The track limits rule hits the show in qualifying at the Red Bull Ring. The champion will start first on Sunday with Leclerc and Sainz behind while Alonso will start seventh. This Saturday, sprint race with own classification
“Lap deleted, track limits.” “Lap deleted, track limits.” “Lap deleted, track limits.” Formula 1 went crazy this Friday in qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring and diluted its show in a continuous review of repetitions. The VAR taken to the extreme; technology against sport. what happened? The culmination -and perhaps the end- of a fashion.
For a few years now, in most classic circuits it has been considered that it is safer to pave runoffs than to lay gravel or plant grass because that way, in case of error, the single-seaters have a margin. There are fewer accidents, less work for the cranes, fewer dropouts, fewer safety car laps. It is a measure designed mainly for motorcycles, but in cars it also has defenders. The problem is that it is very difficult to know where the path ends. In a car at 300 km/h everything looks like a practicable track and the paint is not enough, even if different colors are used.
“It’s very difficult to see where the white line is. I couldn’t run the way I wanted to. It’s silly to delete laps because of that. People will say to drive inside the lines, but it’s not that easy. Take my car and try it.” , regretted max verstappen, the poleman, after the tension experienced. “This is fucking ridiculous”, he came to shout over the radio. Throughout the classification, especially during Q2, the commissioners of the International Automobile Federation (FIA) eliminated many laps because the drivers had exceeded the limits of the track and that marked the session. It was more important not to cross the line than to be fast. And there was a clear harm: Czech Prez.
For the fourth consecutive race, the Mexican, one of the top favorites for victory, was left out of the top 10 -on Sunday he will start fifteenth- and this time it was not his mistake. Or at least it wasn’t a blatant mistake. In Q2 he completed a very fast lap, he was the leader of the classification, but the sensors detected that he had exceeded the limits and the stewards erased his time.
Alonso’s seventh place
“Lap deleted, track limits.” “Lap deleted, track limits.” “Lap deleted, track limits.” The same message crammed the list of sanctions with others affected. George Russell, for example, that did not go to Q3 either. Or even Fernando Alonso. In Q2, with another lap eliminated, she had to work hard not to be left out and in Q3, with worn tires, she went to secure.
This Sunday -on Saturday there is a sprint race with its own classification- I will start from seventh position and the objective cannot be victory, at most the podium. Only the rain forecast, which remains at 50%, will offer him a chance to win.
“There are many solutions. I understand that the circuits where different World Cups take place need solutions, but the line is very difficult to see. We don’t see our tires so we don’t know if we are in or out,” he summarized. Carlos Sainz, who was happy among the chaos unleashed by the limits of the track. Behind Verstappen, who is still intractable, the two Ferrari drivers were placed: charles leclercsecond and Sainz, third.
Throughout qualifying they both showed that they have good pace and with the low temperatures this weekend in Austria, tire degradation will not be a problem this time around. Both Leclerc and Sainz can challenge Verstappen for victory and, in fact, they pose the greatest threat. In fourth position I will start Lando Norris and in fifth and sixth, lewis hamilton and Lance Stroll.
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