• Australian Grand Prix

Start time causes concern

There are concerns low light could cause accidents in Australia © Sutton Images

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• News:
• Late Melbourne start potentially 'dangerous' - Button
  

• Race:
• Australian Grand Prix

• Championship:
• FIA Formula One World Championship

• Drivers:
• Jenson Button
• |
• Robert Kubica
• |
• Jarno Trulli
• |
• Mark Webber

A number of drivers have raised concerns over the late start time for this weekend's Australian Grand Prix.

The race will start at 5.00pm local time in order to allow it to be broadcast in the morning in Europe. Last year's race was the same, and the low sun towards the end of the race drew criticism from some drivers who said it impaired their vision. Mark Webber it was frustrating that the drivers' opinion seemed to have been given very little consideration.

"If you were picking the best time to have a high-speed sporting motor race event, obviously it's not when the sun is at eye level with us," itv.com reported him as saying. "But that's where it is for lots of different commercial reasons. I think next time we should say 'it's fantastic, we should have always race at 5pm', and then I think they would move it somewhere else."

Jenson Button gave his thoughts on the issue earlier this week and Jarno Trulli believes just starting the race a tiny bit earlier would help.

"We raised our concern last year, but apparently nothing has changed," he said. "There is very little you can do on the safety side apart from starting the race an hour before. We have given our opinion and that's it, and then the FIA or whoever has decided to keep a twilight race at that time."

Robert Kubica added that the problem becomes extreme in the last third of the race.

"Last year I think it was extremely dangerous in the last 20 laps of the race," he said. "The last sector, especially the last corner, it was like going through it blind."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.