Sutil calls for tougher pit penalties

Sutil was forced to take evasive action when Ferrari's Felipe Massa was released into his path in the pits during the Singapore Grand Prix, the second time in five races he has had to avoid hitting the Brazilian in the pits.

"If there is a strict rule and everybody knows we get a big penalty then they will stop doing it," Sutil told autosport.com. "They will be more careful.

"We will have some discussions in the briefing. We had some discussions after Valencia, and the teams must now start thinking about what to do about these kinds of incidents.

"It's always so stressful in the pitstops. Everybody is concentrating on letting the car go as soon as possible. There must be a guy standing somewhere and watching the other cars coming into the pitlane.

"Sure, we will talk a little bit more about it, maybe with the FIA, to solve this problem. There will be one time that somebody crashes in the pitlane, there's a mess. So it's just a matter of time before something happens."

The question of unsafe pit releases is also set to be discussed by the Grand Prix Drivers' Association (GPDA), with director Jarno Trulli concerned not only about unsafe releases into the path of cars in the fast lane, but also premature releases which endanger mechanics.

"It's a good thought by Adrian," Trulli told autosport.com. "We have never really discussed it because this doesn't happen very often. But we have seen that when it happens it might be very dangerous, not only for the drivers but definitely the mechanics.

"We need to rule this out. The pitstop is a key moment for everyone, but when you are not ready you should not release the car. It should never happen. We need to look after everybody in the pit area."

Trulli believes that if more responsibility was put on the teams to ensure that cars were released safely, problems would be less likely to arise. This could lead to more stringent penalties being applied for even minor pit incidents, as in categories such as the IRL IndyCar Series and NASCAR when even running over an air line will result in a penalty.

"Personally, I would put more responsibility on the team," said Trulli. "If you do an unsafe release and no one is ready for it, the team has to be responsible.

"It's not a question of being unlucky because it has happened several times now and it can have very serious consequences for the mechanics. We have to put in a new rule perhaps."