F1 owner wants grid to be reversed

LONDON, England -- Williams co-owner Patrick Head wants to reverse the starting grid in Formula One in a bid to make the racing more exciting.

Head has proposed a radical measure that would see 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 told BBC Sport.

"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.

He said: "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?

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.

"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."

Head made his remarks ahead of the season-opening Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne on Sunday.

In other Formula One news on Tuesday, McLaren boss Ron Dennis has told his staff that he will remain in charge of the team.

Dennis was responding to speculation that he would stand down in the wake of last year's spy scandal which led to McLaren being fined $100 million and the team docked all their constructors' points for 2007.

Last month Italian investigators visited the homes of leading McLaren personnel, including Dennis, as part of an ongoing criminal case. E-mail to a friend