Formula 1 drivers have welcomed the FIA’s new approach to enforcing track limits by reducing the width of kerbs.
The change was used successfully at the Red Bull Ring last week. The circuit operators moved the white line which marks the edge of the track onto the kerbs, expanding the width of the circuit.The kerbs previously measured two metres across, the same width as an F1 car, and were cut to 1.5m, which is narrower than F3 cars. Strips of gravel were added at the edge of the kerbs.
Although track limits infringements remained a bone of contention at other corners on the Red Bull Ring last weekend, the new solution at turns nine and ten appeared to be a success. The number of track limits infringements at those corners fell from 83 during the 2023 grand prix to none last Sunday.
The same approach has been used at four of Silverstone’s corners for this weekend’s British Grand Prix. The white line has been moved at the exits of Copse, Maggotts, Stowe and Vale.
Oscar Piastri was penalised for a track limits infringement at turn six in Austria, where the kerb remains two metres wide. He said drivers and the FIA have done “a good job” of finding a better solution to the problem by using narrower kerbs.
“China was a really good example, we’ve fed back to the FIA that the kerb not being wide enough to get your whole car off the track width was a really good thing for us,” he said.
He believes allowing drivers to touch the edge of gravel traps without exceeding track limits will add to the spectacle of qualifying.
“In Austria for example, even if you manage to do a pole lap with going in the gravel, I don’t think that should really be penalised. If you managed to achieve pole by making a mistake like that, where you’ve clearly lost time. I don’t feel like you should be penalised. I think that makes even better story.”
While some drivers have suggested not enforcing track limits at some corners, Piastri believes the white line should be enforced as the edge. “It’s been, a topic of discussion. I fully understand the FIA’s point of keeping consistent with the white line, which I agree with.”
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S
6th July 2024, 10:00
F1 drivers of yesteryear don’t know whether to laugh or cry at this ‘solution’ to what is essentially a combination of a lack of driving skills and an absence of respect for F1 and its rules.
Funny that nobody needs to drive on the grass or gravel to know where it is, but need almost a full car width of kerbing outside the lines to figure out where the track limit is.
Of course they don’t need it – but playing the rules is more fun than trying to actually race in these awful cars.
AlanD
6th July 2024, 13:01
F1 drivers of yesteryear did not get penalised for running wide at corners. Added to that, the circuits they raced on did not have huge run off areas, and the cars did not have so many safety features. Running wide at a corner for a driver of yesteryear more likely had consequences. Please stop claiming that modern drivers run wide due to a lack of skill or because they have no respect for the rules.
S
6th July 2024, 14:05
Why do you think they do it, then?
I think I’ll keep sticking to the facts rather than the romantic/rose-tinted version of F1, thanks – no matter how much more dull that makes it seem.
Those drivers of yesteryear largely didn’t need to be told to stay on the circuit, because they knew and respected that that was the entire point of racing on a circuit…. The circuit is where the lines go – not where the car or driver wants to go.
It’s meant to be a challenge, and sometimes it requires sacrifices to play the game the way it’s meant to be played.
EffWunFan (@cairnsfella)
7th July 2024, 4:00
I am so confused by this statement. The margin between ‘in’ and ‘out’ is essentially infinitely divisible. At corners where being closest to the track limit maximizes performance one would expect a driver to push this to the limit, and inevitably infringements will occur.
The number of variables that can impact this is massive (different tyre compounds, track evolution, weather, aerodynamic turbulence, marbles, etc etc.) Of course this ‘can’ be down to driver misjudgment, but even this may be impacted by the need to make a gap, or chasing for a place, red mist, or simply the desire to push as hard as possible, and so on. They are indeed highly skilled, but they remain human.
And being human the drivers will obviously push the limits of an arbitrary line harder than one where dangers lurk on the other side. Clearly they do not wish to breach either, but it is obvious why they would take more risk in the former situation.