F1 News
Drivers want changes F1 circuit in Jeddah, but Masi refuses major changes
- GPblog.com
Several Formula 1 drivers have indicated that they want to see changes to the circuit in Saudi Arabia after many concerns about safety. Despite the criticism and concerns, Michael Masi says that only a few small things need to be changed.
In the race there were two red flags and safety car situations due to incidents and pieces of the Formula 1 cars lying in dangerous places. From the drivers there were mainly concerns due to the lack of visibility, extremely high speed and the many blind corners.
Drivers express criticism
George Russsell was involved in an incident with Nikita Mazepin and afterwards commented that the circuit is exciting, but dangerous. "Those little blind corners, which in a Formula One car are not even real corners, are destined to dangerous incidents. In my opinion, changes need to be made to the track, because there are so many small twists and turns that are totally unnecessary," the Briton told Motorsport-Total.com.
Esteban Ocon agrees with the Williams driver, as he too points out that there are too many corners. "All those straights after that that are not straight, I think we should actually straighten them. It wouldn't make any difference to the layout of the track itself, because the main corners would stay, but it would definitely add a lot to the safety aspect of the track."
The risk on the track is too great and asking for trouble, according to Sebastian Vettel. "The risk that it brings is not logical from my point of view. Because there are high-speed corners, we rely mostly on our skills and also on luck if something goes wrong. It doesn't take much, you can't see anything when you go around the corner," said the German.
No big changes expected
Despite the concerns, Masi doesn't expect any major changes to the track. Minor adjustments are still being made, but the race director does not plan to focus on improving safety. "I think they have done an excellent job here in Saudi Arabia in setting up this great facility in such a short time. There is still some fine tuning to be done in all areas. There were some teething problems because it is a brand new event and a brand new facility. So it's about fine-tuning, but nothing major that I can think of here and now."