New Manual Start Procedure

It's somehow appropriate that the fancy footwork required for F1's revised starting techniques should come into play at Spa-Francorchamps. Of course, clutch work is more about hand and foot coordination these days but Spa nevertheless has been one of the more difficult starting places on the grand prix calendar.

Nico Rosberg reckons the revised rules, placing more onus on the driver, will make the starts more unpredictable - which is another way of saying he hopes this presents a chance of getting the jump on Lewis Hamilton who seems to have a season pass for parking on pole.

Basically, there is less opportunity to adjust clutch bite points once the car has left the garage en route to the grid. A casualty, it seems to me, will be the likes of Martin Brundle, David Coulthard and other unemployed F1 drivers-cum-TV presenters as they try to carry out interviews on the grid. With restrictions placed on communication while the car is on the move, the driver and his engineer will be huddled in serious conversation from the moment he steps from the cockpit and, perhaps more awkwardly, while walking briskly to the pits for a final comfort break.

As I said, Spa has never been easy thanks to the brief charge to the first corner and Collision Central at La Source. Before that, in the days when the pits and grid were on the downhill run to Eau Rouge, it was all about stopping the car rather than starting it. Positioning of the brake and throttle was critical as the driver was hard on the middle pedal with the left side of his right foot while blipping the throttle with the other side. Meanwhile, the left foot would be feeling for the bite point in the days when F1 cars had a clutch pedal. Just as well jump-start sensors were not in evidence back then as half of the grid would have been penalised for inadvertently rolling even the smallest fraction.

We're talking about a time when rules were either more relaxed or simply didn't exist. Monza would be a classic for the turning of a blind eye, Ferrari's Clay Regazzoni frequently making full use of the situation when a couples of row back by being flat out in second gear and powering past the pole position man as the starter dropped the Italian flag.

There were other occasions when sheer practicality dictated start strategy, as I discovered when researching a book* on F1 tracks. The Monsanto circuit was used just once to host the Portuguese Grand Prix in 1959. A magnificent combination of roads rising and falling through parkland above Lisbon, Monsanto had a starting grid with a gentle rise.

Concerned about a dodgy clutch, Jack Brabham used the simple expedient of placing a rock behind one of the rear wheels on his Cooper-Climax. No one said anything, least of all Jo Bonnier and Dan Gurney, lining up respectively in a BRM and Ferrari behind Brabham. Having been brought up on the dirt tracks of Australia, Brabham never gave it a second thought. Or, knowing crafty Jack, he probably did. Either way, flying rocks were apparently an acceptable hazard of the day.

Can you imagine that now?

"Okay Lewis: Plan B, brake bias three, purple four, torque seven minus six - and watch out for Raikkonen who has his left-rear wedged on an empty Vodka bottle."