F1 team boss blasts “embarrassing” Qatar Grand Prix tyre safety issues as FIA intervenes
The FIA steps in and the F1 team boss calls the tyre safety issues at the Qatar Grand Prix “embarrassing.”.
Guenther Steiner, the head of the Haas team, believes that the changes that must be made to the Qatar Grand Prix track in response to FIA-mandated safety concerns for F1 drivers are detrimental to the sport.
Guenther Steiner thinks that the safety issues that have plagued this weekend’s Qatar Grand Prix should embarrass Formula 1.
After Pirelli expressed concerns about the state of the tyres used in practice the day before, the FIA modified the Losail Circuit track in advance of the Sprint Shootout on Saturday.
It was determined that “Pyramid” kerbs could be the root of the worrying damage to those compounds.
In order to lessen the harm done to the tyres, the track has been narrowed at turns 12 and 13.
The governing body has also stated that it will mandate that tyres cannot be used for more than 20 laps in the main Grand Prix and will require drivers to make at least three pit stops each if the issue is still present after the Sprint.
The lack of communication prior to the Shootout irritated drivers.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, however, many participants said they were pleased with the changes because they didn’t significantly alter how they drove while, hopefully, resolving the potential safety concern.
Being confronted with such a issue in the middle of a race weekend was “a concerning thing for the future,” according to Haas team principal Steiner. And he is concerned about how it will affect the sport.
This shouldn’t happen in Formula 1, he said, adding that it shouldn’t happen at all.
But now that it has, we must figure out a way to escape.
There are, in my opinion, solutions for this race weekend, but going forward, this shouldn’t happen again.
Because this is not where we should be, it is ultimately embarrassing.
Two years ago, there were some signs here, and while we had problems, they pertained to different kerbs.
They apparently weren’t supposed to develop any kerbs that harm tyres, but the ones we have seem to do so.
The FIA single seater director Nikolas Tombazis expressed sympathy for the drivers who were irritated by the abrupt change.
It is understandable, he said, according to Sky Sports.
Safety is unquestionably our top priority, and the people who operate the vehicles want to make sure that everyone is secure.
We did think about changing the kerbs, but given the time we had from very late last night to today, it would not have been possible.
There were quite a few kerbs; there weren’t just one or two.
Because the concrete was so hard, filing them off would not have been possible.
Therefore, based on that, the next thing we needed to do was to actually get the cars to stay a little further away from the kerbs, which is what we’ve done by changing the white line.
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