McLaren call for FIA action after scary 'near-miss'

Andrea Stella has called for action after a “near-miss” incident took place on the opening lap of the Australian Grand Prix.

The new F1 season kicked off last weekend as the sport saw the debut of the new power unit regulations.

In the build-up to the new year, Stella voiced his fear over the danger posed at race starts, as practice attempts saw some cars pull away very slowly.

This came to be in Melbourne as Liam Lawson struggled to launch off the line with his new engine, resulting in a close call for Franco Colapinto, who was forced to evade the Racing Bulls' driver at the last second.

Stella stated the sport must continue to review how it can avoid such scenarios going forward.

“The concern remains, the start was a bit of a near-miss," Stella told media including RacingNews365. 

"There was a huge speed differential on the grid. We can hope for the best, or we can just do something further to make sure that we reduce this speed differential.

"This is a very technical matter. I don't think we should go too far into 'we should do this or we should do that'. 

“My call is to say we should do more. Keep attention on the start because at some stage that will become a problem."

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McLaren highlight 'first lap' F1 danger

Another key issue that was raised in Melbourne centred around the significant speed differentials of the cars at the end of straights.

With drivers employing different energy-saving tactics, one such method is lifting off towards the end of a straight to recover energy that can be deployed on a following straight. 

While dangerous on its own, the situation becomes even more extreme in the early laps when all 22 cars are bunched together on the track.

Lando Norris has warned it will result in a sizeable accident in the near future - a fear that Stella shares.

“This was mainly a point of concern in the first lap. 

“Lando, in particular, made the point that it's quite tricky when you have cars very close to you that may still have deployment ongoing or not.

"It creates this speed differential, this becomes quite unpredictable. And even from this point of view, Lando said that we should not be happy because nothing happened. 

“We should always be on the front foot when it has to do with safety."