Villeneuve wants Safety Car changes

Ex-F1 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve has called for the sport’s Safety Car procedures to be altered after Jules Bianchi’s accident at the Japanese Grand Prix, which left the Frenchman with a severe head injury.

Officials red flagged Sunday’s race at Suzuka when Bianchi went off at the Dunlop Curve and collided with a recovery vehicle, which was removing Adrian Sutil’s stricken Sauber machine from an earlier crash.

While the Safety Car was deployed after Bianchi’s crash, Villeneuve says it was needed for Sutil’s incident.

“The rules have to be changed concerning the Safety Car,” Villeneuve explained to Motorsport-Total.

“Take America, where the Safety Car comes out whenever there is an accident. Sometimes it slows the race down a bit, but at least you avoid cases like [Sunday] and the human aspect of having to make a decision.”

The 1997 title winner says he has always opposed yellow flags covering crashes instead of a Safety Car.

“When I raced, if I had a crash I was always worried about another car crashing into me. I never liked just having yellow flags,” he said. “You slow down, but how much? And you could have a puncture, or a suspension failure.

“So after every accident there should be a Safety Car. It doesn’t matter how bad [that decision] may be.”

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