] Leclerc finished thirteenth while Sirotkin retired with a brake failure.[73][72]