Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and George Russell have called for changes to how Formula 1 applies its track limits regulations.
A total of 22 lap times – 13 of which were representative flying laps – were deleted during Friday’s qualifying session for Sunday’s Qatar Grand Prix.
McLaren Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri had their final lap times struck off well after the chequered flag flew. Those infringements promoted Russell and Hamilton up into second and third, respectively, for Sunday’s grand prix grid.
Russell did not exceed the track limits once in the session. He was also one of only two drivers to complete the Austrian grand prix in July without recording one of the 82 track limits strikes which were recorded by his rivals over the course of the race.
Asked by RaceFans what he was doing to avoid falling foul of the rules compared to his rivals, Russell admitted it was “very challenging” to keep within the white lines.
“You’ve got to be very, very precise – we’re talking sort of millimetres sometimes,” Russell said. “I’ve had no track limits, but two races ago [in Singapore] I crashed into the wall and lost the podium.
“Definitely it’s a bit frustrating when we go to great circuits like this – this is a really great circuit – but then it’s so difficult to know where that limit is, where the edge is and we need to find a better solution for the future.”
Before the race weekend began several drivers noted the steep kerbs at the Losail International Circuit had the potential to damage cars due to the height difference between the track and the top of the kerbs – as much as five centimetres in some corners.
However pole winner Max Verstappen said the aggressive kerbs were a good deterrent for drivers to stay within the limits of the track. “It’s tough, it’s always tough, honestly,” he said. “It’s easy to go just over it.
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“I do think these kerbs are a little bit better. I don’t think people who went wide actually gained time, it’s just a bit annoying because if you go a little bit wider you bottom out and you damage your floor potentially and you definitely lose time. So I think that has been already a big positive compared to the last time that we were here.
“I think why we don’t really see track limits [infringements] in, for example, Suzuka is because it’s like old school – if you go off, there’s immediate gravel. Of course already in some places in Suzuka you have these double kerbs and there might be track limits, but in the older places which they haven’t touched, you never talk about track limits.
“I would always prefer to see that kind of style of racing. But of course some places we share with bikes and they like a bit more run-off. We always have to try and find a compromise, but sometimes it hurts them, sometimes it hurts us a little bit more.”
Hamilton also voiced his approval for the Qatar kerbs and suggested the circuit should not have the same track limits rules applied to it as other venues, stating that “Lando should be up here” rather than him.
“I think these kerbs are great,” Hamilton said. “When I went around the track yesterday on the scooter, I thought the kerbs looked quite big, but I think they’re actually really good.
“As Max said, I think when you go beyond the highest point of the kerb, you lose time. I don’t feel like at this track we need to have track limits. It’s something that the new [race director] brought in a couple of years ago.
“I think we need to maybe take these kerbs as a good learning. We can take these kerbs to a bunch of other tracks because obviously Moto GP are fine with these kerbs and we can have these in like Austria, for example. As I said, when you go beyond them you should be able to utilise as much as possible, but when you go beyond them, you lose time. So it shouldn’t be the white line necessarily. But anyway, it’s not for me to decide.”
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