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F1 rule changes include grid re-starts

PARIS, France - Formula 1 pace-car periods will be followed by a gridded re-start 2015, Formula 1's governing International Automobile Federation has announced.

The measure, which replaces rolling restarts, is intended to make races more exciting but has been criticised by some drivers.





Mercedes' Drivers’ championship leader Nico Rosberg said after the 2014 Austrian GP on June 22: "I understand the start is one of the most exciting times for the fans but it sounds very extreme and I hope it's not going to be done. It's going too far with things."

'TOO MUCH OF A DISADVANTAGE'

The federation said in a statement that its World Motor Sport Council had agreed the change: "Safety car restarts will now be a standing start from the grid. Standing starts will not be carried out if the safety car is used within two laps of the start (or restart) of a race or if there are fewer than five laps remaining."

Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo was also unimpressed by the "artificial" proposal put forward by the F1 'strategy group' that brings together leading teams, his own included. He told Sky Sports: "If it goes to a standing start the chance of not having a great start is pretty high so you could go from first to fourth.

"It's just a bit too much of a disadvantage for someone who earned the lead in the first place."

TESTING PLANS

Other changes include measures to reduce costs in areas such as testing and design and to make cars more attractive than the current 'ugly-nosed' ones.

Three pre-season tests of four days each will be scheduled in 2015 and restricted to Europe, ruling out costly excursions to Bahrain. In 2016 this will be reduced to two tests of four days each.

There will also be two in-season tests of two days each, also in Europe, with two of the four days reserved for young drivers. Wind-tunnel testing will be limited to 65 hours a week instead of 80 and the use of computational fluid dynamics* reduced.

The pre-race Friday-night personnel curfew will be extended from six to seven hours in 2015 then further extended to eight hours in 2016. The curfews, implemented in 2012, are a bid to cut down on the working hours of F1 staff during GP weekends.

Regulations to change the look of car noses for "improved safety and to provide more aesthetically pleasing structures" will be imposed in 2015.

TYRE-BLANKET BAN ON HOLD

Drivers will be limited to four engines per season instead of five unless there are more than 20 races on the calendar, and parc ferme conditions will be enforced from the start of final practice on Saturday instead of before qualifying.

A decision on banning ban on tyre blankets has been put on hold.

The governing body added that any changes to sporting and technical regulations would in future require unanimous agreement from all parties from March 1 instead of the current June 30.

*A branch of fluid mechanics that uses algorithms to solve and analyse problems involving fluid flows such as the interaction of liquids and gases with surfaces.

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