F1: FIA Confirms Change in Grid Procedure

The World Motor Sport Council has approved of a change in the pre-race procedure to be followed by F1 teams and drivers. It has stated that the drivers are to remain in their cars for at least 10 minutes before the national anthem ceremony.

This move has been brought about to allow the media better access to the drivers. The change will be put into effect as soon as this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix. It follows on the lines of a similar decision by Liberty Media to move back starting times of races by ten minutes, to enable broadcasters to get more lead in time.

The FIA Sport Conference was held at Manila, Philippines and this decision was approved there. They also reached a decision regarding the Sporting and Technical Regulations for the 2019 F1 season. They had conducted e-votes and the results rolled in for changes to the aerodynamics.

These include the changes to the front wing, brake ducts and the rear wing. All of this is an effort to improve chances of overtaking amidst concerns that F1 has become far too predictable and boring.

The last Grand Prix held at Monaco was a prime example of this. Though the streets are narrow and overtaking is not the most common sight, Max Verstappen proved that it is not impossible. Starting 20 on the grid, he fought his way back to a points-scoring position of 9.

He passed several cars at various laps and at different parts of the track. But on the other end, even though Ricciardo had a power problem with his engine, a charging Sebastian Vettel could not catch him with more than half the race to do so and eventually finished 7 seconds off the winner.

Alonso and Hamilton were critical of the situation and it led to many wanting a change in F1 races to make them exciting.