Red Bull Gives You Wings
With the Formula 1 race this weekend, much was made of the return of the [107%](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/107%25_rule) rule both before and after [Mark Webber’s Flying Lap](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7m-Ci_oaJo). It was insinuated that if the rule had been in place this year, then this accident may not have happened. Perhaps people need to look a bit closer at the math.
Under the 107% rule, given the top qualifying speed in Q1 of 01:38:132, all cars with a qualifying speed below 01:45.001 would be allowed to race. This is all of the cars that attempted to qualify. You have to take it down to the 104% rule (01:42.057) to keep out the four slowest cars–and that doesn’t include the one that Mark Webber ran in to. To keep Heikki Kovalainen’s Lotus out of the race, they would have to enact a 102% rule, and that just seems a bit silly.