MOTORSPORT: Safety worries on Oz GP start time

The Melbourne race has begun at 5pm in recent years as a compromise to F1 commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone's desire to reach more TV viewers in the sport's European heartland.

However, the 10-member panel that reported to motorsport's world governing body, the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), on Bianchi's crash has recommended that GPs start at least four hours before sunset or dusk unless they are on tracks that have lights.

Ecclestone has long wanted the Melbourne race to be run under lights to make its timing friendlier for the bulk of the F1 global audience, but Victoria has refused to stump up the money that lighting the Albert Park temporary street circuit would require.

Sunset on the day of this year's F1 season-opening race in Melbourne, March 15, will be at 7.40pm.

Under the recommendation of the FIA's Bianchi accident panel that would require the start to be brought forward from 5pm to probably 3.30pm. It started once before at that time in the transition from the original 2pm to the recent 5pm. Drivers have complained of dangerous glare with the race ending at twilight.

Victoria's recently-ousted Liberal government last year extended the contract with Ecclestone for Melbourne's GP until 2020.

Bianchi's Marussia ran off the Suzuka circuit on lap 43 of the wet Japanese GP last October 5, the 700kg car hitting a 6.5-tonne mobile crane at 126kmh in fading light as the crane was recovering Adrian Sutil's Sauber that had crashed the previous lap.

Grave fears were held for the 25-year-old Frenchman's life in the days immediately after the crash. He remains in hospital but has been returned to France, while the Marussia team has collapsed with massive debts.

The panel that produced a 396-page report on his accident included the president of the FIA's safety commission Peter Wright, former F1 team principals Ross Brawn and Stefano Domenicali, dual world champion driver Emerson Fittipaldi and Austrian ex-F1 driver Alex Wurz, now the president of the Grand Prix Drivers Association.

Dan Knutson, the veteran F1 correspondent for Australia's Auto Action, reported in that magazine this week that "the start time of the Australian Grand Prix, which has been at 5pm in recent years, will have to be some 90 minutes earlier if safety criteria are to take precedence over television rating figures in 2015".

"The FIA panel investigating the events at Suzuka recommended that races held at tracks that do not have lights start no later than four hours before sunset to ensure that visibility does not deteriorate to the point where safety becomes an issue," Knutson wrote.

"Seven races in 2014 would not meet the panel's criteria if they are held at the same time in 2015.

"Will Ecclestone agree to change the start times for safety? Will he ignore the panel's recommendation? Or will he use this to force tracks such as Albert Park to install expensive lighting systems and stage their races at night?"

Ecclestone has ruled F1 with an iron fist for more than three decades but on safety he would have to bow to the FIA, these days led by former Ferrari team principal Jean Todt.

While he may try to use the latest predicament as a fresh argument for lighting the Albert Park circuit, Victoria's opposition to that idea is entrenched as the event already is costing the state more than $60 million a year in taxpayer subsidies.

In any case, this year's Melbourne race will not be screened live on free-to-air TV in the key British market.

Rupert Murdoch's Sky pay network has the rights to telecast all GPs live in Britain, while the free-to-air BBC now screens only half the 20 races live while showing delayed highlights packages of the others.

The BBC announced this week that the first GP it will telecast live this year will be from Malaysia a fortnight after the Australian event.

As expected, South Korea has been dropped from the world championship calendar. The last GP there was in 2013 but the country had been listed for a return this year, although it was never going to happen. It seems Ecclestone wanted it named in the championship for legal reasons as there is still a contract for an event there.

The Dakar Rally is nearing its halfway point in South America and this weekend there is the 'Roar before the 24', a warm-up for the Daytona 24-Hour sports car race in America in a fortnight, and the 10th Dubai 24-Hour sports and touring car event in the Middle East.

Formula E, the new all-electric open-wheeler series, stages its fourth round tomorrow (Saturday) in Buenos Aires, with Marco Andretti, the third generation of the American racing dynasty, making his debut in that category for the family team in place of Frenchman Franck Montagny, who has ruined his career by testing positive to cocaine.

On the Dakar, Russian Vladimir Vasilyev scored his maiden stage win, and MINI's fifth in as many stages this year, while Spanish legend Carlos Sainz crashed his Peugeot 2008 DKR heavily, rolling five times, and is out of the event.

Vasilyev led by six minutes halfway through the 458km special stage in Chile but ended it just 20 seconds ahead of Saudi driver Yazeed Al-Rajhi in a Toyota Hilux, with American Robby Gordon third, another 65 seconds back, in his Gordini-Hummer after two bad days.

Qatar's Nasser Al-Attiyah continues to lead in his MINI, stretching his advantage over South African Giniel De Villiers and his Toyota by another two minutes to 10 minutes 35 seconds.

France's "Monsieur Dakar", Stephane Peterhansel, was fifth on the latest stage in his two-wheel-drive diesel Peugeot, but remains a long way off the lead and with little chance of a 12th win and what would be a sixth on four wheels.

Daytona's 'Roar before the 24' field includes Australians Ryan Briscoe in a Chevrolet Corvette and James Davison in an Aston Martin Vantage as well as New Zealand V8 Supercar star Shane Van Gisbergen in a Porsche 911.

Brazilian Rubens Barrichello and New Zealander Brendon Hartley, a former Red Bull junior colleague of Daniel Ricciardo and now one of Mark Webber's Porsche sports car co-drivers in the World Endurance Championship, are also in the event.

A host of Aussies are competing at the Dubai 24-Hour, including sometime-V8 Supercar driver Dean Fiore in one of Ryan McLeod's three MARC Ford Focus V8s, Formula Three champion Simon Hodge in a Porsche 991 and Sydney paraplegic Matt Speakman with three similarly-handicapped Europeans in a BMW M235i.

Frenchman Beltoise, 77, suffered two strokes while at what had been a regular holiday destination for him. His 1972 win in the rain at Monaco was the 17th and last for British Racing Motors (BRM).

He notched seven other podiums and was Jackie Stewart's teammate in Ken Tyrrell's French-built Matra chassis powered by Ford DFV engines when the Scotsman won the first of his three world titles in 1969.

Beltoise had won 11 French motorcycle championships before switching to four wheels.

He was the brother-in-law of another French teammate of Stewart, Francois Cevert.

Most infamously he was suspended from racing for six months and accused of negligent homicide after Italian Ignatio Giunti died in a fiery crash after hitting the out-of-fuel Matra that Beltoise was pushing in the 1971 Buenos Aires 1000 sports car race.

NZ pushing for WRC return
New Zealand wants to return to the World Rally Championship in 2016 in place of Rally Australia at Coffs Harbour.

NZ, which last hosted a WRC round in 2012 after rotating with Australia on the calendar, is looking at options for a new headquarters and service park that will appeal more to teams, according to Auto Action rally correspondent Jerry Williams.

"It's unlikely that we would see both Australia and NZ on the calendar in the same year," Williams said.

Australia's top rally driver Chris Atkinson's plans for this year are not known yet, while four-time Australian Rally Championship winner Simon Evans is contemplating a comeback – at least part-time – in the Honda Civic Type R previously campaigned by younger brother Eli, the 2013 ARC winner.