The Red Bull Ring has renewed its contract with F1 until 2025, yet last year, many criticized it as a flurry of penalties were handed out due to track limit violations. As a reminder, during a Grand Prix, each driver is allowed three track limit infringements before a black and white flag is shown, warning that the next violation will incur a penalty. A new infraction results in a five-second penalty, and a fifth infraction results in a 10-second penalty.<\/p>\n
This year, not a single penalty, only a few times canceled. Is the circuit wide enough to accommodate the current F1? According to the drivers, questioned by Motors Inside in a post-Grand Prix press conference, the answer is yes. “I no longer think it’s a problem today. The changes that have been made to the track are actually quite effective in ending the problem that existed before,” Charles Leclerc explains to us.<\/p>\n
Indeed, there have been modifications. After the 2023 masquerade<\/b> where 1,200 contentious situations were dismissed by the FIA and a 30-second penalty was imposed on Esteban Ocon, the authorities made some decisions to prevent such a scenario. Despite these changes, the circuit remains a truly narrow and demanding whirlwind.<\/p>\n\u00ab It’s already a sufficient penalty to go off track on such a circuit \u00bb<\/h2>\n
To limit track limit infringements in Austria, the FIA has modified several areas of the Red Bull Ring. A 2.5-meter gravel strip has been installed behind the curbs at turns 9 and 10, and the white line has been moved in other corners (1, 3, 4, and 6) to reduce the distance to the gravel to less than 2 meters, making off-track excursions less advantageous. A blue strip has also been added behind the white line to help identify infringements. These measures aim to discourage drivers from widening their trajectory.<\/p>\n
\u00ab It’s already a sufficient penalty to go off track on such a circuit, \u00bb insists the Monegasque driver. In other words, if you go off, you find yourself stuck in the gravel trap, or to a lesser extent, you put your wheels in it and lose time. \u00ab Yes, I agree. There is gravel in the main corners where if you went off, you would gain time. Now, you can’t gain any. I went off and lost a lot of time, \u00bb Lando Norris tells us.<\/p>\n
**The gravel trap is scary**, so these changes have proven to be very effective, more so than a time penalty since no driver has exceeded the limits to the point of being penalized. \u00ab Last year, I received a five-second penalty for trying to overtake, trying to race, which makes sense. But those things (track limit penalties), I think it’s a bit stupid. On the other hand, I think this circuit is much better than a few years ago. There were about 200 off-tracks. Now, I think there are no penalties anymore. \u00bb<\/p>\n
The FIA plans to further tighten its controls by using artificial intelligence and blue lines on other circuits to improve the detection of track limit violations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
After the controversy of 2023 and its dozens of penalties for exceeding limits, the Red Bull Ring has undergone a transformation. Thanks to targeted improvements, infringements have virtually disappeared by 2024. A success hailed by the drivers, who feel that the track, despite its compactness, is now better suited to modern F1.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":111,"featured_media":46190,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,1749],"tags":[215,461,1335],"class_list":["post-32110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-f1","category-news","tag-declaration","tag-grand-prix-dautriche","tag-red-bull-ring"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n