'World's best drivers need to stop complaining about F1's track limits'

F1

The track limits debate is set to rear its head once more in Paul Ricard, but the onus is on world class drivers to control their cars, writes Chris Medland

SPIELBERG - Max Verstappen (1) with the Oracle Red Bull Racing RB18 Honda during the Sprint race ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Austria at the Red Bull Ring on July 9, 2022 in Spielberg, Austria. ANP SEM VAN DER WAL (Photo by ANP via Getty Images)

Drivers are pushing their cars tot he apex of track limits – but no-one is forcing them to go there

ANP via Getty Images

Wahey, it’s everyone’s favourite topic!

I know, I know, you probably thought that 10 days after the Austrian Grand Prix you were safe from any further track limits discussions, but here I am to ruin that for you. Because I’ve had a rant that has been brewing since Sunday night at the Red Bull Ring but that had to wait its turn after the much more important matters of last week’s column.

But it doesn’t need to wait any longer as I can finally unleash what I don’t think is going to be a massively unpopular opinion, except for among the drivers.

One driver who very eloquently made his point last week was Max Verstappen, and it was a point that appeared to have support from many others on the grid:

“I think track limits debate (in Austria) has been a bit of a joke, not only in F1 but in F2 and F3,” Verstappen said. “It’s easy to say from the outside, ‘yeah, but you have to just stay within the white lines’. It sounds very easy, but it’s not because when you go that quick through a corner and some of them are a bit blind, if you have a bit more understeer, tyres are wearing, it’s easy to just go over the white line, but do we actually gain time? Maybe yes, maybe not.

22 TSUNODA Yuki (jap), Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda AT02, action, during the Formula 1 Emirates Grand Prix de France 2021, 7th round of the 2021 FIA Formula One World Championship from June 18 to 20, 2021 on the Circuit Paul Ricard, in Le Castellet, France - Photo Marc de Mattia / DPPI

Paul Ricard is set to bring up track limits issue once more

Marc de Mattia / DPPI

“And to be honest, there’s only two or three corners where you can really just go a bit wider. And I don’t think we should have this value on ‘one millimetre over that’s a penalty’ or whatever. Then just add a wall or put some gravel back … like Turn 6 on the exit. I think that’s great because there is gravel, you punish yourself if you go wide.

“When drivers take an extra 0.01mm, that’s the risk versus reward scenario”

“So these are things where we have to look into how we can make it better because also for the stewards and just the people involved with checking these track limits, I mean it’s almost impossible to check these kind of things because you need what… almost like one guy on one car the whole race to check the whole lap if he’s not going outside of the white line, where on this track, at least in some places, you get naturally penalised if you just you know go a bit wider and you touch the gravel. These kind of things, I think it just doesn’t look good for the sport as well and this is just one thing.”

Now, there’s a reason why it’s still relevant to talk about this week, because Paul Ricard is another venue with swathes of run-off area and flat exit kerbs that will tempt drivers to try and gain every last millimetre.

And that’s OK, that’s exactly what they should be doing. I feel like drivers kind of lose sight of the fact that there is a limit and at some stage it needs to be enforced, when they complain about how fine the margins are when they get penalised. That’s because at some stage you have to choose where you define the line, and then you stick with it. When a driver keeps it on track by just 0.01mm it is massively impressive. When they take an extra 0.01mm and get pinged, that’s the risk versus reward scenario.

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I’m not a Formula 1 driver, so I totally understand that Verstappen might not care much for my opinion on this, but I actually get really infuriated by drivers who complain about track limits, and then say just put gravel or a wall there when it quite often isn’t possible.

What’s the difference? You’re getting punished for both.

As Max outlines, there can be a number of reasons why drivers run slightly wide at corners – “some of them are a bit blind, if you have a bit more understeer, tyres are wearing, it’s easy to just go over the white line” – and they sound like real challenges. But the solution for all of those issues is to go that bit slower through the corner.

Formula 1 is the pinnacle of racing. Drivers are being rewarded for excellence. If they can’t afford to run even the tiniest bit wide in a certain corner, then it’s on them to define how cautious they want to be attacking it the next time around. Nobody is forcing them to take a certain apex speed, or to get on the throttle earlier for a better exit but risk exceeding limits.

I am not saying it’s easy to perfect by any stretch, but the solution is: If your tyres are dropping off and you’re starting to struggle with understeer, you have to compensate.

ricciardo mclaren

Drivers appear to have few issues with threading car through Monaco or Jeddah

McLaren

Far too much of F1 panders to the competitors. Whether that’s with track limits or surfaces, trying to make it as easy as possible to run the cars as close to their optimum window as teams can. Yet imperfections are what make for the best spectacle, when teams have to react, deal with problems, and drivers have to adapt themselves to the situation.

The only reason drivers regularly exceed track limits in the same place is because there is a performance advantage from doing so, or minimal penalty. Whether that’s a time gain or less stress on the tyres by reducing the amount of steering angle, there’s not a major loss at the very least.

When it is extremely costly in terms of time, or damaging to the car to do so, then it’s surprising how drivers can avoid racking up the track limits violations, isn’t it? Verstappen mentions gravel on the outside of certain corners, and for some reason drivers don’t drop two wheels into that gravel lap after lap even when the corner is blind and they’re struggling with understeer.

In a perfect world, of course the solution would be a physical one, but that isn’t realistic at every venue. And so where that isn’t possible, the only issue with track limits being defined by a white line at a corner where a car wants to run wider is the drivers’ inability to create enough fear in their own minds to stop them pushing the limits too far.

At Paul Ricard, when the debate inevitably rears its head again, remember these are the best drivers in the world who can thread the needle miraculously around Monaco or at high speed in Jeddah. It might not be the ideal way to enforce track limits, but telling them to stay within the white lines at all times is certainly not unfair.

The track designers choose the layout of a circuit, not the drivers when they find certain corners tough.