The organizers of the F1 Grand Prix in Austria together with the delegates of the International Federation have implemented a solution that would avoid a repetition of the surreal spectacle witnessed last year. Let’s talk about the track limits which resulted in the penalisation of 12 drivers and the detection of 1,200 potential infringements during the race. A situation that was difficult for the public to understand as in most cases it involved infringements of a few centimetres and at the same time unmanageable for the stewards of the FIA.
Until last season, the drivers found the same level of grip when following the line on the curbs, taking advantage of every last millimeter allowed to gain a great advantage. As often happens in life, simple solutions can represent remedies for complex problems, therefore, as has already happened to Imola e Montreal, even on the circuit owned by Red Bull the deterrent offered by nature was rediscovered: gravel. There FIA decided to install a strip of gravel 2.5 meters wide beyond the curb at the exit of turns 9 and 10 and in turn 4, moving the white line so that the distance from the gravel was less than two meters (i.e. the width of an F1 , ed.).
This was because it was necessary to prevent the single-seater from travelling through the affected areas on the kerb between the gravel and the asphalt, thus nullifying the deterrent action of the gravel. The race director of the FIA Formula 1 Niels Wittich explained that it was not possible to replace the curbs in question, as done on the circuit Shanghai in Chinesebut they had to narrow the width of the kerbs using a trick, that is, painting the white line that delimits the track on the white and red kerbs.
However, this intervention overlapped the white line with the white color of the kerbs, therefore an additional blue stripe was painted. If all the tires of the single-seater go beyond the blue line then the driver is out and certainly the left tires of his single-seater will end up in the gravel as the total size of the kerbs is less than the width of the car.
F1, Austrian GP track limits: measure that also protects the integrity of the single-seater
Why not dedicate a larger area to gravel? The reasons are mainly due to safety and protection of the show in F1. Turns nine and ten are bends that are taken at well over 200 km/h and before the ban on gravel, the excursion of a single-seater in that segment of the track was quite dangerous for the drivers. Furthermore, the undeclared objective is to prevent the violent passage on the gravel from significantly damaging the aerodynamics of the car bottom, compromising its performance.
In short, gravel must act as a deterrent and, if necessary, as a penalising factor for those who make a mistake. A compromise solution was sought that would not lead to the withdrawal of several cars. Last year, only Max Verstappen e Charles Leclerc they did not fall into the trap of track limit while their colleagues have repeatedly violated them, in some cases receiving more than one penalty. This is also a way to make the drivers responsible, who instead of risking their jolly of a few warnings before the penalty from tomorrow they can pay dearly for the search for the last available centimeter.
Today, considering the particular formats of this eleventh weekend of F1 branded 2024in fact there will be the qualifications shootout in the last step. Session that will define the starting grid of the 100km mini race. For this reason there will be an immediate possibility of understanding whether the provision relating to track limits will have the desired effect and how many drivers will lift their foot off the accelerator to avoid a possible excursion onto the gravel.
Author and graphics: Roberto Cecere – @robertofunoat
Scuderia Ferrari images – F1Tv
