Head wants fastest cars to start at back

Spectators watch a BMW being started as preparations gather pace for the opening grand prix in Melbourne (AP)

The co-owner of the Williams team, Patrick Head, has proposed reversing the starting grid in Formula One to improve the spectacle of the sport.

Head wants to see more overtaking in Formula One and has proposed the fastest cars starting from the back of the grid and the slowest from the front. Head believes that if the championship's leading cars were made to start from the back it would lead to more interesting racing.

"I would like to see the grids in reverse order of championship position," Head said. "It's the same for everybody, and over a whole season the right guy would still win the championship."

Head believes the current system, with the quickest cars in qualifying starting from the front of the grid, means there is less chance of overtaking.

"I still have to ask the question that if you allow the guys to do all this practice and testing and then you line them up with the fastest at the front and the slowest at the back, why should there be any overtaking?" he said. "Maybe overtaking will be less difficult, but if a guy is back there because, by virtue of his own or his car speed, he is 0.3 seconds slower than the car in front, why should he overtake [it]?"

But Head is also aware of the pitfalls of his suggestion, such as which car would start at the front of the grid for the first race of the season. "[There would be the question of] how you would deal with it at the first race," Head added.

"And the fastest drivers might say: 'Well, overtaking is a risk and it puts us more at risk than the guys who don't have to do that.' I'm sure people would complain about it."