The FIA has responded to concerns over track limits abuse at the Red Bull Ring by installing a pair of gravel traps at the final two corners.
Small strips of gravel have been added behind the kerbs at turns nine and ten on the Austrian circuit. Last year 83 infringements were recorded at the two corners and the FIA took hours investigating over 1,200 potential cases.FIA Formula 1 race director Niels Wittich described the new arrangement as “the perfect set-up” as it should mean any driver who goes beyond the white line marking the edge of the track will touch the gravel, both slowing them down and making the transgression obvious.
However Tsunoda pointed out the problem of having a gravel trap so close to the racing line is that drivers can drag the small stones back onto the circuit if they go off. This is already a problem at other circuits.
“There, all the gravel is coming onto the race track and increasing the chance of the puncture,” he said.
“Also the gravel might also cause floor damage as well,” he added. “The speed difference between Monza and here is quite a lot different, so it might not happen. But if that happens it’s pretty hard to avoid, that gravel.”
However the configuration and location of the two corners at the Red Bull Ring adds a further dimension to this problem.
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Drivers tackle the two high-speed corners which conclude a lap at the Red Bull Ring in quick succession. Tsunoda pointed out that a driver who makes an error at turn nine could spread gravel onto the final corner, causing problems for those behind them.
“Especially in qualifying, when someone drives on the kerb and the gravel comes into the track, for sure it will compromise the coming corner,” he said. “Which will be the last corner, which is still a high-speed corner and you still need good rear grip. So that’s the only thing, probably, you can consider.”
For example: A driver goes quickest of all on their first run in Q3, leads the field out for the final runs, but drops a wheel into the gravel at turn nine and spoils the run into the following corner for everyone. As drivers typically perform their final laps so late in a session, there likely wouldn’t be enough time to red-flag it, clean the track and restart.
A scattering of gravel on a single corner may not seem like much to affect a single qualifying lap. But around the short Red Bull Ring grid positions are often decided by hundredths of a second or less, and we’ve already seen one ‘tie’ for pole position this year.
Some drivers believe past occasions where rivals deliberately caused red flags in qualifying were overlooked by the stewards. The FIA have become increasingly alert to the possibility of drivers intentionally interfering with a qualifying session to gain an advantage and have made rules changes in F1’s top two support categories for this reason. In Formula 2 and Formula 3 qualifying sessions, any driver who causes a red flag is at risk of having their lap times deleted.
Whether Tsunoda’s prediction about the effect of the gravel comes true remains to be seen. But if it proves accurate, even an innocent error at turn nine could become a source of suspicion.
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2024 Austrian Grand Prix
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asz
27th June 2024, 17:49
Or could this tiny gravel trap be depleted by several cars running over it and each dragging an amount of gravel out of it, and then a gap will open up in the road surface just outside the line?
Billy (@roobyroo)
27th June 2024, 19:23
It’s wierd isn’t it that in the 00’s when grass ran up to the white line no-one exceded track limits or they’d be out.
The FIA need to grow a pair and run grass up to the white lines. The solution is so so simpled.
Nick T.
27th June 2024, 19:54
+1 All grass and gravel. No paved run off anywhere.
uzsjgb (@uzsjgb)
28th June 2024, 0:13
Yeah, who cares about driver safety. Our new god is the white line to which everything else must bow down to.
Nick T.
29th June 2024, 5:33
Yeah, the cars and F1 isn’t safer than it’s ever been. Let’s focus on safety until there are speed limits. You must be from the participation trophy generation.
Asd
28th June 2024, 8:10
Actually what I think is best is such a make-up, if the run-off is e.g. 12m wide then:
– 4m of grass – so cars can get back on track after minor spins
– 5m of gravel
– 3m of asphalt – so the cars then slid through the gravel but didn’t hit the wall can get back on the track via asphalt path
Miguel Bento (@miguelbento)
27th June 2024, 19:54
Better yet, why don’t they put grass in the strip instead of gravel?
MichaelN
27th June 2024, 21:42
Because the second it rains that piece of grass becomes a super slippery hazard that nobody wants.
Coventry Climax
28th June 2024, 0:58
With that midget size piece of grass (now gravel)? Plus, if it rains, they either run behind the safety car or the race is red flagged/never even properly started anyway.
MichaelN
28th June 2024, 9:15
It’s easily wider than a tyre, so it’d be an issue.
But yeah, wet driving isn’t F1’s strong suit in the Pirelli era.
