Carlos Sainz says F1 must immediately find new solution to track limits issues; Lewis Hamilton says current approach "taking joy out" of driving; watch every session from the British GP live on Sky Sports F1 and for free on Sky Showcase this weekend
Thursday 6 July 2023 17:46, UK
Carlos Sainz says Formula 1 cannot delay finding a solution for the track limits fiasco that blighted the Austrian GP.
Over 1,200 track limit infringements were alleged to have taken place during last Sunday's race, with the final classification not confirmed until five hours after the chequered flag as eight drivers received post-race penalties.
Sainz was among those to receive a 10-second time penalty post-race, having also received a five-second penalty during the 71 laps, which dropped the Spaniard from fourth at the flag to sixth in the final classification.
The stewards suggested the Red Bull Ring install a gravel trap at the troublesome Turns 9 and 10 to try and avoid a repeat in future, and Sainz says it is now time for the FIA and Formula 1 to act.
"I was taking off, I received an email and I was already quite upset about the whole day - you're taking off, you're going to be one hour without your phone and the last thing you're reading is a 10-second penalty and I'm P6. You can imagine how it felt!" Sainz said ahead of this weekend's British GP, which is live on Sky Sports F1 and Sky Showcase.
"In Australia [Sainz was penalised five seconds for contact with Fernando Alonso on the late red flag restart] I was really angry, this time I don't know if I expected it but just the whole weekend was such a mess you could expect the unexpected and it happened.
"I get over it and make sure this time I try to help as much as I can F1, the FIA to find solutions. We need to because I think the sport cannot allow itself another weekend like that as it really doesn't look good and it's not good as a driver, not good as a team, not good as a sport.
"There has been so many solutions offered and for some reason we keep postponing - like an alarm, postpone, postpone - instead of acting on and finding solutions for these kind of circuits.
"It's time to act, whatever they want to do. I would be even happy if you leave the rule the same and you put in a [detection] loop. At least the loop is telling me immediately if I have done track limits and I know I can correct the problem."
Track limits had historically been a debateable subject in F1 with some flexibility occurring between circuits, but since Niels Wittich became F1's race director at the beginning of last year, the stewards have been stringent on the white lines defining the racing area at every Grand Prix.
Lewis Hamilton also received a post-race penalty, which demoted him one place to eighth, and had regularly vented his frustration on team radio about other drivers who he felt were going outside the lines after he had received an in-race penalty.
The seven-time world champion said the current rules are taking the joy out of driving an F1 car.
"Before we didn't use track limits in Austria and it wasn't a problem," Hamilton said.
"But the last few races since they've brought in that rule have been just insane - people just getting all these time penalties and track limits, and it just takes the joy away from what it is that we do.
"We're not doing it deliberately, we're driving at crazy speeds. You're trying to be millimetre perfect, but it's… ultimately, we need to abandon the track limits situation because it just did not look good.
"We need to look at what other solutions there could be. The excuses always are that because Moto GP want run-off areas, they don't want gravel, so we have to accommodate for more than one series.
"But you can't do that, you can't be having that. I can't imagine how that was for people watching, but for me it was frustrating in the car.
"But, if the rumble strips were more dangerous and damaged the car, no one would go over there. There obviously needs to be more of a price to pay, not in penalties, but in terms of how it affects you speed-wise."
While installing a gravel trap or grass at the edges of the Red Bull Ring work for F1, it is complicated by the circuit hosting other racing categories which would have safety concerns over their installation.
Championship leader Max Verstappen, who had laps deleted during the first two parts of qualifying in Austria, believes having wider white lines which would give drivers a bit more margin would be a possible solution.
"It just doesn't look good for us with the solution we have at the moment, and also that the race result is again changed because of new evidence with the onboards - it's a little bit ridiculous," the Red Bull driver said.
"There was a response. I spoke to Niels [Wittich] as well - they were going to paint the white lines a bit wider but they couldn't because of the rain, so that was just unlucky because of the weather.
"I think with the new guidelines we have they really want to stick to the white-line rule, which is fine, but we definitely need, at some track, a bit of a better solution for running wide.
"For us, it's fine to put the gravel there, but for the circuit as well having to host other kinds of races, it's a lot of money.
"[Painting the lines wider] like they did in Barcelona, Turn 12 on the exit - double the width basically, which would have helped. For me, looking at people who were going off, it would have helped probably like 75 per cent of the cases."
Friday July 7
8:40am: F3 Practice
10am: F2 Practice
12pm: British GP Practice One (session starts 12:30pm)
2.05pm: F3 Qualifying
3pm: F2 Qualifying
3:40pm: British GP Practice Two (session starts 4pm)
Saturday July 8
9:15am: F3 Sprint
11:15am: British GP Practice Three (session starts 11:30am)
1:10pm: F2 Sprint
2:15pm: British GP Qualifying build-up
3pm: BRITISH GP QUALIFYING
5pm: Ted's Qualifying Notebook
Sunday July 9
8:10am: F3 Feature Race
9:50am: F2 Feature Race
11:50am: Porsche Supercup
1:30pm: Grand Prix Sunday - British GP build-up
3pm: The BRITISH GRAND PRIX
5pm: Chequered Flag: British GP reaction
6pm: Ted's Notebook
Next on the F1 calendar is the big one, Silverstone. Don't miss the British GP live on Sky Sports from July 7-9
