All eyes on new race start rules at Spa

Aug.19 (GMM) A big talking point at Spa this weekend will be the FIA's new rules regarding race starts.

The mid-season change has divided paddock opinion, with some applauding the shift away from engineers and technology, and back to the drivers.

Others, however, worry that teams will struggle to adapt their 2015 systems to the new rules.

"The cars were not designed for this sudden change," Lotus' Pastor Maldonado is quoted by the Swiss newspaper Blick. "It can even be dangerous."

His teammate Romain Grosjean told the French magazine Auto Hebdo: "Perhaps there will be more uncertainty, but the teams will work hard on it.

"I do not think the situation will change drastically. It will never be like in GP2, where the driver has full control over the starts," he added.

Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen agrees that while the drivers' workload will go up, the FIA clampdown is unlikely to prove revolutionary.

"We will have to remember to do all the right things," he told the Finnish broadcaster MTV at a karting event in Helsinki.

"A few things will influence whether it works or does not work, but I don't think it's going to revolutionise things in one way or another.

"As long as we remember to do the right things, it should be pretty ok," Raikkonen added.