FIA dismisses standing F1 restart dangers

A number of drivers have expressed worries that there could be unnecessary dangers posed by them being forced to race away from the grid if it is in the stage of a race when they have worn tyres.

But F1 race director Charlie Whiting said ahead of the British Grand Prix that all the indications are that there will be no major issue when the new rule comes in to force.

"I have heard some drivers express concerns but I think we can allay those fears," explained Whiting.

"There were two things drivers were concerned about - one was fairness and that being a leader he is more likely to lose his lead from a standing start than a rolling start. But whether that is true or not, I am not quite sure.

"Equally, if you are in second place you might like the idea of taking a lead which you might not do with a rolling start.

"Then, I think there were some concerns about worn tyres with starting from standing starts.

"But what you have to remember is that until you get to the point of a standing start, the safety car procedure will be exactly the same as before.

"So if you are on worn tyres, any driver on worn tyres is very likely to pit anyway. They do it now so there is no reason why they would not do it under those new rules.

"If you have just made a pitstop then you probably wouldn't [stop], but anyone else - you see them dive in to the pits, they all do it, because they want to take the advantage of getting more or less a free stop.

"That is what happens and it will continue to happen, so the chances of any driver resuming the race from a standing start on very badly worn tyres is very low."

When asked if he believed that having standard restarts was introducing unnecessary dangers because of the increased chances of first corner accidents, Whiting said: "If you say a second standing start is dangerous, then it presupposes that the first one is as well.

"Of course, you are more likely statistically to have incidents at standing starts than at any other time in the race.

"But no driver wants that to happen and no driver will cause it to happen. I don't believe there is any added risk personally."