Launch control ignites safety concerns for Monaco

Traction and launch control returned to F1 at last month's Spanish Grand Prix after the FIA, motorsport's governing body, relaxed the regulations controlling electronic driver aids. The latter system allows drivers to optimise their starts simply by pushing a button or series of buttons.

However, development glitches and operating errors have led to teething problems and four cars were left stranded on the grid at the start of the Austrian Grand Prix, including Mika Hakkinen's McLaren, the Sauber of Nick Heidfeld and both Jordan-Hondas. A repeat performance on the narrow Monte Carlo street circuit could have potentially disastrous consequences and is causing concern along the pit lane.

"It was the first time I have ever stalled on the grid," said Jordan's Jarno Trulli, "and I will never use the system again. I was not comfortable sitting on the grid like that. I personally won't use it. As for the other people, I don't know, but it's going to be very dangerous if anyone stalls on the grid at Monaco."

The A1-Ring has a wide grid relative to Monaco and drivers were able to take avoiding action around the stricken cars at the start. However, the Monte Carlo circuit's start-finish straight is much narrower, leaving considerably less margin for avoidance.

The problem is compounded further still by the fact that at Monaco, drivers are not permitted to carry out practice starts at any time during the race weekend either on the track or in the pit lane, so teams must be confident their systems will run without fault before arriving in the principality. At other circuits, practice starts are frequently carried out in the pitlane.

"We have done enough work on the systems," said Jordan's chief race engineer David Brown, "but the decision will be taken on Saturday [before the race] and it will be a totally technical decision. As for Monaco, we are not allowed to do practice starts, so it would be highly dangerous to use it without practising first."

It is thought that around nine cars ran without traction control in Austria and that the majority of the 11 teams have experienced problems at some point or other during testing or the races. Exhaustive work is being carried out during testing this week, but it is extremely unlikely that every team will have achieved 100 percent reliability in time for Monaco.

"We are always wary of using the system," said BAR's senior operations engineer James Robinson. "That's why both Jacques [Villeneuve] and Olivier [Panis] started manually in Austria. If we do 25 launch starts and encounter no problems at all then we will be happy to use it."

Despite the problems with launch control, the advantages of making a perfect start, should everything work properly, make taking the decision to turn off the gizmo a difficult one.

"I'm a bit worried obviously," said Sauber test team manager Jacky Eeckelaert. "If it works it is good, but the system is still unpredictable. We have managed to refine it enough to make the automatic start much more efficient than the best manual start, so it's very tempting to use it. If manual starts were better, then it would be an easier decision."

The FIA has the right to make changes to the F1 technical and sporting regulations on safety grounds, should it desire. However, driver aids were re-introduced mainly because it was believed impossible to effectively police their illegal usage.

When asked if launch control should be disallowed for Monaco in order to give the teams more time to perfect their systems, Trulli reflected a widely-held opinion, saying, "yes, but how are you going to check that?"