Last weekend at the Red Bull Ring, there was no more talk about track limits… or almost nothing with the cancellation of Oscar Piastri’s time in qualifying, and the 5-second penalty given to Lando Norris in the race.
The only controversy of this Grand Prix was the cancellation of Oscar Piastri’s time in Q3 (which may have cost him the victory), due to a very, very slight overtaking at turn 6.
But compared to last year (over 1000 infringements and a final result delayed by several hours), the progress is clear and clear. The FIA has certainly done a good job.
This is what the drivers think too, starting with the most experienced of them, Fernando Alonso.
“We should be happy with this solution. I don’t think we had to wait too long to know who’s on pole, who’s not, to review the laps and things like that. So it’s much simpler. Overall, the feedback is positive.”
Pierre Gasly is not jumping for joy at the idea of seeing gravel again, but also welcomes the choice that was made by the FIA.
“I don’t know if it’s a perfect solution, but it’s a better solution. Maybe we can think of a better solution, but sometimes coming into a corner with a lot of gravel in your path, it’s not ideal.”
“But it seems to be working and it’s better than what we saw last year with the post-race penalties, so it’s a good improvement.”
Nico Hülkenberg is also very satisfied with the solution found by the FIA. It’s not just the gravel for him, however, there are also the kerbs.
“There are other solutions, we have had other tracks recently with different types of rumble strips that make it impossible to go offshore, which kills the problem of the track limits.”
Daniel Ricciardo, however, points out a negative effect of gravel: the projections also penalize the driver who follows a car that has gone off-track…
“Obviously when people go off track all the gravel gets dragged onto the track so every stint you have to tighten the line a little bit more because the gravel gets more and more onto the track. So that’s the only downside.”
“Last Saturday in the sprint race I think Hulkenberg went off the road twice in the last corner – so take your hands off the wheel if you can! Because those gravel stones hurt a lot! It’s just a few small things, but overall I’m happy.”
The big loser of the weekend’s track limits, Piastri was ironic about it, after McLaren F1’s protest was rejected after qualifying.
“We’ve done a lot of good work as a sport to get rid of these track limit issues. Surprisingly, I managed to find that there was still a problem somewhere!”
“So it’s obviously very frustrating. One more centimetre to the right and I would have ended up in the gravel and my lap would have been over.”
“And for me, that’s what F1 racing should be about. Pushing the boundaries and taking risks.”
The stand problem reported by Nico Hülkenberg
The FIA didn’t get it all right this weekend in Austria, however, at least according to Haas F1.
Nico Hulkenberg has called on the FIA to change the pit lane regulations – which prevent drivers from inserting themselves into the queue in a somewhat manly manner – a rule that he says penalises Haas F1 heavily, given its position at the end of the pits…
Hulkenberg was investigated twice after qualifying for entering the pitlane without enough space to the other cars. Haas F1 was reprimanded for this.
“In this particular case, there appeared to be an appropriate space at the time the car was released from the garage, but the space disappeared because cars were queuing outside the team garage. This is considered a mitigating circumstance and therefore only a reprimand is imposed on the team.” noted the FIA.
But the German is therefore calling on the FIA to review this rule, to show some common sense.
“You can’t see much. The problem is that we’re at the end of the pit lane, it’s always tricky. Even if we’re ahead, it’s a blind spot. The cars that are there, it’s hard to judge and understand who is where. I feel like we’re really at a disadvantage in that sense because it’s always like you have to let everyone pass. So it’s tricky.”
“We need to review that. Because if we are well into the garage exit, before anyone has joined the queue, we should be allowed through, otherwise we end up losing all the time. And that’s just because we are at the end of the pit lane. I don’t think that’s fair. So we will talk to them and make suggestions to change things, hopefully.”
Nico Hulkenberg also had a run-in with Sergio Perez in qualifying – the Red Bull driver accused the Haas F1 driver of getting in his way too much.
“I had another car close to me and he arrived much later. I think he complained, but I waited 20 years. It’s common sense, isn’t it?” Nico Hulkenberg retorted.
