Brawn calls for calm at first corners

Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn thinks it's inevitable that there will be a battle at the first corner of a race but has called for drivers to be calm to prevent further mishaps. In the first three races of the season, three accidents have occurred on the first lap and all three have involved Williams and Ferrari drivers.

In Australia Ralf Schumacher launched off the back of Rubens Barrichello at the start, putting them both out of the race, then in Malaysia and Brazil Juan Pablo Montoya and Michael Schumacher came into contact: in Malaysia Michael lost his front wing and Montoya received a penalty, while in Brazil the Colombian also lost his front wing.

Following the incident in Brazil Montoya claimed that Michael was at fault and should have been penalized but the German protested his innocence, seemingly baffled as to why Montoya was angry. Brawn has defended his driver and has urged others to be calm because there have already been too many incidents so far this year.

"There have been too many accidents at the start of races but it won't get out of hand from our side," he said. "I guess if you get the same two drivers at the front of the grid all the time it's inevitable that they are going to have a hard battle. The race is more than the first few corners and drivers need to understand that. Everyone needs to calm down a little for the first few corners and get the race started because we have had too many incidents at the start of races at the moment."