2016 Formula 1 champion Nico Rosberg has suggested closing the pitlane or drastically reducing the pitlane speed limit during virtual safety car periods to prevent drivers from gaining an unfair advantage.
The proposal follows the inaugural Spanish Grand Prix at the Madring circuit, where McLaren's Lando Norris lost a likely victory due to an ill-timed virtual safety car.
Norris, who had started from pole position, had built a decent lead over Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli in the opening stages of the race. But when a virtual safety car was deployed to recover Lance Stroll's Aston Martin, the McLaren driver had just passed the pit entry and so missed the opportunity for a cheaper pitstop while his rivals took advantage of the moment.
Norris lost the lead and ultimately finished third behind race winner Antonelli and Red Bull's Max Verstappen.
Speaking on Sky Sports' The F1 Show, Rosberg suggested some rule changes to avoid this situation in the future.
"No, it's just really unlucky," Rosberg explained. "That's the way it is. And it swings and roundabouts with the VSC and safety car deployments. You're always going to have good luck or bad luck. It's always horrible when that happens because he deserved to win, and it sucks that he lost it just because of a VSC."
He added: "The problem is we hate seeing cars going round and round behind a safety car. It's the most boring thing in the world of motorsport. And that's why the VSC has been brought in so that we can reduce speed out there for minor dangers.
"Like now, in the case of Lance Stroll, because he was almost out of the way. It just took a little bit of time to clear him out, and that was it. The VSC is still a great thing. But those are good ideas which might be worth exploring.
"Either the pitlane stays closed during a VSC, which then doesn't give anybody the opportunity to take advantage during it or even why not something like: during a VSC, the pitlane speed limit gets reduced massively because it's all about the time lost during a pitstop.
"The problem is during a VSC, the pitstop time lost is so much less because everybody on track is driving so slowly, so by going in the pits you lose a lot less race time, and that is the big problem, why then it becomes unfair.
"But if you somehow find a way to make the pitstop time lost during a VSC as much time lost as when there's no VSC, so you need to somehow slow people down who are going for the pitstop, that could be an idea. So then it's all fair and equal for everybody."
