F1 drivers including the likes of Charles Leclerc, George Russell and Lance Stroll have voiced their reservations about the possibility of tougher sanctions for exceeding track limits in the future.
Traditionally, drivers have faced a five-second penalty for overtaking another vehicle by driving all four wheels beyond the white lines that mark the track’s boundaries.
This penalty has also been applied for other violations of track limits during races, with drivers being allowed three warnings before the penalty is enforced.
However, there’s a growing belief that moving forward, such infractions will attract a sterner 10-second penalty. This punishment would be applied during the driver’s subsequent pit stop or added to their total time at the end of the race.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc pointed out that drivers frequently find it challenging to stay within track limits because of the vantage point from their cockpit, he stated: “It sounds quite harsh, it is quite harsh.”
“The main priority should be fixing or at least helping us respect those track limits better. At the moment, the way the white lines are, we don’t really see it. So I felt like five seconds was quite painful already. 10 seconds is, in my opinion, too much.”
George Russell shared similar sentiments with the Ferrari driver: “I think it’s difficult to really comprehend from television how difficult it is from within the car.
“You’re sat so low, you only see the top 15 centimetres of your tyres. The cars are running 70 millimetres from the ground, even less at the end of the straight. So we need a kerb that we can feel and ultimately, some tracks we go to there’s no track limit issues whatsoever.
“It’s only a handful of circuits that we see a lot of track limit issues. So we just need to find a way to solve it.”
Lance Stroll suggested that violations of track limits could be eliminated if the areas beyond the circuit were made more penalizing, like incorporating gravel surfaces.
“I think it’s a bit harsh, if you go off the track you get a penalty, whether it’s five seconds or 10 seconds, I think we’re all pushing and trying to stay in the track limits.
“I think some of the bigger issues is actually how the track limits situation is. A lot of the tracks we go to, if we change that the actual nature of a lot of the tracks and make it a little bit easier to stay in the track limits but also maybe more penalising, if you go off the track limits of gravel or grass, we’d have less of these issues in the first place.”
