 'No Passing' Proposal Falls Through Sunday September 16th, 2001 The Italian Grand Prix will have a normal start after a proposed idea to not overtake for the first two chicanes has fallen through due to the disagreement of some teams. World Champion Michael Schumacher brought up the idea in the morning drivers' meeting and said that the 22-strong grid should not begin racing until after the second chicane on the opening lap. But there has been some opposition to Schumacher's plans - led by Jacques Villeneuve - with drivers suggesting that it is difficult to switch off 'racing mode' at the start of the race. The proposal, which would have been a private agreement between the drivers, would not be ratified by the FIA and would therefore have had to rely on the trust between all the competitors. Drivers and other team personnel spent time after morning warm-up in discussion with each other in an effort to come to an agreement on whether the proposal should go ahead, but after Arrows's Tom Walkinshaw and Benetton's Flavio Briatore have expressed their disagreement and forebade their drivers from signing the agreement, drivers will be allowed to overtake at the start.
Published at 11:31:21 GMT
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(03-16-2005): 
