F1 News
"Tear-offs kept somewhere in the car" suggests Leclerc
- GPblog.com
Charles Leclerc had to make an unscheduled pit stop after just the first lap of the race at Spa-Franchorchamps. The reason was a tear-off that got stuck in his brake duct. To prevent overheating, Leclerc was forced to come in after the first lap so his team could remove the protective strip. He hopes for a better solution to tear-offs.
Although the Monegasque understands that other drivers remove the tear-offs so early in the race, he hopes that there will be a solution for the flying tear-offs. Lewis Hamilton's car was leaking oil after it flew through the air and hit the ground hard following the collision with Fernando Alonso. Drivers behind Hamilton got the leaked oil on their visors, which restricted visibility and caused some drivers to remove their protective strip on the first lap.
"For the future I think it would be good if we could find a solution to keep the tear-offs in the car," Leclerc said. Motorsport.com "Of course I'm not angry with Max and of course it's not the drivers' fault either, but we could look at a way to keep the tear-offs somewhere in the car."
Ban already described
The FIA regulations already include a ban on the disposal of tear-offs. Article 1.3 of Chapter III of Appendix L of the ISC describes "tear-offs attached to visors must not be thrown unnecessarily on the track or in the pit lane". The FIA tried to control this strictly in 2016, but this came in for heavy criticism from the drivers, after which they stopped doing so again. Decisive for Spa would have been the addition of 'unnecessary'. Tear-offs with oil on them that obstruct the view can cause dangerous situations and it seems logical that this was necessary for safety reasons.