As Mohammed Ben Sulayem took his place as head of the FIA in the Place de Concorde, Lewis Hamilton was left ruling what might have been in the Formula One 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The former Emirati rally driver was to become the first head of the FIA with no F1 background since the infamous Jean-Marie Balestre took office back in 1978.

Ben Sulayem had campaigned for the presidency under the banner of the “FIA for members” amongst its global 240 national memberships, many of whom felt the focus of the organisation was too F1 centric.

Since being elected Ben Sulayem has upset just about everyone at some point in the F1 paddock with his early campaign against drivers wearing jewellery ending in farce as Lewis Hamilton produced a sick note stating it would be detrimental to his health were he to remove his nose pin during track sessions.

 

 

 

Ben Sulayman priorities solving track limits issue

Another of the FIA president’s pet projects has been to toughen up on the stewarding of track limits, something Charlie Whiting told this writer would be impossible to achieve around the entire perimeter of each F1 circuit.

F1 Drivers exceeding track limits and gaining an advantage has been the bain of F1 fans and commentators lives alike for decades and Ben Sulyamen’s commitment to this cause has gained him friends in certain quarters.

Much of the track limits debates began when the new breed of F1 circuits were designed by Hermann Tilke around the turn of the millennium, each with new massive asphalt run off areas where on traditional circuits gravel had been used to prevent the drivers taking liberties. Much of the pressure for this approach had come from the teams themselves who were tired of seeing one or both their cars out of a Grand Prix because they were beached in the gravel.

Safety was also cited as a reason for the enormous car park areas, which even found their way eventually to the outside of the historic parabolic final corner in Monza. Concerns were expressed that a Formula One car could hit the gravel at speed and flip over causing injury or even death to a driver.

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Yet as Zhou Gunagu showed in Silverstone 2023, even on a flat piece of asphalt given the right circumstances an F1 car can still flip putting the driver at risk.

An old fashion methodology used to prevent drivers transgressing over the white lines which delimit the edge of the track has been finding its way back into Formula One this year. By reintroducing grass just 1.5m in from the white lines means if a driver exceeds the track limit half a metre of his car will be on the newly instated grass verge.

Follow the controversy at the USGP last season, the organisers have decided while re-surfacing the entire track, to take action on track limits too. The problem of drivers cutting corners at last year’s event that Haas sought a right of review over claimed multiple breaches by their competitors which should have been sanctioned during the race.

The stewards refused Haas request, but onboard cameras showing drivers exceeding the track limits were offered up by other teams – at turn 6 especially – forcing the FIA to admit a problem did exist. It agreed that external monitoring of certain corners was insufficient to provide an accurate decision on whether a driver was outside the white lines.

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Austin install “fake gravel”

The organisers in Austin have sought to assist the FIA with the problem during a complete resurfacing of the COTA track this year. A number of corners now have the 1.5m of track/kerb before the grass kicks in which should prevent drivers from attempting to cut the corners.

Included is the problematic turn 6 along with turns 13, 14 and 15 too. Camera’s too have been added in “strategic places” which should help the stewards better monitor track limits and penalise cars ruled to be off the track.

Turn 11 too has been remodelled from its previous asphalt run off area with FIA speed bumps on the exit, now it has followed the example of Zandvoort in replacing this with a resin bound gravel. The ‘fake gravel’ has the added benefit that stones are not churned up by a driver mistake and brought onto the track to the detriment of other competitors, yet as a deterrent its not as punitive as grass or gravel and only time will tell whether this modification indeed works.

The ‘fake gravel’ attempts to level the playing field for the different requirements of the various racing series who compete at COTA. It is favoured by MotoGP over gravel and the Austin organisers see it as something of an experiment to see if its effective for Formula One.

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Competing demands for various motorsports

As Austin race promoter Bobby Epstein reveals: “There are some areas where it’s hard because, if you run Moto GP and F1 on the same track, one wants gravel in an area where another one wouldn’t.

“You can’t have both, and you can’t cut into the track and put in gravel, then flip it back and hope it stays watertight when you have clay underneath it. So there’s some back and forth challenges to it.”

Yet in a multi-billion dollar sport Epstein’s explanation seems thin, given the way other stadiums in other sports transform their hallowed turf into a venue for tens of thousands of Taylor Swift fans to stand on.

Under Mohammed ben Sulayem the FIA has become much more creative at track altering measures to prevent track limits transgressions and it shouldn’t be beyond the abilities of all this engineering genius to deliver a drop in system which holds gravel for F1 and to then switch it with resign blocks for motor bikes.

Other kerbs have also been replaced and drainage improved to ensure racing can go ahead when previously the circuit has been too wet.

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Geunther Steiner criticises Christian Horner’s decision making

Formula One is enjoying its second three weekend long break of the season but will return in a flurry of action. Three double header weekends are scheduled with a two week gap before the final run in of Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi. A combination of the FIA’s financial regulations and the curve ball that was the ground effect car designs has shaken up the pecking order in F1 with even Mercedes winning three of the four races before the summer break.

Whilst its true the likes of McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes haver raised their game, at the same time it is true that Red Bull Racing have become destabilised. As evidence of this we could point to the departure of Adrian Newey, Rob Marshall and Jonathan Wheatley – all announced this year – yet there is something more glaringly obvious that all is not well with the world champions.

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