Drivers call for caution at Turn 1

The new Turn 1 is a slow 90-degree left hander, and many people are predicting that there will be an incident on the first lap.

Some of the leading drivers in the series have called for their rivals to be cautious on the first lap, to avoid a repeat of the multi-car accident that occurred on the first lap at Hockenheim two weeks ago.

"The first lap is going to be a nightmare," 2005 champion Gary Paffett told autosport.com. "Getting 20 cars through there is going to be hard.

"Every driver has got to watch the other races before us and make sure that we are not silly. We've all got to be calm and collected."

If the other drivers did take Paffett's advice and watch some of Saturday's races, they would have seen a collision between two of the front runners at the start of the German Formula BMW race prior to DTM qualifying.

Mika Hakkinen is less likely to have trouble as he is starting from pole position, but the Finn also called for the field to be sensible on lap one.

"All the drivers have to pay maximum attention at the start," he said. "We don't need anybody making silly mistakes."

Bruno Spenlger will start directly behind Hakkinen on the second row of the grid, and the Canadian is also worried about the race to Turn 1.

"It's important to stay on the track at Turn 1, but it's a bit dangerous because there will be 20 cars braking from high speed," he said.