India changing their Kerbs…shame
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The BBC is reporting (via Autosport) that the kerbs on the Buddh Internation Circuit in India are to be revised before the next race there in order to avoid the problems that Massa suffered from (twice) during the race weekend – http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/9630731.stm
Damn shame I think. No cars were launched in any way off these types of kerbs, with the tarmac run off areas Massa was able to stop safely and it seemed like a good way on those areas of the circuit to make drivers actually drive on the circuit.
Other than Massa who’s obviously going to be a bit grumpy about them did any other drivers complain about these kerbs?
I don’t know about any other complaints but this is a shame. This was a trait of the track that punished drivers without being dangerous. I liked that it made pushing the limit a bit of Russian roulette to see who dared cut the corner farther and farther. I really think Massa was being a baby about it rather than owning up that he drove in a way that bit him in the end.
Personally I think drivers who go over obstacles like those at India should receive a penalty for driving outside the limits. If necessary a grid place drop in the next race.
What a shame. I agree with @Joey-Poey about punishing the drivers without being more dangerous. I even think we should have more kerbs like these in more tracks.
Seconding @dpod ‘s suggestion for more tracks having these. And honestly, what’s the point of putting a curb there (especially that far inside) if it’s not there to dissuade drivers from cutting the corner? We need to reach a point where the officials say “you don’t like what the curb does to your car? Don’t drive over it.” If it’s not a matter of safety and it doesn’t detract from “the show” then it doesn’t need to be changed.
Maybe Rob Smedley, considering all the guidance he gives to Massa, should go out on to the track and paint 3 lines at each corner.
1. Follow the blue line for fastest route through corner, when there are no other cars within 10 metres.
2. Red line to follow if someone is up the inside.
3. Yellow line to follow if someone is on the outside.4. Purple line, all round the track, follow this line at slow speed when I say ” Alonso is faster than you”
That way Massa might stay on the track and not crash into other cars or obstacles and save the team some money.
I still wonder why the curb was there in the first place. By putting curbs on top of curbs you’re only encouraging the driver to straight-line the corner more and more.
I think that a race track should have 2 surfaces: “Track”, and “Not Track”. The track is the tarmac thing that you have to drive on. At the extreme edges of the tarmac are two, bright white lines. Beyond that is a 6 foot strip of grass or slippy astroturf on either side of the track, for the entire lap. Then beyond that is gravel, grass, tarmac run-off, whatever. No curbs mean not needing to have pooly-designed curbs that damage cars, or curbs that are so featureless they may as well just be track.
They could do with raising the profile of some other kerbs to stop the drivers going wide and kicking up dirt, as well.
I think the kerbs should be small in general. Having wide kerbs just seems like a challenge of which driver dares to cut it more without getting a penalty. For example, Massa would be cutting that corner as he had previously, while another driver lets say Button doesn’t because he believes that he can get penalized for corner cutting. Therefore, Massa would have a faster lap time primarily because he was more willing to test the stewards. Sure, its written clearly in the rules but the FIA is not consistent with penalizing drivers.
Well no other driver publicly said anything against them so why change them? I mean one drivers mistake shouldn’t ruin a other drivers pleasure in testing the limits. Massa made two mistakes, he cut more than he should and he was punished, simple.
How about removing Massa from the grid..
:D
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