At the Austrian Grand Prix, Formula 1 does not manage to monitor compliance with its own rules. The last penalties and thus the final result are only known long after the end of the race. So that this does not happen again, drastic solutions are now being discussed.
At 4.29 p.m. Max Verstappen is the first to cross the finish line, but it is not until 9.45 p.m. that it is clear: the Dutchman has actually won the Austrian Grand Prix. Formula 1 needs more than five hours to determine and publish a final result in Spielberg. Unworthy of the racing series, which boasts itself again and again as the pinnacle of motorsport.
With the race weekend in Spielberg, Formula 1 is not only ridiculed because of this 316-minute wait for the final result. Because the topic “track limits” superimposes everything else.
This is symbolized by an overlay in the initial phase of the race: Nico Hülkenberg sees the black and white flag and is warned because he has crossed the track barrier several times without reason and thus potentially gained an advantage. The problem: The German driver had long parked his Haas at this point with engine damage and got out. “Even though he was eliminated?”, the US team’s Twitter account sarcastically questions this threat of punishment, only to then give the answer itself: “I suspect that all four tires were off the track when he was eliminated.”
Verstappen becomes clear: “We looked like idiots”
Obviously, Formula 1 simply cannot keep up with the rapidly growing number of suspected cases to check whether a driver has done exactly that: crossed the white line, the track limit, with all four tires. In the past, depending on the course, this was still allowed in individual corners, which only added to the confusion. A zero-tolerance policy will then be introduced in 2020, with the white line at every point of every route as the absolute standard. Anyone who is outside of this line with all four tires commits an offence. Around 1,200 suspected cases are registered in Spielberg, which corresponds to almost 17 per lap – or almost one per driver per lap. A premiere of the inglorious kind.
The focus is on turns 9 and 10, the last two of the short high-speed race track in Styria. In these two right-hand bends, it’s worth moving to the absolute limit in order to take absolute speed onto the start-finish straight. Because numerous drivers exceeded the limits, the race control had to intervene. Around 50 lap times were canceled in practice and qualifying, Sergio Perez was hit the hardest, who therefore didn’t set a single valid time in the second qualifying section and had to start from 15th place.
In the Grand Prix, the problem then gets completely out of control: Carlos Sainz, Lewis Hamilton, Alexander Albon, Pierre Gasly, Kevin Magnussen and Yuki Tsunoda are given time penalties during the race, as are Esteban Ocon, Nyck de Vries and Logan Sargeant after the end of the race – and additional post-time penalties for Hamilton, Gasly, Sainz, Albon and Tsunoda. The world motorsport association FIA describes the trigger of the chaos as an “unprecedented situation”. Approximately 100 lap times will be voided. Race winner Max Verstappen had found the right words for all of this after training on Friday: “We looked like idiots, like amateurs. Unbelievable!”
Horner and Wolff in rare unity
A harsh judgement, but an apt one. In qualifying, the subsequent deletion of supposed best times whirls the tableau upside down, in the race one “track limits” display follows the other. Combined with the regular mental arithmetic task of calculating the time penalties into the current distances. “It doesn’t work that way,” Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff is noticeably dissatisfied afterwards, “we have to find a solution.” This leads to a rare unity between Wolff and his eternal rival Christian Horner, the discussions between the two sometimes have cult status. This time, however, the Red Bull Racing boss also complained that the problem made Formula 1 look “amateurish”.
Especially since the problem at the former Österreichring in Spielberg has existed for years. Whenever Formula 1 makes a guest appearance in Styria, a discussion about “track limits” breaks out. The reasons for this are complex: The world association FIA, for example, cites the tendency of many drivers to choose the fastest possible line. An admittedly strange accusation, after all it is a basic requirement for the job in the cockpit.
However, the FIA mentions this in connection with the special features of the track – meaning the asphalt run-off zones in turns 9 and 10. These hardly penalize crossing the white lines, especially in contrast to the alternatives: lawns and gravel beds. “You can feel gravel and grass, but not the white line,” says Mercedes driver George Russell, who at the same time puts forward the simplest of all remedies: “You just have to be disciplined.”
The simplest way out for Formula 1 is probably not practical
However, because this approach obviously does not win a majority, drastic solutions have been tried in the past. However, the racing teams rebelled against significantly higher kerbstones because, in their eyes, they caused damage to the front wings, underbody and wheel suspension disproportionately often. An example of this is the accident of Daniil Kvyat, who apparently harmlessly ran over such a curb in qualifying in 2016 and shortly afterwards flew off the track with a broken rear suspension.
The FIA is now urging the Spielberg operators to fill in the run-off zones with gravel in turns 9 and 10 before Formula 1 returns. The contract with the route has just been extended to 2030, so a sustainable solution is in the interest of all parties involved. However, the MotoGP also makes a guest appearance in Spielberg, which prefers asphalt for safety reasons. The FIA therefore concedes that the installation of gravel traps “is not a simple solution compared to other series that race here, but it has proven to be very effective on other corners and circuits with similar problems.”
The zero tolerance policy adopted in 2020 stands in the way of the simplest way out. In principle, Formula 1 could simply decide to make crossing the “track limits” line exempt from punishment in certain places. However, this would almost certainly mean that such forbearance would also be demanded on other routes if the ideal line led beyond the limits. And of course the drivers have to put up with the question of why they, as the world’s best in their field, are apparently unable to follow such a simple rule. Ultimately, the change must do one thing above all: work. Otherwise the next journey into ridiculousness awaits in 2024.