FIA hint at bringing back gravel run-off at Parabolica at Monza

The Ferrari driver looked to be completely off-track when completing his flying lap in Q3 of qualifying from some angles and within the track limits from other angles. The time wasn't deleted in the end, with the German starting from P4 on Sunday.

Ahead of the race weekend at Monza, the FIA had already stated that exceeding track limits at Parabolica would result in both the current and the following lap being invalidated. It was to prevent drivers from driving a wider line onto the main straight and giving them a better line.

Currently, the run-off is surrounded by asphalt run-off. Replacing this with gravel would make going off-track more punishing, Masi knows.

“We’ve just got to look at it all. Is it bringing gravel back, is it having a double kerb and gravel, is it grass, all of the various solutions that we’ve got available and it’s having a look at all of it,”  the Australian told RaceFans.net when asked about potentially fitting a gravel run-off.

“It’s not as simple as just saying ‘yep, bang, let’s fix that’. There’s a whole lot of various inputs and factors that need to be looked at.”

Masi added that if it were up to him, he'd try to make exceeding track limits automated with an electric system that could detect when someone takes a line that's too wide.

“Probably for next year if there are changes made we’ll look at it with our safety department and the circuit inspectors, do the various simulations and have a discussion with the circuit as well.

“For me that’s a sort of prime area where you possibly put timing loops similar to what we have at Spa. That way it’s just automatic.”

“Anything that can be automated makes all of our lives far easier.”