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F1 team bosses want rethink on 'joke' rules

Team principals Maurizio Arrivabene and Christian Horner have called for a rethink of Formula 1's rules after they caused controversy during the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend

A lengthy debate took place on Saturday night over the application of the 107% rule that could have impacted on 11 drivers.

There was also a delay in the launching of a probe into whether Nico Rosberg breached a rule regarding double-yellow flags, with the Mercedes driver exonerated several hours after qualifying.

Arrivabene believes Formula 1 needs to simplify its rulebook, echoing comments made by Ferrari's president Sergio Marchionne late last year.

"My president raised that topic one year ago, more or less," said Ferrari chief Arrivabene,

"He said clearly we have too many complications. Clear and simple rules could help.

"We need to clean up all the grey areas in the rules.

"When you have grey areas you never know where you are going. You start to look left, right, up, down."

Red Bull boss Horner agreed, adding that common sense was required and rules, such as the restrictions on radio communication, were confusing for fans.

"We need a common sense rule, but probably in Formula 1 that doesn't exist," he said.

"It's like the radio situation with Jenson Button [who received a penalty for being assisted by McLaren with a problem during the race].

"I haven't seen what was said or recorded but we're over-regulating and making it too complicated for the fans.

"You need to keep it simple that a casual viewer can tune in and pick up what's going on without over-regulating."

Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen was frustrated with the way the rules were interpreted concerning Max Verstappen's defence of position in their battle in Hungary and took aim at the rulebook as a whole.

"It's a joke with the rules," he said. "A good example is in the qualifying on Saturday.

"You have the 107% rule and the people who didn't go through from first qualifying they applied it to but not on the rest.

"So how can you suddenly have the same rule and apply it in the same qualifying two different ways?

"Can somebody explain how that works?

"It seems to be a part of this place and something must change.

"It just looks bad to people outside and it's not fair.

"There's a rule and it should apply exactly the same way every time."

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