{"id":497499,"date":"2026-02-22T21:21:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-22T21:21:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/497499\/"},"modified":"2026-02-22T21:21:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T21:21:09","slug":"why-the-fia-ignored-ferraris-f1-start-procedure-warnings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/497499\/","title":{"rendered":"Why the FIA ignored Ferrari’s F1 start procedure warnings"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ferrari<\/a> Team Principal Fred Vasseur has revealed that the team had warned the FIA about the concerns regarding Formula 1<\/a>\u2018s latest start procedures a year ago.<\/p>\n

The latest era of the sport is going to kick off with many unknowns and surprises owing to the drastic rule changes brought about by the FIA. <\/p>\n

The technical overhaul has targeted not only the chassis but also the power units. With the turbo-hybrid era now over, the latest engine formula will see a 50-50 split between electrical and combustion propulsion and the elimination of the MGU-H. <\/p>\n

The MGU-H essentially used the hot exhaust gases and converted it into energy. But with it now gone, one of the biggest areas that will see a change is the start procedures. <\/p>\n

The pre-season tests at Barcelona, and in Bahrain over the past two weeks, has seen drivers struggle to get off the line and maintain traction. Without the MGU-H, drivers are forced to maintain higher revs to get an ideal start configuration. <\/p>\n

This means a longer start procedure that has been a hit or a miss across the grid \u2013 even sprouting safety concerns from the likes of McLaren<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Vasseur, however, revealed that the iconic Italian marque<\/a> had already brought this too the FIA\u2019s attention last year, but was squarely ignored.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe raised [this issue] one year ago with the FIA, about the starting procedure, that it was tricky,\u201d he told media including Motorsport Week. <\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody knew that without the MGU-H it would be a tricky phase of the weekend. The FIA decided to not change the procedure.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all took decisions on the architecture of the engine based on those regulations.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"FerrariFerrari boss Fred Vasseur has spoken on the F1 star procedure debate<\/p>\n

\u2018If you\u2019re not convinced, start in the pit lane\u2019<\/p>\n

The governing body seems to have taken note of the concerns now, though. Last week, a new process was trialled as blue lights were flashed for five seconds when the last car slotted on the grid after which the traditional five red lights went on. <\/p>\n

This gave drivers some time to get into the right start configuration. The Frenchman gave a positive review of the trial.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the new procedure with the flashing lights, it\u2019s fitting with everybody,\u201d he said. \u201cEverybody\u2019s happy with this, we all think that it\u2019s safe, and let\u2019s go like this.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf someone is not convinced, we can always start on the pit lane if it\u2019s not safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ MORE \u2013 Is Ferrari pulling a poker face over its true F1 2026 pace?<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ferrari Team Principal Fred Vasseur has revealed that the team had warned the FIA about the concerns regarding…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":497500,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,817,826,813,816,85,199816],"class_list":{"0":"post-497499","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-formula-1","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-f1","11":"tag-ferrari","12":"tag-formula-1","13":"tag-formula1","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-vasseur"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=497499"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497499\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/497500"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=497499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=497499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=497499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}