Niki Lauda believes it took too long to fix a damaged guardrail at the British Grand Prix following Kimi Raikkonen’s first lap crash.
The Austrian says a quick fix should have taken place and blamed Formula 1’s “over-cautious” approach to safety as one of the reasons it took almost an hour to get the race going again.
“Why did we stop for one hour to fix one bottom guardrail? There should have been a quicker fix, and a quicker fix could mean put some tyres in front,” he said.
“This over nursing of F1, being over-cautious, over-controlling, drives me mad. And this little guardrail issue is another example.
“There are too many people involved in making F1 as safe as the roads, which is wrong.”
The time it took to repair the barrier is just one of many issues which he believes needs changing about the sport and he admitted he’s consulted Bernie Ecclestone on the matter.
“There is no way that another car would hit in the same place that guardrail,” he added. “The delays we have now, nursing the guys, not crossing the white line here, being four seconds back, it is all wrong and this should be stopped.
“I have talked to Bernie about it and he fully agrees. We have to go back to normal racing.”
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