Villeneuve slams Paul Ricard circuit
Outspoken BAR star Jacques Villeneuve has slammed safety at the Paul Ricard test track in France, and has said that he doesn't know why teams bother to test at the track
The Canadian was second fastest in testing at the circuit today (Thursday) but reckons that the smooth asphalt at the circuit limits the relevance of testing at the track.
"We did some tyre work but it doesn't help much because the asphalt is so different from any of the circuits we race on," he told autosport.com. "Also, some of the corners are so dangerous - I wish they'd put some tyre barriers here."
The Paul Ricard circuit was recently redesigned as a state of the art F1 test track. Instead of tyre barriers, the circuit features wide concrete run-off areas featuring special strips to slow the car.
"Those asphalt strips do stop the car, but if you miss the line you can go over and just carry on driving, which isn't like any other circuit we race at," he continued. "So I really don't know why we keep coming here. We did some mileage today, but it didn't have a purpose."
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