New gravel traps have been installed at the Red Bull Ring in a bid to prevent a repeat of the farcical conclusion to last year’s race.
The final classification of the race took hours to appear after Aston Martin protested the result claiming several of their rivals had repeatedly exceeded track limits. After scrutinising footage of the track the stewards issued post-race penalties to eight drivers.
A spokesperson for the FIA, who said they had previously urged the circuit operators to install gravel traps to discourage drivers from running wide, said at the time they “renew our recommendation to the circuit to add a gravel trap at the exit of turns nine and 10.”
The operators of the Red Bull Ring have complied with the request by adding a 2.5-metre-wide gravel traps to the edges of the two corners within the last two weeks. A similar gravel trap was added to the final corner at the Shanghai International Circuit for this year’s Chinese Grand Prix.
Other series including which race at the Red Bull Ring, such as Moto GP, prefer not to have gravel traps at the edges of such high-speed corners. The FIA acknowledged that in their recommendation, stating: “We note that while this is not a straightforward solution in relation to other series that race here, it has proved to be very effective at other corners and circuits with similar issues.”
It remains to be seen whether the Red Bull Ring operators intend to remove the gravel for its Moto GP round in August. They previously installed a chicane at turn two for the benefit of Moto GP which F1 does not used.
The FIA investigated over 1,200 potential track limits infringements during last year’s race. A total of 83 infringements were identified, all of which occured at turns nine and 10. Eight drivers were penalised, including Esteban Ocon who was given a total of four separate sanctions adding up to 30 seconds.
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