Romain Grosjean and Rob Smedley have played down the impact of restrictions to the start procedure due to be imposed at the Belgian Grand Prix.
The FIA has informed teams it plans to enforce Article 20.1 of the F1 Sporting Regulations, which stipulates that "a driver must drive the car alone and unaided", at Spa. In effect this will force drivers to conduct manual starts to ensure teams have less influence on their getaway from the grid.
The new directive will mean the clutch point cannot be changed from the time the car leaves the pit lane ahead of the race until the start of the grand prix. The FIA also wants to limit the ability of drivers to help the drivers find the right bite point for the clutch. All pit-to-car communication during any reconnaissance or formation laps before the race will be limited to safety and sporting information.
Lotus driver Romain Grosjean doubts the changes will have too much impact on how drivers get off the line.
"There is a procedure in F1 that you have to follow, and perhaps the only thing we can do is remove the last clutch and torque settings that we have," he said. "But we will just make the range a bit wider and follow the same procedure. Everything is done manually from us, we have to follow procedures, so I don't think it will massively change if I wasn't give the last torque/clutch setting for the start."
His sentiments are echoed by Williams head of vehicle performance Rob Smedley, who thinks it is more likely every driver will have similar problems adjusting to the change.
"I wouldn't have thought it will have a big effect, no," Smedley explained. "The biggest thing people will do is it could mean they get it horribly wrong. I don't think in the end it is going to make in the performance of the start a difference at all.
"Everybody's performance may be downgraded slightly, as we won't have the perfect clutch settings, but as an average it won't make a big difference."