Theissen expects imminent qualifying tweak
| By Jonathan Noble |
Tuesday, March 25th 2008, 10:22 GMT |
 BMW motorsport director Mario Theissen expects the FIA will make an imminent change to the qualifying rules to prevent a repeat of the controversy that marred events in Sepang.
McLaren duo Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen were docked five places for holding up rival drivers at the end of qualifying as they toured back to the pits.
But despite the sporting aspect of what happened, the situation of cars returning slowly to the pits while other drivers are on their qualifying laps has highlighted potential dangers.
And Theissen has said it was the safety aspect that prompted him to speak to FIA race director Charlie Whiting about the need for an urgent change in the rules - perhaps by introducing a maximum time for drivers to complete their lap.
"I think this is necessary," said Theissen. "I talked to Charlie Whiting on Saturday night, not about the specific case but about the issue of having cars with a differential speed of 200km/h on the same lap. It is something that must not happen."
When asked by autosport.com if the impression was that the FIA would change the rules, Theissen said: "Absolutely."
While the FIA considers how to resolve the situation, McLaren F1 CEO Martin Whitmarsh feels it unlikely there will be a repeat of the situation in the future.
The scenario was prompted in Malaysia by the threat of rain during qualifying, which meant some drivers completed their runs before the end of the session.
"It's unlikely to be a problem in Bahrain," said Whitmarsh when asked about the need to introduce a maximum laptime limit. "In our view, unless there's a better idea, we should be trying to implement it.
"But what happened in Sepang was because of the threat of rain – it's unlikely that will happen in Bahrain.
"So all of the cars in Q3 will be co-ordinated and in phase with each other for their flying laps. Had it been the case here, we wouldn't have stumbled across the problem we had."
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