Thursday February 17th, 2000

A dispute over roll-bar safety has divided Formula One teams ahead of the season-opening Australian Grand Prix on March 12, BMW-Williams technical director Patrick Head said on Thursday.

Head, speaking at the Formula One team's annual pre-season lunch, said some teams had broken an unofficial agreement reached towards the end of last year.

"I understand that there are some teams who have decided not to comply with the standards we agreed when we met in Malaysia," Head said.

"I feel there is a question some people have to answer when it comes to balancing up the needs for performance against the need for safety."

The row began after a Sauber driven by Pedro Diniz somersaulted off the track and landed upside down at the first corner of last year's European Grand Prix at the Nurburgring.

The Brazilian escaped with minor bruising and a stiff neck but a study of the data from the accident 'black box' revealed that the roll-bar had not survived the lateral impact it suffered during the accident.

This was revealed by the FIA world body at a meeting of all the teams' technical representatives at the Malaysian Grand Prix in October.

The teams agreed to double tolerance levels but the measure was not adopted as an official regulation for 2000.

Head said that between two and five of the 11 teams had since chosen not to build their 2000 roll-bars to the new safety specification. "I suspect the next month should be enough time to sort this out," he said.