The president of the FIA, Jean Todt, has said he would like to see a return of in-race refuelling to Formula One as a way to improve the sport. Speaking at Silverstone before this weekend’s British Grand Prix, Todt also insisted that there were various avenues he would like the sport to investigate to improve the show, alongside refuelling, including limiting driver aids and telemetry.

Refuelling was last used in F1 in 2009, before it was removed as a cost saving measure and because pit stops were judged to be taking too long. There was a proposal for it to return in the 2017 season which was ultimately rejected, once again largely as an unnecessary additional cost to the teams.

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Todt believes the cost argument is not valid given how much the teams already spend and could have immediate effect on the racing, not least in making the cars smaller and lighter, contributing to their potential to better follow one another and overtake.

“The cars have become too heavy which is something we have discussed,” he said. “I am pushing for analysing what it would mean if we introduced refuelling. If we did that you would have a lighter car at the start of the race and a smaller car. When I hear it will be more expensive it makes me smile. When I see the size of the motor homes I don’t think it is the price that will be the killer to introducing it.”

The regulation changes set for 2021 are still under discussion between the teams, the FIA and the sport’s owners, Liberty Media. The next meeting is due to take place on 23 July , with October set as the deadline to conclude their agreement.

On the track at Silverstone, Mercedes looked strong in practice on Friday, once again edging out the Ferraris. The morning session, interrupted by rain and a red flag when Kimi Räikkönen’s Alfa Romeo suffered an engine failure on track. Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton had led the early runs but after the rain Pierre Gasly took the top spot for Red Bull.

In the more representative second session, Bottas was quickest, just six hundredths in front of Hamilton. The British driver looked like he had yet to quite find the limit on the newly resurfaced track and with changeable wind conditions. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was two-tenths back with his teammate Sebastian Vettel four tenths down.