Starting problems, safety issues: McLaren team Principal calls for 3 immediate rule changes

Dubai: Four-time world champion Max Verstappen’s scathing criticism of the new breed of Formula 1 cars, describing them as “anti-racing” at the end of the second day of testing in Bahrain last Thursday, does not seem outrageous anymore, after McLaren team Principal Andrea Stella called for three immediate rule changes to be implemented ahead of the Formula 1 season-opener in Australia on March 8.

Speaking at his first press conference of the year, Verstappen was underwhelmed by this year’s rule changes, saying: “To drive (they are) not a lot of fun, to be honest.”

“I would say the right word is management. It’s not very Formula One-like. It feels a bit more like Formula E on steroids.

“As a pure driver, I enjoy driving flat out and at the moment, you cannot drive like that. There’s a lot going on.

“A lot of what you do as a driver, in terms of inputs, has a massive effect on the energy side of things. For me, that’s just not Formula 1.

“Maybe it’s then better to drive Formula E, right? Because that’s all about energy, efficiency and management.”

For Stella, two of his three major concerns relate to safety measures regarding race starts and the potential for collisions on the grid, as well as the controversial ‘lift and coast’ procedure at the end of straights, which could also result in high-speed collisions, according to a report in the Independent.

Stella’s third rule-change proposal concerns the new ‘overtake mode’, replacing DRS this season, with the notion being that it is not powerful enough to create overtaking opportunities during races. Speaking about the issues, Stella said: “I think it’s imperative [changes are made] because it’s possible and it’s simple.

“So, we should not complicate what is simple and we should not postpone what is possible immediately. Therefore, I think it’s something that we should definitely achieve before Australia.”

A practice race-start at the end of last week’s test saw multiple cars struggle to move off the line. The new engines need to be revved to build up turbo boost pressure and minimise turbo-lag, resulting in some drivers revving hard for more than ten seconds.

The current start procedure, which sees five red lights blink at one-second intervals before all five vanish, will potentially not provide enough time for drivers at the back of the grid to prepare their turbo in time.

Stella detailed: “We need to make sure that the race start procedure allows all cars to have the power unit ready to go because the grid is not the place in which you want to have cars slow in taking off the grid.”

Speaking about the ‘lift and coast’ issue, with drivers looking to take their foot off the accelerator to recharge the battery, Stella also believed it was a safety concern.

“There could be cars that follow another car and the car ahead may want to lift to harvest [energy],” he said. “This may not be an ideal situation when you follow closely and this can give a race situation like we’ve seen before a few [high-speed crashes] times in Valencia, [Riccardo] Patrese in Portugal and there are a few more that definitely we don’t want to see any more in Formula 1.”

As for the ‘overtake mode’, Stella is concerned there will not be enough energy to use it effectively, which removes a key overtaking device.

The Italian engineer detailed: “I think, unlike in the past, where we had the DRS and the DRS created such an advantage from an aerodynamic drag point of view for the following car, this year, when you follow somebody, you have the same drag and the same power, so it becomes quite difficult to overtake.

“Our drivers have been racing with other drivers during these three days of testing in Bahrain and they found it extremely difficult to overtake. The fact that you have an additional amount of energy when you follow and you are within one second is difficult to exploit because this extra energy may mean that there is just a little bit more deployment at the end of the straight, if anything.”

Last Wednesday, seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton also weighed into the debate demanding the FIA, the sport’s governing body, should resolve different interpretations of the new regulations to ensure all 11 teams start “on an equal playing field”.

The topics will be a point of discussion between the FIA and teams at F1’s Commission meeting this Wednesday, taking place in conjunction with the final pre-season test in Bahrain.