New gravel traps have been installed at the Red Bull Ring in a bid to prevent a repeat of the farcical conclusion to last year’s race.
The final classification of the race took hours to appear after Aston Martin protested the result claiming several of their rivals had repeatedly exceeded track limits. After scrutinising footage of the track the stewards issued post-race penalties to eight drivers.A spokesperson for the FIA, who said they had previously urged the circuit operators to install gravel traps to discourage drivers from running wide, said at the time they “renew our recommendation to the circuit to add a gravel trap at the exit of turns nine and 10.”
The operators of the Red Bull Ring have complied with the request by adding a 2.5-metre-wide gravel traps to the edges of the two corners within the last two weeks. A similar gravel trap was added to the final corner at the Shanghai International Circuit for this year’s Chinese Grand Prix.
Other series including which race at the Red Bull Ring, such as Moto GP, prefer not to have gravel traps at the edges of such high-speed corners. The FIA acknowledged that in their recommendation, stating: “We note that while this is not a straightforward solution in relation to other series that race here, it has proved to be very effective at other corners and circuits with similar issues.”
It remains to be seen whether the Red Bull Ring operators intend to remove the gravel for its Moto GP round in August. They previously installed a chicane at turn two for the benefit of Moto GP which F1 does not used.
The FIA investigated over 1,200 potential track limits infringements during last year’s race. A total of 83 infringements were identified, all of which occured at turns nine and 10. Eight drivers were penalised, including Esteban Ocon who was given a total of four separate sanctions adding up to 30 seconds.
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2024 Austrian Grand Prix
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Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
25th June 2024, 16:51
2.5 meters isn’t so wide, but hopefully it will make the difference.
Pics here
Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
25th June 2024, 16:53
And more pics
Retired (@jeff1s)
25th June 2024, 17:13
Thanks you, the site’s so poor in the choice of pictures, seems to select the furthest shot of a car.
Shimks (@shimks)
25th June 2024, 20:13
Interesting! Many thanks for sharing.
Asd
26th June 2024, 10:52
Thanks for the photographs!
“2.5 meters isn’t so wide”
Actually it’s much wider than needed. It’s wider than a car, so it fits a car. I think 1,5m would be enough – so that you can only go on it with 2 wheels, not all of them, for safety, but wide enough that you wouldn’t easily go beyond it to catch grip on the asphalt there.
SjaakFoo (@sjaakfoo)
25th June 2024, 16:53
Gravel? What a novel idea, if only we had this 30 years ago.
Nick T.
25th June 2024, 19:30
The problem seems to be tracks that do double duty as motorcycle tracks. Though, it doesn’t seem like installing temporary gravel traps let alone grass would be that difficult. The Paul Ricard style run off let alone concrete should have never been done anywhere, unless it was for MotorGP.
uzsjgb (@uzsjgb)
25th June 2024, 19:50
It’s the other way around. Motorcycles (or better motorcycle riders) need gravel traps to stop, cars need asphalt.
That is why over the past decades almost all gravel traps at fast sections of F1 tracks have been removed for safety reasons. That is also why we are only seeing gravel strips instead of gravel traps at these corners on the Red Bull ring, because the asphalt is needed for safety reasons.
Jere (@jerejj)
25th June 2024, 17:49
Good news & these grave additions should improve the overall situation as drivers will most certainly leave more margin at the corner exits to avoid tyres touching the gravel.
Asd
25th June 2024, 18:09
Why does it have to be gravel? Why not a strip of grass?? Cars would’t spill stones onto the track.
Nick T.
25th June 2024, 19:20
Because drivers will inevitably use the grass if it’s dry enough.
Axel
26th June 2024, 18:14
I don’t know about that, in a straight line perhaps but I think Kvyat in 2015 is a great example of what turning while touching the grass does to your car.
Dex
26th June 2024, 11:40
Because gravel makes a stronger statement, doesn’t it… I don’t mind them damaging the cars if making mistakes, actually that’s part of the fun. I think as a fan, not an investor which I’m not.
PacificPR (@streydt)
25th June 2024, 18:17
Just ditch the tracks that don’t come up with good (physical) solutions for track limits.. if we have to believe Liberty, they are spoiled for choice when it comes to possible new F1 venues. Who cares if MotoGp doesn’t show up at your track anymore! Oh wait.. Liberty just bought that too. Oh well never mind. Enjoy your weekend of F1 roulette.
Asd
25th June 2024, 18:25
If they can build an entire race track at Monaco or Baku every year, which includes creating curbs, then why would any traditional venue have trouble making a couple of simple adjustments to their track for an annual F1 or MotoGP races?
It should be a non-issue, but they moan about it as if both series were meant to race on the same night.
Axel
25th June 2024, 20:28
Why not use a grass patch? Has the same purpose of discouraging extending without the risks that gravel poses like dispersing gravel on track and damaging cars (especially on track days)
Simon
25th June 2024, 20:35
Gravel. Good. About time too…
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
26th June 2024, 6:17
Hurray!
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
26th June 2024, 7:46
Not a single picture in the article. Weird.
Scottie (@scottie)
27th June 2024, 3:34
I love the site, but this is the first article in a while where I was wondering if it was written by Mark Blundell?
I had to read the two penultimate paragraphs a few times over…