F1 may ban refuelling

Shanghai - Shorter Formula One races, a ban on refuelling and testing restrictions are being discussed by team chiefs in China this week, a report said on Wednesday.

The Formula One Teams' Association (FOTA) is holding meetings in Shanghai to work out ways to improve the sport with sweeping changes possible, www.autosport.com said.

A ban on refuelling surfaced after numerous pit problems this year, highlighted by Felipe Massa's bungled stop in Singapore, when he drove off with the refuelling pipe still attached to his car.

Any refuelling ban would mean an overhaul of car design because of the size of current fuel tanks, with one way to minimise the impact being shorter races, the website said.

It cited McLaren chief executive Martin Whitmarsh as confirming that discussions in China would be about the race weekend format and a possible widespread testing ban.

"We're looking at the race format and testing," he said. "I think there are quite a few good ideas on the agenda which would change the format of racing and change the format of the weekend.

"Hopefully, together we'll come up with some agreement on how we can change the weekend in a positive way. But we've got to be careful in making changes that we retain some of the purity that is important in Formula One.

"We've got to look at our agenda on Friday and decide whether that's a worthwhile agenda, where we can make more spectacle and have a bit of competition on that day, and we're going to review what we do on Saturday and Sunday to see if we can make it a little bit less predictable.

"But you'd have to say, based on today's showing and in recent races, it's fairly unpredictable at the moment."

Formula One chiefs, concerned by the spiralling cost of motor racing in the current worldwide economic downturn, previously announced they will hold talks this weekend to discuss the crisis.

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