A whopping 47 lap times were canceled in Formula 1 qualifying for the 2023 Austrian Grand Prix. Apart from Charles Leclerc and Logan Sargeant, all 18 other drivers committed at least one track limit violation during qualifying.
“We don’t do it on purpose. But at these speeds and these high-speed corners, it’s so difficult to really see the white line,” explains polesitter Max Verstappen, who himself had four lap times canceled.
“Honestly, it was all about survival, even in Q3,” reports the Dutchman. You have to do a safety lap at the beginning, “which takes some of the fun out of it,” he explains. Especially in the last sector he left some room for improvement.
Because of the 47 canceled times, 45 were due to the last two turns 9 or 10. “Especially towards the end [der Runde] the tires get really hot. So they’re not as agile as they were at the beginning of the lap,” explains Verstappen.
And in general, Spielberg is “one of the worst tracks” in terms of track limits. Leclerc, who did not commit an offense, says of turn 10: “It is in the nature of the turn that the car becomes lighter in the middle of the turn because the track drops there.”
Verstappen: “Almost looked like amateurs”
Positioning there is crucial for corner exit. Verstappen explains: “If you get it just a little wrong, you immediately lose the car or it understeers. And then it’s very easy to get over the white line.”
“I think it looked pretty stupid today. We almost looked like amateurs with all the lap times that were canceled,” explains the world champion and Leclerc assures: “We can [im Cockpit] don’t see anything.”
“The helmet camera is quite representative of our vision and we don’t see the white line at all,” said the Ferrari driver. His teammate Carlos Sainz adds: “We also have the problem that we don’t feel the white line.”
“My preference would be the red and white curb [als Limit] to use,” says Leclerc and emphasizes: “I think we’ve done that here for a few years and it worked well because we can at least feel where the limit of the track is.”
The curb would be “a good reference” as a limit, according to the Monegasse. Verstappen meanwhile suggests: “On some tracks we have already tried to paint a slightly wider white line. I think that helped a bit because the white line is quite narrow on some tracks.”
The world champion is also annoyed that some laps have been canceled, although it is not possible to say with absolute certainty whether the drivers really were off the track. “And they were canceled anyway,” he shrugs.
Why is there still no real solution?
“So I don’t think it looked good today,” he says and explains: “Of course people can say: ‘Yes, then just stay within the white lines!’ Well, if it were that easy, you could take my car and try it…”
“I don’t think we’re all idiots,” smiles the pole sitter, who also has “no real answer” as to what can be changed for the future. “Works on most tracks [die aktuelle Regelung] really good,” recalls Verstappen.
“But on others you might need it [eine andere Lösung]”, he muses and explains that one problem is that Formula 1 does not have some tracks exclusively for itself. In addition to the premier class, Spielberg also hosts the motorcycle world championship (MotoGP), for example.
According to Verstappen, the problem could easily be solved by simply building more gravel beds again. “It would be fine for us to have gravel there. But it’s a little different with motorcycles,” says the Dutchman.
For the motorcycles, the gravel beds would have to be dismantled again. “It costs a lot of money and it’s not really a good solution either,” explains Verstappen. But why has there been no response to the situation so far, even though the problem is by no means new?
“I think it’s simply because we haven’t found a solution or haven’t worked hard enough to find a solution. We have to do that,” explains Sainz, who hopes to improve the situation for the 2024 race in cooperation with to improve the FIA.
Sainz: The current rule sometimes doesn’t make sense
Spielberg is “a very special track,” said the Spaniard, who explains that some corners have a “natural limit” like a curb or gravel. It annoys him all the more that under the current regulation the lap times are canceled even there.
“If you go two centimeters too far you end up in the gravel or on the curb. You lose lap time but we still get penalized because of track limits which I don’t think makes sense because we don’t gain an advantage, [dort] crossing the track limits,” says Sainz.
“I think the track limit rule should also take into account whether you have an advantage,” he says for the future. In his opinion, another problem is that the corresponding lap times are sometimes only canceled with a slight delay.
“I think I went too far in Q2 in the second run in turn 1,” Sainz gives an example. However, he then received no information from the FIA as to whether the lap counted or not. “I had to go out again and use another set of tires,” he explains.
That is “quite a problem” for the rest of the weekend because this fresh set of tires is now missing. “In the end, the time was not canceled. There were so many track limits that even the FIA couldn’t keep up,” Sainz shrugs.
FIA statement: Gravel beds are not possible everywhere
“It makes our life in the car extremely difficult,” said the Spaniard. ‘ORF’ expert Alexander Wurz protects FIA race director Niels Wittich and explains: “In tennis, it’s also the case that the ball is given out when it’s out.”
“Personally, that’s too much for me. But what should he do if they drive over it?” said the Austrian. And the FIA itself explains the situation around the track limits: “This is something that we are very focused on.”
“We have deployed many resources both in Race Control and in the ‘FIA Remote Operations Centre’ to identify and investigate potential violations. This review process has been a significant step forward in terms of efficiency compared to previous seasons.”
Of course, it takes a certain amount of time if you have to check “a lot of things” at the same time. “Ideally, where we can improve the situation for the drivers, we ask the racetracks to move the gravel traps closer to the edge of the track,” it says.
That happened, for example, in the Parabolica in Monza. “However, at some locations such as the Red Bull Ring this is not possible as it would pose a safety issue for other categories racing here,” stresses the FIA.
In addition, it is made clear that in ambiguous borderline cases one would always decide in favor of the driver. At least Max Verstappen didn’t have that impression today…