F1 Chinese Grand Prix: FIA take action over controversial race starts

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F1 News & Gossip

FIA take action over controversial F1 race starts

Very few F1 rules are set in stone

Chris Deeley

Saturday 14 March 2026 10:55

Audi team principal Jonathan Wheatley has confirmed that the FIA has made some tweaks to its F1 starting procedures between races.

The process to find a solution which suits all teams at the start while keeping drivers safe is still ongoing, after a raft of consequential power unit changes for the new season.

Ferrari appear to have put the most into sorting out their getaway capability, and even warned other teams when the regulations were first being put together that the start was a potential problem area – with the new power units taking much longer to spool up key parts on the grid.

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That disproportionately effects cars toward the back of the grid, who are naturally lined up stationary for a shorter time compared to those at the front of the field.

The Australian Grand Prix saw both Ferraris get off to brilliant starts, with Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton using their advantage to go from fourth and seventh on the grid to first and third respectively in the opening corners.

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Audi team boss: The FIA's working on it

Unsurprisingly, the Scuderia have been leading the pushback against any major changes to the start procedure – but Wheatley revealed on Friday that 'small' changes have already been made, and more could be coming.

Speaking to the media at the Chinese Grand Prix, he said: “The FIA is still working on the starting procedure. There will be some small changes to that this weekend as well, which I think should alleviate matters.

"Again, as a sport we learn really, really fast. I think it’s really important to keep an eye on, keep a steady hand on the wheel when it comes to doing anything knee-jerk in terms of reactions.”

F1 stewards note interesting issue

The new power units' spool-up times have been causing further headaches, with stewards admitting when deciding to issue Alex Albon a reprimand for a breach of practice start procedure that the procedure may need to be examined going forward.

The relevant part of that decision document read: "He explained that the new cars for 2026 require a preparation sequence before a start that takes approximately 20 seconds. By way of contrast, in 2025, that was merely 2 seconds or thereabouts. So, there is a significant difference in the way that the cars need to be prepared in order to perform the start.

"So, while it was usual to wait for the car in front to perform the start before the car behind began its preparatory sequence in the past, this could lead to serious delays in the practice starts this year.

"If each car was required to take that length of time (ie 20 seconds or more), and the frontrunners might well need longer, then the practice start procedure would need to be looked at again."

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