F1 drivers’ fury over Qatar safety issues

F1 drivers’ fury over Qatar safety issues understandable – FIA

The team and drivers were not informed until shortly before the changes were announced on Sprint Saturday. Nicolas Tombazis, head of FIA single-place sprints, admitted drivers’ frustration at not being told about the safety changes ahead of the Qatar Grand Prix sprint was “understandable”.

   The main tire issues found after a thorough analysis by supplier Pirelli after practice at the Lusail International Circuit concluded that running for more than 20 laps was a safety concern as compound separation increased the risk of punctures. Ahead of the Sprint Shoutout, the FIA ​​announced a number of measures to combat the problem, including adjustments to track restrictions at Turns 12 and 13 and a special 10-minute familiarization session to accommodate layout variations. However, a meeting called between the drivers, believed to be chaired by Grand Prix Drivers’ Union president Alex Wurz, was seen as disappointed that the issues had not been discussed beforehand – as the drivers and teams were only supposed to have been informed. shortly before the FIA. the statement was published.

   Tombazis responded to the concerns: “It is understandable, they drive cars and they want to make sure that they are safe and safety is definitely our priority. “We thought about changing the banks, but last night. , very late at night, until today it would not be possible. “There weren’t one or two individual curbs, there were quite a few – they would have to be filed and it’s very hard concrete, that wouldn’t be possible. “So from that we got the next thing. 

   The goal was to get the cars to stay a little further from the curbs, which we did by changing the white line.” The district is not to blame The powerful “pyramid edges” used in Lusail came under scrutiny before the weekend, with AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda calling them “floor destroyers”. But to moderate the track and taxes, Tombazis explained: “To be clear, the curb used is the specification of the FIA. “The track did a good job of everything, so we have no complaints about the track, they used all the instructions.

   “These interactions between the tires and the rims can be very complex and depend on many relatively subtle things. details that obviously suggest that we need to do more research there to further improve the situation from both a tire and rim perspective.