Changes have been made to the run-off at the Sochi Autodrom at the scene of Carlos Sainz Jnr’s high-speed crash during last year’s race weekend.
The Toro Rosso driver made heavy contact with the barriers at turn 13 during the final practice session. His car penetrated multiple rows of TecPro barrier and damaged the guard rail behind them.
For the coming race weekend this guardrail has been placed by further wall blocks, according to the FIA. The areas where the TecPro barriers are positioned have also been laid with asphalt. A similar change has been made at turn two where the barriers face the circuit straight-on.
A further revision has been made at the exit of turn two in order to discourage drivers from cutting the corner. Artificial grass has been placed at the run off as well as a 25mm negative kerb.
Another new kerb has been added at the apex of turn 16 – the corner which Fernando Alonso received a five-second penalty for cutting during last year’s race. The new kerb is 50mm higher than the previous one.
Following the wet conditions experienced during practice last year, further changes have been made to improve drainage at turn one by repositioning some of the walls and openings.
Maria
27th April 2016, 11:56
bring back gravel traps
Jimmy Price
27th April 2016, 15:25
Yes, we need more driver fatalities for F1.
Good job!
FullSpe3d (@dryyoshi)
28th April 2016, 2:20
what a stupid comment, when was the last time a driver died because of a gravel trap rather than tarmac run off? 50 years ago?
vlersch (@vlersch)
27th April 2016, 15:43
bring back gravel traps
Retired (@jeff1s)
27th April 2016, 15:54
Unfortunately, there is no easy solution for those run-off areas. Gravel traps are dangerous too, for cars (see Alonso in Australia) and even more for bikes. I’m for run-offs with grass and barriers near the track, a bit like in Montreal.
ISLAMATRON
27th April 2016, 22:43
No need for gravel traps, negative curbs, artificial grass or automatic kill switches. Simply 1 rule, go off track and you must come to a complete stop before rejoining(must also rejoin in a safe way or suffer further penalties. To make it even safer, set “penalty boxes” which are out of the way that drivers can come to a complete stop without being in danger of being hit by others.
jh1806 (@jh1806)
27th April 2016, 16:13
Gravel is a bit dangerous. What we really need is runoff that is there for emergencies and slows you down, making it a useless shortcut. Stuff like this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circuit_Paul_Ricard#The_track
FullSpe3d (@dryyoshi)
28th April 2016, 2:21
that stuff doesnt even work, i’ve watched a few races around paul ricard and they just use the “special run off” like they do tarmac run off
RogerAyles
27th April 2016, 16:56
Gravel is all well & good until you get cars flying through the air like we saw with alonso a few races back or many other examples over the years.
Plus with these crappy pirelli tyres that fail at the 1st sign of debris imagine the mess we would get with gravel thrown all over the track causing a dozen punctures through a race making f1 tyres look like a bigger joke than they already are.
Gravel traps are for the history books like the fencing & other forms of runoff that came before & were found to be unsafe. Tarmac is safer & far better for racing as it keeps cars in competition rather than causing unnecessary retirements & safety cars as we used to get. the tarmac at parabolica helped prevent an unnecisary safety car in the blanchpain series over the weekend as a car suffered a failure & was able to recover back to the pits in the tarmac runoff rather than getting stuck in the stupid gravel & putting everyone in danger trying to recover it.
Neil (@neilosjames)
27th April 2016, 17:01
Gravel traps at the exit would work. Have tarmac straight on where a car might spin into the run-off, with gravel on the outside at the exit to stop any wee-taking with track limits and to stop drivers going wide and losing no time at all.
Tim Edwards (@timpey)
27th April 2016, 17:10
That is what they use the artificial grass for. Gravel also spills out creating marbles which is bad bad bad.
To the Max !
27th April 2016, 19:24
The cars should have automatic kill switches when going off the track.
Eoin (@eoin16)
27th April 2016, 22:07
Would they restart or would that be the race over??
To the Max !
27th April 2016, 22:36
Race over, just like when being beached in the gravel.
just.daz (@nemo87)
27th April 2016, 23:43
Run offs full of styrofoam balls..
Marc Thielke (@motor)
28th April 2016, 7:35
Or multicoloured ball pits like children play in. The replays would be pretty of a car going off and sending up a rainbow.
sato113 (@sato113)
27th April 2016, 19:15
can someone explain to me the profile of a negative kerb?
Zantkiller (@)
27th April 2016, 19:54
Something like this at Singapore.
The dimples or ripples go down not rise up.
ISLAMATRON
27th April 2016, 19:52
No need for gravel traps, negative curbs, artificial grass or automatic kill switches. Simply 1 rule, go off track and you must come to a complete stop before rejoining(must also rejoin in a safe way or suffer further penalties. To make it even safer, set “penalty boxes” which are out of the way that drivers can come to a complete stop without being in danger of being hit by others.
Johnny Carwash
28th April 2016, 7:21
With regards to the runoff, gravel has one advantage over tarmac runoffs and that is that it can arguably slow the car down even when the driver is not capable to brake (brake failure, unconscious , wheels ripped off etc.)
I see this a big advantage, especially in wet, especially as long as these supermodern barriers are not properly placed/fixed