The possible solutions to prevent track limit violations

The Austrian Grand Prix has just ended, Spielberg witnessed another victory for the Dutchman, Max Verstappen. The Red Bull ring highlighted a problem: exceeding track limits. No less than 6 drivers were penalized after the race.

During the press conference, the team directors of Mercedes and Red Bull proposed some solutions to avoid another wave of penalties for future Grand Prix.

According to Toto Wolff, the head of Mercedes, either we should go back to the sausage kerbs and break the drivers and cars, or simply remove the track limits altogether and let them race the fastest line.

We need to find a solution in the interest of this race, which is a great and traditional track, and for the stakeholders because we want to deliver spectacular races that are not constantly influenced by penalties, explains the Austrian from the German team.

“For Christian Horner, team principal of Red Bull, he claimed that this race has made the FIA look amateurish. « I think this must be examined as it gives us a bit of an amateurish appearance,” said Christian Horner in an interview with Sky Sports.”

The British driver from the Austrian team also proposed an idea to make the next meetings go better. With so many drivers exceeding their limits, for next year, there could be a bit of gravel at the exit of turn 10.

During this Grand Prix weekend, in the two qualifying sessions, track marshals disqualified 47 laps for drivers exceeding the white lines at turns 9 or 10. In the main race on Sunday, 1,200 reports were triggered during the 71-lap race at the Red Bull Ring.

Why such a problem here, in Austria?

The Spielberg circuit is one of the few to host the Formula 1 Grand Prix and the Moto Grand Prix. In Moto, the FIA requires a 1m strip of asphalt to be placed around the track limits to prevent crashes during turns.

It is this regulation that prevents the circuit from being able to install gravel traps around the fastest corners and thus requires the FIA to closely monitor the respect of track limits by Formula 1 drivers.

What are the other solutions?

A costly solution for the track would be to propose a gravel configuration at the start of the season to replace the asphalt strip with gravel during the Formula 1 Grand Prix, and then to fill this gravel strip with asphalt before hosting the Moto.

This seems unfeasible both in terms of cost and logistics because during the construction works, the circuit would not be able to host any other competition.

A solution imagined by our editorial team would simply be to change the interior or exterior layout depending on the bends and trajectories, depending on whether it is the Moto Grand Prix or the F1 Grand Prix.

The Moto Grand Prix needs a clearance. It would therefore suffice to reduce the track limits by 1m compared to the F1 layout, or alternatively increase the width of the F1 track by 1m for the race. This way, the F1 drivers would be close to the gravel and the Moto riders would have their asphalt safety zone.

This solution requires modifying the road markings between the two Grand Prix races and changing the position of the speed bumps, all while asking for a reduced cost for Spielberg.

The last two turns, however, should be replaced with gravel instead of the asphalt zones, which lead to a lot of leniency from the drivers.