Ferrari is not willing to make further concessions over Formula 1’s start regulations as it attempts to protect one of its key advantages under the sport’s new regulations.
At the first two rounds of the season, the Italian team has made consistently better starts than its rivals and has led the pack into the first corner at the Australian Grand Prix, China sprint race and Chinese Grand Prix.
The advantage is linked to design choices with Ferrari’s power unit, which is believed to feature a smaller turbo to help mitigate turbo lag and make cleaner starts.
As early as preseason testing, rival teams raised safety concerns over the variations in start line performance this year, which appeared to be verified in Australia when Franco Colapinto narrowly avoided a nasty collision with Liam Lawson on the grid.
The FIA has taken steps to make the start process easier for drivers by adding five seconds to the procedure to allow drivers to better prepare their turbos, but there are still concerns about the differing performances.
George Russell, who has lost positions at all three starts this season, raised fresh concerns ahead of the Chinese Grand Prix over the current battery recharge limit for the formation lap, which he said prevented him having a full battery on the opening lap in Australia.
The championship leader added that Ferrari had blocked simple changes to the regulations to ensure all cars are starting with a full electrical boost.
“Unfortunately, sometimes when you’re trying to make changes for the good of the sport, if a team has a competitive edge — like Ferrari at the moment with the race starts — they wouldn’t wish to see anything changing,” he said.
“I think half the grid got caught out by a quirk in the rules for the race start in Melbourne. We now know that, but because there was some resistance from some teams to change, we’re just going to have to work around it.”
However, Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur claimed he raised concerns about the starts a year ago and was told it was up to the teams to design their cars around the regulations.
He said Ferrari acted accordingly with its design choices and has already made a concession to its rivals by allowing for the five second addition.
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“I think that we already changed massively the rule of the start with the five second story,” Vasseur said.
“One year ago I went to the FIA, I raised the hand on the starting procedure to say guys it will be difficult. The reply was clear that we have to design the car fitting with the regulation and not to change the regulation fitting with the car.
“We designed the car fitting with the regulation, the change of the five seconds, the blue light story, didn’t help us at all, but I think at one stage enough is enough.”
Asked if that meant it was “case closed” for Ferrari over further rule changes to the start procedure, Vasseur said: “For me, yes.”
