The simple solution to F1's Austria track limits hullabaloo

Grrr. The rumble strip growls as a Formula 1 car rattles over the top of it at breakneck speed, not once buckling under the machinery's inflated weight. It growls again, as another car forges its own path atop the red-and-white kerb. For the next car that tries its luck, the eruption of noise in response resembles more of a snarl. The car is wayward, snapping onto the entry of the corner and missing its marks by a hair's breadth.

Beep. A note flashes up on a computer in the FIA's race control room. Over 1200 similar notes will be generated over the course of the Austrian Grand Prix, as the limit at Turns 9 and 10 - the white line - is frequently transgressed over the course of 71 laps.

Penalties were being handed out freely both during and after the race, when the FIA upheld Aston Martin's protest that there were potentially more examples of track limits violations that had gone unpunished. It led to a confusing mess in the aftermath, the sort of thing that would tie casual viewers in knots as the result on screen at the end was later shuffled around like an Uno deck.

Two drivers, to their credit, did end the race without a single track limits strike: George Russell and Zhou Guanyu. But they're the minority to the rule here, and that every other driver buzzed the imaginary fence at least once suggests one thing: that everyone is predisposed to taking the path of least resistance.

Drivers are not going to curb risk heading into the downhill corners prior to the start-finish line, as weaving the right line through them can yield much-coveted lap time, but those behind the wheel cannot predict with absolute certainty how the car will respond when they get there. "Don't go over the white line" appears to be the easy, fix-all bon mot; the response to that should be "I won't know if I will until I get there". That being said, the hard line of F1 regulations is admittedly not written with existentialist undertones.

If F1 and the FIA care about 'the optics', and the drivers aren't willing to stop teasing a white line as it may offer significant rewards if tickled just so, then there needs to be a physical deterrent. Last year, the FIA suggested to the Red Bull Ring circuit management that a gravel trap might be a jolly good idea, but that recommendation was not acted upon.

Zhou was a minority in managing to not violate track limits at all during the Austrian Grand Prix

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

The suggestion is that this was left as run-off to accommodate MotoGP and other bike categories that choose to dance around the Styrian hills, much in the same way that the chicane after Turn 1 was added halfway along the stretch up to Turn 3, in response to the 2020 horror crash between Johann Zarco and Franco Morbidelli at the circuit.

"When you’ve got so many infringements, it is a bit amateurish," reckoned Red Bull boss Christian Horner. "I think a strip of gravel or something as a deterrent to run out there [is needed]. The problem is it is very difficult as drivers because they cannot see the white lines in the car so you are purely doing it on feel."

Gravel would be the optimal solution for F1 as a hard-and-fast delineator of the limits. It works fantastically well for Turn 4 and Turn 6, where drivers can take some degree of risk with the kerb but punishes those who take far too much leeway. And it seems to be the prevailing solution suggested by those involved in the championship. But if MotoGP must be catered for there, then alternative solutions may have to be considered.

Turns 1 and 3 are both uphill, and have slower trajectories than Turns 9 and 10. Thus, a sausage kerb might not be the best solution for the downhill duo

In previous seasons, particularly when F1 returned to the Red Bull Ring in 2014, there were deterrents around the circuit. The exit of Turn 9 featured fearsome kerbs that would rattle the fillings out of the drivers' mouths, and frequently munch on bodywork and suspension members as the vibrations shook the car to within an inch of its life. A strip of grass also lined the exit of Turn 10, enough to cause a slight delay for a car putting a wheel down beyond the kerb. Perhaps the grass solution would work again at both corners, maintaining the run-off behind them to make it admissible for bikes as well.

Or, alternatively, a solution could be implemented that can be removed for bikes. Track limits violations have been largely quelled in Turns 1 and 3 owing to a long sausage kerb, running parallel to the circuit. This limits any possibility of a car being launched into the air, but has enough bite in it to keep drivers from getting too close to it; rewatching the race start from 2003, the first year that many of the gravel traps were replaced with run-off, the drivers took huge liberties in expanding far beyond the white line in the first corner. The longer sausage kerbs have, in those opening tight corners, quietly done their job.

But the final two corners exist within different contextual margins. Turns 1 and 3 are both uphill, and have slower trajectories than Turns 9 and 10. Thus, a sausage kerb might not be the best solution for the downhill duo - of the two corners, however, it would likely suit the exit of Turn 9 far more than Turn 10.

There is one final alternative solution if gravel, grass, or more prominent kerbs are not workable at the Red Bull Ring. Policing laps in this year's qualifying sessions seemed far more responsive than last year, where Sergio Perez only had an illegitimate lap time deleted after the next phase of qualifying had begun. This worked, and it serves a purpose to keep monitoring laps in qualifying, so that can remain.

Track limits abuses at Turn 1 have been far less egregious since the adoption of sausage kerbs, but that solution won't be as effective at a downhill corner

Photo by: Russell Batchelor / Motorsport Images

But in a race context, the FIA could theoretically stop policing it altogether. They can create a loose monitoring system beyond the kerbs to stop any flagrant violations but, when it comes to going over the white line slightly at Turns 9 and 10, these can be ignored. Every driver is following the same stretch of track, they're going to try and find the fastest line, so why not let them?

Two camps will invariably form: those who believe staunchly that the white line is the line, and those who believe that not every single millimetre-off interpretation of the racing line needs to be clamped down upon. For the former group, a physical impediment will surely help bolster that notion and, for the latter, watching dozens of penalties rain down on the field will be interpreted as the fault of the regulations, not the drivers.

So it's as simple as this: put some grass there, or just stop monitoring it altogether.

Perez didn't get a lap in Q2 due to track limits, but should F1 stop policing it during the race?

Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images