Ferrari explains why track limits are tricky at the Red Bull Ring
Speaking ahead of the weekend, Ferrari's Sporting Director Diego Ioverno was asked about the the thorny topic of track limits which is often raising its head at Spielberg.
After its Canadian interlude, the F1 field returns to Europe, resuming with the Austrian and British double-header. The first of these sees the teams head to Spielberg in the Styrian mountains, a few kilometres from Graz.
For the second time this season, Ferrari is running three drivers over the course of the weekend. In line with the regulation that each race driver must give up his seat for a Friday practice session twice per year for a young driver with fewer than two Grand Prix participations to their name, Dino Beganovic, the young Maranello Academy student, will drive Charles Leclerc's car in the first free practice.
For the Swede, it will not be a completely new opportunity as he has already driven the Monegasque’s SF-25 in the opening practice session at the Bahrain Grand Prix.
Speaking ahead of the weekend, Ferrari's Sporting Director Diego Ioverno was asked about the the thorny topic of track limits which is often raising its head at Spielberg.
"Spielberg usually produces exciting racing, with close fights all the way to the flag, because its layout makes overtaking easy and the wide run-off areas also encourage drivers to push to the limit.
"And that’s an aspect that has caused some issues in recent years. The regulations state that a car must always have a portion of the tyre’s contact patch on the track, to avoid track limits infringements, which lead to penalties: in qualifying that means having one’s time cancelled, while in the race, three infringements result in a 5 second penalty.
"In the past couple of years, the FIA has decided to stick to the letter of the law and that has led to an exponential increase in violations, which means there’s an urgent need to resolve the issue. Physical deterrents are the most effective. For years, tall orange kerbs were in use, which would damage the car and send it flying.
"Today, the gravel trap is more common and it scrubs off plenty of speed, but Spielberg is still one of the circuits where track limit penalties are most common."
