Paris  - The Formula One Race Director of motorsport's controlling body FIA on Tuesday announced that the new season would see a change in the safety car phase.

In an interview published on the FIA website Charlie Whiting admitted that the rule introduced in 2007 was a bad one and that as a result his organization had gone back to the 2006 regulations.

"The only difference is we intend to implement a minimum time back to the pits. When we deploy the safety car, the message will go to all the cars, which will then have a safety car" mode on their electronic control unit.

"As soon as that message gets to the car, itll know where it is on the circuit, and itll calculate a minimum time for the driver to get back to the pits. The driver will have to respect this and the information will be displayed on his dashboard."

He said that the reason why the pit entry was closed last season was to remove the incentive for the driver to come back to his pit quickly.

"Thats gone now, as you wont be able to reach the pits any quicker than your dashboard display allows you to," he said. (dpa)