The proposal for standing restarts in 2015 following a safety car period hasn’t been welcomed by Formula 1 fans, nor has it been welcomed by the drivers.
Several drivers spoke out against the idea whilst some of them were unaware of the rule change which is to go before the World Motor Sport Council next week.
Many of them described it as unfair, including Romain Grosjean.
“To be 100% honest I am not a big fan of that,” he said. “When you are leading the race and you get a safety car, it is already quite hard and you lose all of your advantage.”
Championship leader Nico Rosberg called it extreme and said it’s a step too far.
“Has it been proposed? Yes? That sounds very extreme. I understand that the start is one of the most exciting times for the fans, but that sounds very extreme so I hope it is not going to be done, because that is going too far with things.”
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His team-mate Lewis Hamilton was also unaware when asked, but said he’d prefer it if the drivers themselves were involved in rule change decisions.
Meanwhile Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo said it was “artificial” and could potentially penalise a driver if they have a bad start through no fault of their own.
“I think if you are leading the race by 10 seconds, you lose your advantage that you have built up, but at least you keep your position,” he said. “But you still do lose something.
“If it goes to a standing start, the chance of having not a great start is pretty high, so you could go from first to even fourth. It is just a bit too much of a disadvantage basically for someone who obviously had the lead in the first place.”
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