F1 to look again at mandatory second pitstop

As the F1 circus is dismantled in Bahrain on Sunday night, talks are already underway to address the sport’s new problem.

The debut of the refuelling ban is now the subject of harsh criticism, after some observers slammed a less than exciting 49 tours of the Sakhir circuit.

“The race is quite straightforward.  You start on heavy fuel, you do one stop and then you … it’s pretty much a train the whole way,” said Lewis Hamilton, who finished third.

Worse still in Bahrain is that the first and only pitstops took place very early in the race because the leading cars all qualified on Bridgestone’s faster soft tyre.

For fear of this very consequence, some teams pushed in the pre-season period for a second pitstop to be mandatory, but the proposal was voted down.

“I think we have to re-examine that,” FOTA chairman Martin Whitmarsh said on BBC television after the race.

Another solution is in Bridgestone’s hands, with the problem exacerbated this weekend because the most suitable qualifying tyre was still good enough to take the leading cars to an acceptable single pitstop window.

The result was that most of the race strategies were the same.

“Today was not the best show, we know that and we have all got to work together to improve it,” added Whitmarsh.

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