Discussions have been held over how to stop grass fires interrupting Formula 1’s Japanese Grand Prix after so many red flags across practice and qualifying.
Sessions have had to be stopped five times at Suzuka this weekend - the last interruption came in Q2 - as small grass fires kept breaking out.
The FIA had already taken pre-emptive measures after Friday as grass was cut short and loose, dried grass was removed from affected areas.
Then the grass was dampened before FP3 but that did not stop two more starting, so the grass was watered again before qualifying - with marshals scene using buckets and cones to treat the affected areas.
The FIA is hopeful this will not be an issue on Sunday because it is forecast to rain steadily in the morning and leading up to the race.
However, in case that does not happen - or it does not rain enough - further measures have been discussed.
An extreme option of burning the grass has effectively been ruled out, for various reasons including the lack of time and resources needed to do it carefully, plus it would be a poor look environmentally.
Instead, the plan is to continue treating the grass with water if necessary, and specific response teams will be stationed around the track as they were on Saturday.
Should more fires occur in the grand prix, they will be managed using a safety car (real or virtual) or red flags.
A VSC will be deployed if the field spread is minimal and the fire can be dealt with quickly and safely by an immediate response team.
But if the field needs to be bunched up, or a suitable response vehicle needs to be dispatched to the scene of a fire, then a full safety car will be deployed.
The race will be red flagged as a last resort.
“It will rain overnight – that will help wet the ground a little bit,” poleman Max Verstappen said.
“The grass has been very dry and with the sparks coming off the car, it can ignite with the grass, with a bit of wind.”
