What a shit show from race control this weekend. Over 1200 potential track limit violations should give them a spark to think about the whole situation. Imagine not checking the news after the race and be surprised next racing weekend what the hell happened...
It would be nice to see the track design changed a bit to have immediate consequences if track limits are violated. In an ideal world we wouldn't have to have all these violations reviewed and penalties applied after the race. Although this is certainly better than inconsistent and ambiguous rules about track limits!
So, I'm not that mad that they're enforcing track limits. The rule is the rule. Either change the rule, or give out the penalty. What really sucks is how delayed the penalties were.
With the amount of violations I think there was just too much for the stewards. Each violation needs to be checked and validated because you know the teams sure as hell will do so.
I don't know how many people were doing the checks but let's say a single check takes at least 10 seconds of "eyes on" time. They reported about 1200 violations. That's 3,33 hours of only track limits violations. And I'm certain some of those checked took longer than 10 seconds. And that's before you get into all the other checks that needed to happen like "Unsafe release", "Forcing another driver off the track", and "not serving a time penalty correctly".
For a track limits violation it's super simple. White lines, keep at least one wheel within them. The fact that several drivers managed without a single violation means others were doing something wrong.
Totally. No one's fault but his own tho. And his teammate had a such great weekend in comparison. George made such smart decisions in the sprint, and then when it came to the race, he just kept his head down and did what needed done. Was awesome to see! Totally deserved to finish out front of Hamilton.
Rule is fine, track might need more obvious hazards because apparently penalties aren't keeping the drivers within the lines. Time to dig some gravelpits.
This is ridiculous. They should really try to automate the detection process of when a car is going over the line so that penaltys can be handed out swiftly
The track feels too narrow for the cars these days, similar (but not to the extent of) Monaco. Unlike Monaco, there's enough surrounding space to expand the width of the track.
Expanding the width just means that the drivers are going to take that extra space and get violations on the new limit instead.
Narrow the rumble strips and put grass or gravel right next to it so that going over is instant punishment and they are suddenly very capable of staying within the lines. As proven for corners with those hazards and the street tracks where the walls define the track limits.
It’s easy to stay in track limits, you just need to take the corners a little slower. That’s the whole point. If they keep enforcing it like this, the drivers will adjust and stop pushing those corners that hard.