The decision by the FIA (International Automobile Federation) to include five extra seconds between the positioning of the last car on the grid and the activation of the start lights was met with surprise by Frédéric Vasseur, Ferrari team principal. In an interview with Motorsport.com, he stated:
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“Without the MGU-H, it was clear that turbo lag would become a factor to be managed, from drivability to race starts. This has been known since day one. When evaluating choices in defining the guidelines for a power unit, it’s not just about pure power, other aspects also matter, and one of them is the start.”
According to him, Ferrari made technical decisions considering that the procedure would not be changed. “That was why we made certain decisions, and the FIA made it quite clear from the start that they didn’t want to change the start procedure, so I was surprised when this topic resurfaced in Bahrain.”
Behind the scenes, it is believed that the Italian team has developed a smaller turbocharger to reduce inertia and minimize lag. “I can say it’s easy to ask a driver to raise a safety concern or something like that, but in reality, this was known for a long time. When designing the architecture of an engine, compromises are always made: on one hand, you seek maximum power, on the other, drivability. You have to make decisions.”
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At Haas F1 Team, which uses Ferrari engines, principal Ayao Komatsu positively evaluated the test of the new interval. “If we look at these test starts, implementing the blue light for a five-second sequence has worked very well,” said Komatsu. “If you look at these starts, the people who participated were able to get away well. Therefore, I don’t think [it will be a problem]. Initially, without those extra five seconds, I would agree that there could be a safety risk, but now with the pre-start preparation phase, I don’t see any safety risk at all.”
The 2026 Formula 1 season begins this week with the Australian GP. The first practice takes place at 22:30, Brasília time.
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