Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc propose modifications to improve safety at Spa

After the death of young Dilano Van’t Hoff on Saturday, prior to the Spa 24 Hours, Lance Stroll had suggested making changes to the track layout, particularly on the high-speed section of Raidillon, to reduce the risks of serious accidents. When asked in the post-race press conference, Max Verstappen also believes that certain modifications could be made to improve safety there.

According to him, “it’s certainly a quite dangerous turn, but we’re also going to Jeddah in sector 1 and, for me, it’s probably even more dangerous,” he noted, however. He also stated, “I’m glad that nothing has happened so far in that sector because going through turns 6, 7, 8, if you have an accident there, it can be the same thing – it’s completely blind, you don’t know what’s coming.”

More space between the barriers

Max Verstappen emphasized that the accidents at Spa highlighted the need to improve visibility and the space between the barriers, stating that “allowing more space by trying to move the barriers further back” would be an improvement. “It seems that as soon as you have an accident, you hit the barrier, and you bounce back onto the track quite easily. And of course, with this scenario, where there is almost no visibility, a lot of water, it’s certainly a big problem.” He added, “I think the changes they made to Spa certainly opened up a lot more, but it will still be a dangerous turn.”

For him, however, it is important to take into account safety on all circuits, as there are many dangerous turns where accidents can occur. Verstappen also emphasizes that it is necessary to review the race restart decisions in FRECA that led to the death of Dilano Van’t Hoff, pointing out that “it’s a big championship, lots of cars” and that drivers, due to their competitiveness, may take more risks when they can’t see clearly ahead of them.

“I find it a bit unfair to blame everything on the circuit because I think, first and foremost, we need to examine why they restarted the race. These are emerging talents, they probably take more risks because they want to prove they are the best drivers at every race. And with this visibility, it was simply impossible to see anything, and I know, of course, that in your mind when you go there, you see nothing. You think, well, I assume the guy in front of me is going all out so I’ll go all out. I’ll stay full throttle. And that’s probably exactly what happened there,” the Dutchman explains.

“The drivers stay full throttle because they don’t know there was a car in the wall, and then another car in the wall later. So yes, there are a lot of things to improve and that need to be put in place.”

Three factors to consider according to Charles Leclerc

Charles Leclerc agrees with his Dutch rival. He emphasizes that “the first thing to consider is when to start a race and under what conditions we are ready to race and where it is safe to race”, knowing that the race control at Spa decided to restart the race for two laps while the safety car was out.

Then, there is visibility. “I think that with our cars, with cars in general, motorsport now… In Formula 4, 30 years ago, I’m almost sure there were fewer projections, because aerodynamic downforce is increasingly important and with the projections, it goes much higher. And visibility is just well-known. As Max explained, you can’t see anything, you just hope that the driver in front is flat out and that there are no cars in the middle of the track, but that’s not enough,” explains the Monegasque.

The last point he raises concerns circuits with “very, very high” speeds, echoing Red Bull’s driver: the walls should be “farther away from the track, so that when they lose control of the car, they don’t bounce off the wall and come back onto the track,” he concludes.