FIA react to Malaysia chaos

Malaysia: Chaotic

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FIA are to set maximum lap time limits prior to next weekend's Bahrain GP following chaotic scenes during qualifying in Malaysia.

The problems arose in the dying seconds of Q3 when the majority of drivers were trundling back to the pits in an effort to save fuel having completed their final flying lap.

Some were so slow that the official F1 timing screen read 'stop' creating a dangerous situation with other cars that were still trying to complete their flying lap,

Drivers had to fight their way through the traffic narrowly avoiding slow moving cars, some of whom were in the middle of the racing line.

Debacle

The debacle resulted in both McLaren drivers being penalised for holding up Nick Heidfeld and prompted calls for qualifying to be changed before there was an accident.

The FIA are expected to announce new rules within the next few days with time limits imposed, likely to be 120 percent of a normal lap time, to stop drivers returning to the pits too slowly.

A FIA spokesman said: "The matter is under discussion and our clarification to the teams and drivers will be that cars returning to the pits having completed their flying lap or laps will be required to do so within a time that we will set.

"This could be approximately 120% of the 'normal' time as we do to prevent drivers going very slowly to the grid to save fuel."