Frederic Vasseur says the heat wasn’t a serious issue for him as much as the track limits were in F1 Qatar GP.
The whole of the F1 Qatar GP weekend was marred by multiple troubles. The heat did a play a role mostly on Sunday in the long race, but before that the kerbs and track limits situation added much to the headache for the teams.
Already after Friday, they had to change the track slightly due to the kerbs. This resulted in added 10 minute session while created a mandated 18 lap stints. The heat only added to the misery created by the kerbs and potential tyre troubles.
For Ferrari F1 chief Vasseur, the track limits situation was a bigger problem than the heat. “I would say that the biggest issue for me of the weekend is track limits,” he said. “Because you know when you are going to Spielberg that you will have issues with track limits, and we had issues with track limits here, and you get the results two hours after the race.
“And when we came before the weekend, we told them exactly the same, that it will be a festival. And it was a festival. I think on top of this, the drivers at the end they perhaps lost a little bit of concentration, and some guys, the last 10 laps, they were doing strikes every single lap. But you can’t blame them in this situation, we have to find a solution.
‘I think it’s not even good for the show,” he said. “At least on the pit wall, you have the number of strikes, you can follow the story, you know where you are and so on. But I’m thinking about the guys who are in front of their TV, they don’t have the story about the strikes.
“And at one stage they see Gasly five seconds, Gasly 10 seconds, Gasly 15 seconds. We have to think also about this. I think that we can anticipate this kind of issue,” summed up Vasseur, who when asked if large investment from host countries is leading to situations like these, didn’t wish to go into the specifics but wants an overall solution to kerbs issue.
“I won’t go on this field because I don’t know who is responsible for this,” said Vasseur. “But it’s not just a matter of kerbs. It’s the complete process, the layout of the track, the kerbs, what is after the kerbs. We have to find a solution.
“But as you said, and I don’t want to go on this field and to speak about investment, but we are coming to Qatar, they are doing a mega effort to organise the event, and to have this outcome is for me is not at the level of the championship.”
Here’s Oliver Bearman getting Ferrari test run
Here’s Ferrari on Qatar happenings
Here’s FIA verdict on Lance Stroll
Here’s Bernie Ecclestone case
Here’s FIA and drivers on extreme heat in Qatar GP
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