AlanD
27th June 2024, 20:22
Good point Billy. On some corners the grass quickly vanished as cars ran over it but then the dust would stick to the tyres and be another incentive to keep on track. It also looked great when cars ran wide out of the final corner, and fought through clouds of dust striving to get a faster time. I also remember times when cars used to worry about avoiding the kerbs and gravel for fear of damaging the underside of the car, but now drivers expect to be able to run wide and complain you can’t have high kerbs or gravel in case it damages the car. I wonder why they don’t line the kerbs with a permeable rock such as sandstone and keep it saturated with a hose underneath. Then a driver running wide would suddenly be getting a cold damp tyre and be squirming along while he burnt the water off.
Nick T.
27th June 2024, 19:52
There is never a perfect solution. So, everyone from drivers to media need to stop whining about this, especially since this is the best possible compromise.
AlanD
27th June 2024, 20:34
I m always in favour of solutions which get rid of the need for race stewards to apply their “expert opinion” (Slash S!!!) over a cup of tea.
Biskit Boy (@sean-p-newmanlive-co-uk)
27th June 2024, 20:02
I started watching in the late 70s and “grass ran up to the white line” in lots of places but as drivers started pinching a bit they mowed the grass and uprooted it. They ended up with bare patches of earth. So they position kerbs in those places to deter drivers from going there and that worked. The problem was the kerbs were brutal and would breaks suspensions and launch modern cars.
What would happen if they just left the bare earth? That would be a similar deterrent to gravel, equally low grip, but it would just wear into a rut. All in all not very pretty or high tech!
I suggest a surface similar to a highly polished white board the width of a car on the exits of corners and gravel beyond. That would be like driving on ice and surely that would drivers going there and punish those that did and without damaging or launching the car.
Inside kerbs, with the possible exception of chicanes I would just make bigger
Jere (@jerejj)
27th June 2024, 20:37
Gravel getting on is indeed a possible side-effect, but I highly doubt any foul play would happen.
People should really stop believing in deliberate attempts to influence qualifyings.
Sven
27th June 2024, 21:25
Insert large heavy iron plates as wide as the car itself with holes in it where the grass can grow through.
It would be slippery on the grass and the earth would not be kicked up since the iron plates would protect
it.
uzsjgb (@uzsjgb)
28th June 2024, 0:17
Would you be willing to finance this with an increase in ticket prices? All these solutions have to be temporary, because they need to be removed for motorcycle racing. Yes, I know, must people don’t care about driver safety, but the tracks surely will, if a driver/rider is hurt or dies. So tracks will constantly have to install and rip out these solutions and they surely will not cover the costs themselves.
grat
27th June 2024, 21:55
Caltrops. If that doesn’t work, land mines.
I’m being sarcastic, but there is a truth here– there seems to be a general attitude that drivers (and their cars) need to be “punished” for track limits transgressions. Not penalized– punished.
Has anyone considered that perhaps the Red Bull ring, in it’s current hyper-shortened state, isn’t really appropriate for today’s F1 cars?
Tristan
28th June 2024, 0:14
Oo it really is a small strip just as drivers have been wanting for years. Spreading gravel on the track has always been a concern with the proposal. Really keen to see how it goes.
dojomojo
28th June 2024, 5:03
Just use land mines, problem solved.
Wonderbadger
28th June 2024, 7:35
With all the engineering brainpower in F1 it seems odd that no-one has come up with a more elegant solution. There must be a suitable solid material which offers low grip but high durability to replace that gravel strip. Something like high density polyetheline or ptfe which would mean a smooth surface to keep moto gp happy but penalise cars due to the loss of grip but without the risk of bringing gravel onto the circuit?
raddie (@raddie)
28th June 2024, 10:09
Yuki, drive on asphalt and you don’t have to worry about gravel.
Crawliin-from-the-wreckage (@davedai)
28th June 2024, 10:41
What a track for Johnny Herbert to make his long awaited return to the stewards panel.
Can’t wait.
Nick T.
29th June 2024, 5:34
Oh god, is he stewarding again?
Ian Stephens
28th June 2024, 19:27
Bring back hay bales.
EffWunFan (@cairnsfella)
30th June 2024, 3:06
I guess that ‘could’ happen, but no solution is perfect.
I have been a supporter of penalties where there is no proper deterrent (grass, gravel, etc), and perhaps I was mistaken (I was very tired) but where penalties still being given where drivers had exceeded limits on the gravel? If so, I do not really agree with that.
And whilst we are all making alternate suggestions, perhaps position snipers that can only get a clear shot at the drivers when they have exceeded track limits.