DFor some time now, every weekend in Austria has been marked by the umpteenth laps eliminated. Both the drivers and the teams had complained on numerous occasions about these extreme violations, and once this Austrian Grand Prix was over It seems that they have found the solution to this problem that has caused so much talk.
This setback was focused mainly on the last two corners of the circuit, since in this part of the route the asphalt loopholes were very extensive. This caused the pilots, in search of the best time, to push so hard that they exceeded the limits and their laps were eliminated.
Last year, there were many drivers who exceeded these limits and saw their laps invalidated by these two curves, defining this problem as something “shameful”. The solution seemed simple, but it was not at all. since he had to not put the MotoGP championship and his career in Spielberg at risk.
Data that could not be repeated
Criticism of the track limits of this circuit already existed before, but in 2023 the number of laps eliminated and criticism from the paddock brought this issue to a greater level of concern. So much so that The president of the FIA, Ben Sulayem, at the end of that weekend confirmed that what happened would not happen again.
Since Saturday this problem was palpable, since only In qualifying there were a total of 47 laps eliminated by the runway limits. Once Sunday arrived, the situation did not worsen, since In the race, a total of 83 laps were canceled. To which must be added a total of 20 sanctions, which left Formula 1 in a delicate situation that had to be changed.
The gravel solution
The solution was to change the asphalt space for gravel, but this was not possible since, despite being a positive change for the Gran Circo, it would put the MotoGP championship in danger. It is because of that The chosen solution has been to place gravel on top of the asphaltso that when the date of the motorcycle championship arrives it can be withdrawn and not affect them at all.
The two curves where this extra gravel has been placed They were turns 9 and 10, the last two corners of the Austrian circuit. These stripes have been placed at the end of the outer part, since that is where the drivers accelerated and exceeded the ‘track limits’.
As expected, the improvement has been evident and can be seen with the great difference in the number of canceled laps from last year to this year. A shocking fact is that in last year’s qualifying session more were eliminated (47 laps) than in this entire weekend (31 laps). Taking into account that this year Austria has had sprint classification, sprint race, classification and race, the data is more than striking.
Once the free practice ended, the weekend started with sprint qualifying on Friday, where he finished with a total of eight laps eliminated by runway limits. Saturday began with the sprint race where there were only fourtwo from Lando Norris and two from Fernando Alonso.
In the race classification, a total of five laps were cancelled, while in the race up to 16 laps were cancelled, due to track limits. Total, In the entire weekend, 31 laps were canceled, 99 less than last year, data that shows that the problem of track limits at the Red Bull Ring has come to an end.
