Dennis calls for safety car rule change

McLaren's Lewis Hamilton won the race but Dennis was still unhappy with regulations that close the pitlane for the first lap after the safety car is deployed to allow all cars to bunch up.

The rule change was designed to prevent drivers speeding up to get back to the pits for refuelling at a time when there is obvious danger on the track.

The safety car was deployed four times at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on Sunday.

"I was genuinely frustrated by the impact of the safety car on our race," Dennis told reporters. "This is something that has been raised by the Grand Prix Drivers' Association as being unfair on drivers because it is out of the teams' control.

"It is one of those changes that was made for good reasons but has had too much of a repercussion on this race and will have on other races.

"I hope the FIA and the other teams will learn from today and that we can do a mid-season regulatory change to avoid penalising other drivers in the future, because it could be anybody caught out by it."

Fernando Alonso was penalised for entering the pitstop just as the first safety car was deployed, but Dennis emphasised any other driver could have been in the same situation.

"It just doesn't work for Formula One," he said. "How silly would we have looked if we had run out of fuel because of the safety car? It is just so unfair, not just on us, but on anyone."

Ferrari's Felipe Massa and Renault's Giancarlo Fisichella were disqualified after leaving the pit while the safety car was on circuit and Brazilian Massa agreed the rule was unfair.

"I didn't do anything wrong and I find my disqualification absurd and utterly mistaken," he said.

"What was I supposed to do? The safety car was out there but, like others, I had gone in to fill up and then come out again. I never saw the red light that myself and Fisichella were disqualified for.

"What sense does it make? Was I supposed to stay stopped while the race went on?"