Frankly, they need to figure out something the penalties situation in general. Applying a penalty after the race is finished and they can’t do anything about it is bs. It needs to happen in real time or, at least, during the race
They were handing them out during the race but since there were so many and it was constantly happening, there is just no way to hand them out all during the race.
They have to examine each infringement individually and confirm it from multiple angles before making a decision. They don’t hand them out just because a driver from their point of view says the car ahead went off.
In this very instance, it’s up to the team and the driver to make sure they stay within track limits or they face the risk of being penalised and dropped down after the race. For once, I don’t see much fault from Race Directors or the stewards side.
As far as I know, teams can still dispute any penalty, but there is not much point in this situation and FIA can’t just hire 150 stewards to each race JUST IN CASE a massive backlog of infringements like this happens again.
Cricket has had this for years where a ball knicking a bat or a stump is visible and enforceable by a device sitting on the outside of the cricket field. Same with Tennis that has been policing line and ball for years. The technological challenge has been solved, it’s a matter of will now.
I mean, the thing they can do in real time is not routinely go off the track. And if that means fucking up a lap and going slow, then that driver has to accept that they can’t drive quite as fast on this track. If they want to build a new track that’s a couple feet wider on a few corners, go for it - but it wouldn’t be the Redbull Ring. Here, in Austria, you have to go at a speed at which you can stay in between the white lines. Some managed it. No sympathy for those who didn’t, it’s either a choice or a skill issue, neither of which I mind penalising.
gravel traps are dangerous. They tend to flip over cars if they go sideways into them at a higher speed. Also you have to consider that the RB-Ring also hosts motorcycle races, where gravel traps pose a significant dranger even when just going wide. Also also cars tend to bring back gravel onto the track when making it out of gravel traps, which often require safety cars and disrupting the race.
grass is a bit better, but has it’s own set of problems. It’s expensive to maintain, and it gets slippery when wet, so it can’t stop an out of control car in the rain. My favourite solution would be to have a strip of grass about a cars width right next to the track, followed by an astroturf runoff.
Frankly, they need to figure out something the penalties situation in general. Applying a penalty after the race is finished and they can’t do anything about it is bs. It needs to happen in real time or, at least, during the race
That would just be a monumental undertaking.
They were handing them out during the race but since there were so many and it was constantly happening, there is just no way to hand them out all during the race.
They have to examine each infringement individually and confirm it from multiple angles before making a decision. They don’t hand them out just because a driver from their point of view says the car ahead went off.
In this very instance, it’s up to the team and the driver to make sure they stay within track limits or they face the risk of being penalised and dropped down after the race. For once, I don’t see much fault from Race Directors or the stewards side.
As far as I know, teams can still dispute any penalty, but there is not much point in this situation and FIA can’t just hire 150 stewards to each race JUST IN CASE a massive backlog of infringements like this happens again.
That’s nonsense; computer systems could detect off-track events with extreme accuracy if they cared to build a system.
Cricket has had this for years where a ball knicking a bat or a stump is visible and enforceable by a device sitting on the outside of the cricket field. Same with Tennis that has been policing line and ball for years. The technological challenge has been solved, it’s a matter of will now.
And it wouldn’t be new: motogp uses pressure sensors built into the track since 2021: https://www.rideapart.com/news/497245/motogp-track-limit-sensor-introduced-2021/
I mean, the thing they can do in real time is not routinely go off the track. And if that means fucking up a lap and going slow, then that driver has to accept that they can’t drive quite as fast on this track. If they want to build a new track that’s a couple feet wider on a few corners, go for it - but it wouldn’t be the Redbull Ring. Here, in Austria, you have to go at a speed at which you can stay in between the white lines. Some managed it. No sympathy for those who didn’t, it’s either a choice or a skill issue, neither of which I mind penalising.
Could they just put a gravel trap there instead of a run-off area?
gravel traps are dangerous. They tend to flip over cars if they go sideways into them at a higher speed. Also you have to consider that the RB-Ring also hosts motorcycle races, where gravel traps pose a significant dranger even when just going wide. Also also cars tend to bring back gravel onto the track when making it out of gravel traps, which often require safety cars and disrupting the race.
Fair point, maybe grass (or some kind of carbon fibre F1-spec AstroTurf!) or something else that provides worse grip without the danger?
grass is a bit better, but has it’s own set of problems. It’s expensive to maintain, and it gets slippery when wet, so it can’t stop an out of control car in the rain. My favourite solution would be to have a strip of grass about a cars width right next to the track, followed by an astroturf runoff.
My thoughts as well.
It was a choice. They took the risk that it wouldn’t be penalized, because it probably wouldn’t be.
Showing that it’ll be enforced changes the math for next time.