Formula 1 team bosses have agreed in principle to the introduction of standing restarts following a safety car period, following an informal meeting in the Abu Dhabi paddock with Bernie Ecclestone on Friday morning.
An agreement is already in place for wet standing restarts, which will see cars run behind the safety car until the track is considered dry enough, then the grid will reform and start as normal, but now team bosses want standing restarts mid-race following any safety car period.
That would mean drivers lining up in race position for a lights-out start – an idea Ecclestone put forward to spice up races.
It's believed the teams have backed the proposal, despite voting it down during a meeting at the start of the season after a number of concerns were raised.
Those include the uncertainty over race starts and the fact it unfairly punishes a driver that gets a bad start, those starting off the racing line which won't be as grippy and covered in tyre marbles and the prospect of starting on worn tyres compared to new.
The proposal will now go before the Strategy Group and then the World Motor Sport Council before it is officially added to the rules.
Also during the meeting, Ecclestone tabled an idea to reduce the length of races by splitting them into two, 40-minute events. That idea was rejected by the teams.
