Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel have questioned the need for the resurfacing and kerb changes which have been done at the Hungaroring.
“I’m not really quite sure, again, why they’ve resurfaced this track,” Hamilton told reporters on Thursday. “They don’t have Moto GP here or anything like that.”
Vettel also spoke out against the growing homogenisation of Formula One tracks.
“To some extent it was the character of Hungary to be very bumpy,” he said. “We have to see how many of the bumps are still there. It would be a shame if all the bumps disappear.”
“But also the kerbs define the character, the soul of the track. If you put the same kerbs in every single track then all the tracks feel a little bit the same, just different type of corners. But there’s a lot more than just the layout of the corners it’s also the bumps, the kerbs that get a certain feeling and I think makes it possible for us in the car to really make a difference.”
“If you put the same kerbs then we take a little bit away that element and I think it’s a shame to see that here we lost the typical kerbs for this track. The same has happened to other tracks. Yes, to sum it up I’m not a fan.”
The resurfaced circuit was used earlier this year for European Formula Three and the World Touring Car Championship.
Uzair Syed (@ultimateuzair)
21st July 2016, 21:48
I hate it when this happens. I agree with Hamilton and Vettel. It’s just like how Brazil was ruined.
BasCB (@bascb)
22nd July 2016, 6:43
Yep, as they mention the track had “character” with its bumps and quirks @ultimateuzair, not sure why they had to resurface apart from Bernie wanting them to or maybe someone having a “friend” with a construction company who needed/wanted some work to do!
Dan
21st July 2016, 21:52
Are they redesigning the tracks for people who can’t drive? F1 is being sanitized to the point where cars will eventually bounce off soft rubber barriers and keep running. This could be why the US isn’t enamored with F1. They like their sports a little … shall I say … manlier? :) Oh well, I suppose everything changes with time…
Steve
21st July 2016, 21:57
Most races for me start at 5am which is a bit brutal after a fun Saturday. IMO thats the biggest reason F1 isnt bigger here in the states.
Kanil (@kanil)
22nd July 2016, 7:35
I agree. Start times will always be a challenge for F1 fans here.
Admittedly a world championship is always going to inconvenience someone somewhere, but NA gets the short straw quite a bit more than most other places in the world.
Lateralus (@lateralus)
21st July 2016, 22:32
If an American driver comes into F1 and starts winning races and challenging for titles, that will change.
Christopher Rehn (@chrischrill)
22nd July 2016, 7:20
I’d use the word “rough” rather than “manlier” for how Americans want their sport. It’s not very sophisticated with NASCAR, “football”, hockey, and so on.
As Steve said, F1 is on at rather unconvential hours in the states too. Having spent some time on the American west coast, I missed more races than I watched despite being an avid F1 fan. I just couldn’t get up at those hours.
Christopher Rehn (@chrischrill)
22nd July 2016, 7:21
This was of course meant as a reply to Dan above.
jayteeniftb
22nd July 2016, 8:12
It was done because the drivers and their fans alike, complained about how the track wasn’t perfect due to the bumps. Just desserts.
Daniel (@tamburello)
22nd July 2016, 8:30
I am beginning to feel as if the drivers themselves are as short-sighted as F1’s management sometimes. The idea of resurfacing was first coined after the grand prix of 2011. There, the race conditions provided by a mixture of rain and a track which is always dusty, created a surface with a severe lack of grip. At the time the drivers complained about it quite vocally and the track’s management took notice. It is quite a contradiction to me that the drivers complaining about a lack of grip will then complain about the track being resurfaced to generate more grip. I can understand that it lessens the character of a circuit, but if drivers themselves instigated the discussion to begin with, I fail to see the point of even being negative about it. The bumps will come back over time due to exposure to elements and the local seismic activity, so we can look forward to that whilst also having the assurance that this Grand Prix remains on the roster due to constant updates.
Glue
22nd July 2016, 9:34
You can only accuse them of short sightedness if the same drivers who complained initially are now complaining about the resurfacing. ‘some of the drivers’ from 2011 can be wholly different from ‘some of the drivers’ from 2016. Besides, even if it was the same drivers who complained, their point was about how certain conditions made the track less grippy. They weren’t explicitly asking for tge the bumps to be ironed and for the track to be homogenised
Daniel (@tamburello)
22nd July 2016, 13:30
I can only agree with you on the kerbs, as I feel that this is a major issue which plays into the whole homogenised F1 aspect. However it was (among others) Hamilton who criticized the surface for its low grip post-race. I don’t believe he meant that they should resurface it, and I do hope that the character remains the same. but I would think it to be impossible to both maintain the track up to Bernie’s standards whilst also keeping it as bumpy as it was before. Let’s see how my argument holds up after this weekend though ;)