F1 to ditch rolling start from 2015

Formula 1 World Championship is set to change the current rolling starts format for standing starts from the grid following safety cars in 2015.

Following discussions between teams about ways to improve the sport, one idea that has gained momentum in recent weeks is to overhaul the way that races resume after the safety car period. There is a consensus that the current rolling restarts with the leader dictating the pace do not provide enough excitement.

Sources have revealed that during this week's F1 Commission meeting at Biggin Hill, a proposal to scrap the current format for 2015 and change it to grid starts after safety cars was tabled and approved. The idea is that from next year, once lapped cars have been allowed to unlap themselves, cars will form up on the grid once a safety car period has ended.

There will then be the same procedure of a standing start as happens at the beginning of races. The hope is that there will be more chance of positions changing, with the spectacle of a standing start producing more drama than rolling starts do. The rule change still needs to be ratified at the FIA World Motor Sport Council meeting in Munich next week, but this will be a formality now that the F1 Commission has backed it.