Reaction to previous problems: the FIA is planning a change for the Australian GP that will affect the start itself

Formula 1 is about to hold its third race of the season, namely the Australian Grand Prix. For the upcoming race, however, the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) is planning a change that will affect the start of Sunday’s grand prix itself.

A reaction to early season problems – that’s probably a safe way to interpret the FIA’s planned change for the upcoming Australian Grand Prix.

In the opening race of this season, the Bahrain Grand Prix, Esteban Ocon was given a five-second penalty for a bad grid position. The French Alpine racer simply missed his starting slot.

This subsequently affected Ocon’s entire race, although he and his team were more likely to be responsible for the other penalties.

Fernando Alonso also received a penalty in Saudi Arabia for an incorrect starting slot. Naturally, the FIA is looking for a change after these problems, which have quite logically caused a lot of discussion, not only among the fans.

So, as Racing News 365 reports, the FIA has made a change in the size of the starting slots ahead of the race weekend in Australia.

They will now be 20 centimetres wider. In addition, a centre line will be marked at the start to guide drivers where to park the front of their car.

It was the French driver who admitted that he spoke to the FIA about the incident in the Bahrain Grand Prix to clarify the reason for his penalty. And he also hinted at visibility problems caused by the new generation of F1 monoblocs.

“I basically put the car too far to the right and crossed the line (of the starting slot). Unfortunately, you can’t see very well in these cars,” Ocon told media, including Racing News 365.

Sources