Monza Speed Bumps Cause Safety Concerns

The new speed bumps introduced to Monza's chicanes this weekend have gained mixed reviews after drivers tested them out in practice before Saturday's qualifying session.

The bumps were introduced to avoid issuing a large number of drive-through penalties during Sunday's race for cutting the chicane, which many drivers did last year. But their safety has been brought into question over fears that cars will not just be slowed but will be badly damaged by running over them and could even be flipped over if they hit at the wrong angle.

Renault driver Jarno Trulli, of Italy, expressed his concerns before taking to the track on Thursday and admitted his team had made a report to the FIA on the matter. "They are pretty high," he said. "You can damage the car."

The bumps, which appeared at last week's Monza test, were also criticised by Canadian Jacques Villeneuve, of BAR, after Friday practice. "If you do make a proper mistake and you are spinning then they can be bad," he warned.

Briton David Coulthard, of McLaren-Mercedes, added: "Anything that involves a bump in the road, if you hit it at the wrong angle, is going to cause a problem. I am not happy with it."

Many of the drivers have revealed worries over possible damage if they lose control while coming into the chicane, but this remains unlikely and they have conceded that the bumps need to be there to prevent unfair competition.

"Some drivers never cross the chicane and they are not needed, some feel bad about crossing it, but some others, they just don't care, every second lap they cross it," said Villeneuve. "It is because of them that we have to put them there. We have to do something about stopping it."

Coulthard, a member of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association, singled out Arrows Brazilian driver Enrique Bernoldi, who is not present this weekend, as one of the main offenders last year.

"Guys like Bernoldi went down the escape road several times and over where the speed bumps now are and kept his position," he added. "Now if people did that you would give them a drive-through."

But with the FIA reluctant to use the drive-through penalty option, and gravel traps an unpopular solution, Coulthard was left admitting: "I don't have a better solution that will slow people down and still allow for good racing.

"Not to have them there is the wrong thing, and I would rather go over speed bumps slowly than over the gravel because I think you would do less damage to the car. The best would be race tracks that were completely tarmac everywhere and you just drove between flat kerbs, then you would have the least chance of having any incident. But that is not realistic.

"If you actually hit them at a high speed then you damage the car, but they are there to stop people cutting corners and it is the best solution they have come up with."

Villeneuve, however, believes the FIA should re-design circuits with faster right-left sections which do not give drivers the option to cut corners, rather than using 'mickey mouse' chicanes.

"The solution is to not have chicanes like that," Villeneuve said. "They should make proper right-left-handers, more like we have in Spa, after Eau Rouge, it is not a chicane but it is still a right-left and that would be a much better solution."