Pilots discuss safety and pleasure

After the urban layout of Baku, with walls forgiving no error (ask Lewis Hamilton during his qualifying run), the drivers will continue this weekend on the ultra-fast track of the Red Bull Ring in Austria, where organizers linked to the FIA, have increased corner run-offs n°1, 2 and 8 in particular, in order to improve security. At a press conference, the drivers present were questioned about their preferences, between routes that do not forgive errors or routes that are more permissive.

“I think it’s difficult because when you have to do something to improve safety, you do it. It has to be done. You can't not do something for safety, comments the Dane from Renault Sport F1 Team Kevin Magnussen.

But there's no reason to deny that riskier tracks are more fun. At least as far as I'm concerned, and I'm sure most drivers will say the same thing. But we can't make tracks more dangerous just to make them more fun. But yeah, I guess that's a factor: for most drivers, it's more fun when the track is riskier. »

Comments corroborated by Daniil Kvyat and Felipe Nasr. If the trend is towards the use of asphalt runoffs instead of gravel traps, the Spielberg circuit still offers some large gravel areas off the trajectory, which could waste a lot of time for the most optimistic optimists depending on both pilots.

“I'm a little old school on this issue, admits the Russian. Of course, you can't just put a concrete wall everywhere to make a circuit exciting. You have to find a good compromise between paying the price for your mistake and not getting hurt. F1 has invested so much in safety and it’s incredible what has been achieved. Here at turns 5 and 6 there are gravel traps which mean you pay a higher price if you go off the line. I think this kind of lead has a little more value. »

“It’s also true to say that on some tracks you make a mistake, you go wide and you come back into the race, underlines the Brazilian from Sauber… From my point of view, sometimes it's so easy to give up a little time and then get back into the race. If it was like a few years ago it wouldn't have been possible...if you have a gravel trap or something else you would have wasted a lot more time getting back. »

Several curbs at the exit of turns have, however, been installed on the Austrian track, to prevent run-offs from being used too much by the drivers to gain any time advantage.