Drivers call for qualifying cooperation
| By Jonathan Noble |
Friday, April 4th 2008, 08:10 GMT |
Formula One drivers must do more to cooperate with each other in qualifying, despite the introduction of a maximum lap time, to avoid a repeat of the dangerous scenes witnessed in Malaysia.
That is the view of two leading drivers, who feel that the rule change that prevents cars lapping too slowly at the end of the qualifying must go hand-in-hand with drivers paying more attention to faster cars approaching.
BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica, who was one of the cars lapping slowly in the closing seconds of Sepang qualifying, said: "I mentioned after Malaysia qualifying that we should have a rule like the 120 percent limit we have on the way to the grid.
"But I've been thinking about it a lot, and what I found is that in some ways it is still not right. Some drivers will go quicker, but some drivers may still stay on the line and then we will have the same problems.
"It will change a bit the safety, because the delta between the cars will be smaller, but if someone doesn't move from the line then we will still have the same issue. We have to look a bit more out for each other."
McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen also felt that the introduction of a time limit may not cure the problems entirely, because there would be a danger of not being able to back off for rival cars if there was the possibility of not completing your lap in time.
"I think certainly after what I did in Malaysia and the penalty I got, whatever the regulation is now I will make sure I am not in anyone's way," said the Finn, who along with teammate Lewis Hamilton was given a five-place grid penalty for impeding rival cars.
"I think in Malaysia what happened was a bit of a misunderstanding between myself and the team, plus I forgot to look in my mirrors enough. By the time Nick (Heidfeld) and Fernando (Alonso) arrived I was at the braking zone, and for me at that point it was too dangerous to move anywhere. So I was kind of screwed at that point.
"I don't know exactly what is the solution to do that. If you introduce a certain time to do the lap in, then the problem might become that if someone is still on the fast lap close to you, you cannot back off because you need to be within some time limit. But also, you cannot hold the other driver up. So it's a tricky one.
"You need to keep driving and looking in your mirrors to make sure you are out of their way."
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