Thursday March 28th, 2002

The decision by the FIA to drop drivers 10 places down the grid if they are guilty of 'dangerous driving' was greeted with caution from the drivers in the press conference at Interlagos, Brazil, on Thursday.

The FIA coincidentally introduced the rule following an accident in the Malaysian Grand Prix, in which Juan Pablo Montoya was punished for what was later adjudged a 'racing incident' at the start of the Sepang race.

But Brazilian Rubens Barrichello led the calls for the sport's governing body, the FIA, to be cautious of their decisions on the ruling, which will be brought into force for this weekend.

"I feel that for the show it might be a good thing to see a competitive car moved ten positions back, and you are going to see some overtaking," said Barrichello.

"But if you talk about Monte Carlo it is going to be impossible and someone is going to be really penalised for that. So we have to be really sure the guy did something to move him backwards otherwise it is not fair."

Arrows driver Enrique Bernoldi warned of problems defining who is at fault in a crash and insisted that the FIA be careful when they judge racing incidents.

"It's difficult to judge who is at fault if two cars crash," warned Bernoldi. "If somebody blocks you deliberately, then maybe you can see a little bit.

"But if two cars are side by side and crash then it's difficult to say who is at fault. I think being able to judge will be quite difficult."

The problem appears to be that there are no permanent stewards governing in all races, so there is inconsistency in the decisions made at different Grands Prix, and Barrichello called for the FIA to introduce a system which removed this problem.

"We've been asking the FIA to do that, to bring the same guys who know us to all the races," he said. "We have to have a stable vision of what is going on because otherwise it's going to be really unfair."

Published at 17:50:38 GMT