The Australian Grand Prix was millimeters from starting with a massive mid-field crash when Liam Lawson bungled his getaway from the grid and was nearly collected by a speeding Franco Colapinto. The Grand Prix Drivers Association has warned F1 that a big start line crash is coming soon if the procedure doesn’t change. Because of the newly renewed focus on battery power, F1 extended the start for the 2026 season, allowing cars more time to get their turbos spooled for a proper fast start. After Lawson’s anti-stall start, however, teams are saying the sport hasn’t done enough.
“I think in Melbourne we were extremely lucky that nothing happened with Liam and Franco,” Carlos Sainz, GPDA Director and Williams driver told ESPN. “My feeling is that there’s going to be one of those big crashes if nothing changes for the start at some point this year. Fingers crossed that we take actions in time to improve them and it never happens. But if we stay without doing anything, my feeling is that at one point or another we will see one of those situations.”
The issue apparently stems from drivers having different levels of battery at the start line. The occasional anti-stall at a race start isn’t new, however, as we’ve been seeing them sporadically across the last decade or so. The new regulations, and drivers becoming accustomed to them, are bound to force a few errors, and that seems to have been what happened with Lawson’s near-miss situation.
This is, in my estimation, a potential failure that comes with the territory in F1. This is one of very few racing series that still employ a standing start procedure. Nearly every other motor sport on the planet are released by a safety car to start a race, because standing starts are inherently dangerous. These are supposed to be the best drivers in the world, after all.
Why doesn’t Ferrari want a change?
Ferrari, as the only team to have been with F1 since the beginning of the sport, has a clause baked into its contract with the series. Basically any decision made by Formula One can be outright vetoed by Ferrari management, and the red team allegedly doesn’t want any further changes made to the Grand Prix starting procedure. Despite other teams having expressed earlier this year that a safety concern existed, reports out of Italy indicate Ferrari has already used veto power to strike down a rule change.
This new set of regulations puts heavy emphasis on drivers ability to recharge their batteries on the warm-up lap. Because of a quirk in the regulations the front half of the grid have already crossed the start/finish line and any regeneration they perform while sitting in their start box counts toward their allowed battery charging for lap 1. This severely limits how much battery the front cars can use on the first lap, and may affect how much they are allowed to carry with them from the warm up lap. This explains Colapinto’s closing speeds as he came upon the stricken Racing Bulls.
Ferrari, knowing the regulations wouldn’t change, set up its race strategy and built its car around the start procedure as it exists. Ferrari selected a smaller turbocharger which spools quicker, and allows the team to jet away from the start in ways the other teams simply couldn’t. Ferrari’s start line getaway was incredible. Charles Leclerc started the race from fourth on the grid, but had decisively moved into the lead before turn one. Teammate Lewis Hamlton, meanwhile, nearly slotted into second position from 7th on the grid, but was balked back to fourth by an elbows-out pole sitting George Russell.
If Ferrari maintains this start line advantage in China, it will be instantly obvious why the team doesn’t want any changes.
