Gary Anderson: F1 standing restarts are a mistake

In Formula 1 next season, the intention is that after a safety car period, we are going to have a full standing restart.

The FIA has said that it doesn't consider grid starts to be any more dangerous than what happens now with the cars getting back underway in single file behind the safety car. But I believe they need to look at the starts of the recent British and German Grands Prix for evidence that this is not so.

Any time that 22 high-performance racing cars are in as close a proximity as they are on the grid, it can always lead to potential disaster. If there's any doubt of that, perhaps have a word with Felipe Massa, whose world was turned upside-down at the start at Hockenheim.

In some ways, standing restarts are more dangerous than the initial start, for several reasons.

One thing to consider is the condition of tyres. After 'x' laps, the tyres will not have the same grip as they have when almost new heading for the original start. Yes, a driver can choose to change them under the safety car, but this is racing and no driver wants to give up track position. If the timing of the safety car suits the team's strategy then OK, but if not it will be a struggle.

Drivers could have to line up on the grid multiple times in a race © LAT

Whereas those who make Q3 might start on rubber that is three laps old, in a race situation you could see massive differences in tyre age, and therefore grip, off the line.

The second factor is the condition of the clutch. A lot of preparation goes into understanding the clutch bite point before the start of the race proper.

Before a restart, that will not be possible so the likelihood of a poor getaway and a startline crash is increased.

These two conditions can add up to a significantly bigger difference between the speed of a car off the line compared to the normal start. If you had two cars with old rubber on the front row for the restart and a bunch of cars behind that are on fresher boots, you are creating the conditions for an accident.

The current safety car system is not perfect, but rolling restarts are preferable to the standing ones. But what I don't like about the current system is the amount of time wasted by letting the lapped cars un-lap themselves.

The idea behind this was to prevent backmarkers getting in the way of a lead battle up front. That in itself is fine. But by waving them past and making them catch the pack back up, the number of green flag laps is reduced.

What I would suggest is that the safety car waits at the pit exit and makes sure it picks up the race leader. This is what usually happens now, but sometimes the leaders pit, which can confuse the procedure. But it shouldn't be too difficult to get that right with today's technology.

Once the safety car is in line in front of the leader and the pack has queued up behind the safety car, the lapped cars should be got out of the way. But rather than sending them past the safety car, they should simply drop back to the rear of the queue.

This will be much faster, and still ensure that the backmarkers aren't in the way at the restart. It is worth doing because sometimes a slower car at a restart can create a gap of several seconds between two battling cars.

The lapped cars would still be a lap down, so wouldn't get it back, but they can have their race at the back while the race for the top positions continues. And a lot less time would be wasted.

Safety cars will still be called upon next season, but restarts will change © LAT

It would also avoid situations such as the one in Monaco where Kimi Raikkonen and Max Chilton came together under the safety car. Chilton was attempting to make up his lap, but Raikkonen was not ready for him to come past and the resulting collision cost the Ferrari a possible podium.

One very big worry with standing restarts is that they could become a tool to spice up the racing and therefore artificially influence the outcome of a grand prix.

While it's not possible for a standing restart to happen in the final five laps of the race according to the proposed rules, there might be a temptation to close up the field with a restart relatively late on when things might be very settled.

The Adrian Sutil situation in the German GP is a good example of a situation where the safety car would be justified, even though it wasn't sent out on that occasion. With a car clearly on the track and needing to be attended by marshals, that's when you need a safety car.

I saw about 12 marshals getting involved in that recovery and while it was under double-waved yellow flags, I have seen the safety car used in far less critical circumstances.

Lewis Hamilton mentioned his concerns after the German GP, referencing the 1977 South African GP when Tom Pryce and a marshal were killed. I was there that day and I can assure you it was a very sombre situation and it's impossible to turn back the clock and undo it.

So the correct decision, and the only decision, that can be made that is that there should never be marshals and racing cars travelling at speed on the same track at the same time.