Max Verstappen says Formula 1 should strive to find a long-term solution for track limits after quipping drivers “looked like idiots” during qualifying in Austria.
A total of 47 lap times were deleted through the course of the three-part session with the majority of the offences taking place through Turns 9 and 10.
It has often been a talking point at the Red Bull Ring due to the design of the corners, the availability of the run-off, and the short lap time provoking drivers to push the boundaries.
Verstappen, who had a time deleted in both Q1 and Q2, conceded he left some margin during Q3 as he went on to beat Charles Leclerc to pole position.
“It is I think one of the worst tracks for it, with the track limits,” said Verstappen. “Also you know, especially towards the end, the tyres are getting really hot, so they’re not as agile any more as well compared to the beginning of the lap.
“You have all the compressions as well where if you hit it slightly wrong, the car immediately drops away from you, or understeers, and then it’s super easy to go over the white line.
“I think today looked very silly. It almost looked like we were amateurs out there, the amount lap times that were getting deleted.
“And also some of them were so marginal, where even we spoke about it in the briefing before, when it’s very marginal, it’s impossible to judge if it’s out or in. They were still getting deleted. I don’t think it was a good look today.
“On most tracks, it works really well, but on some tracks, you might need something different, because of course a lot of the tracks, we share it with MotoGP or whatever bike championships in general, and they want something else outside of the kerbs than we would like. For us, putting gravel there is fine, but for a bike, it’s a bit different.
“We need to think about maybe different solutions.”
Alterations have been made across the years, with the notorious ‘sausage’ kerbs removed, but Verstappen believes further changes are needed.
“We luckily got rid of these stupid yellow kerbs in most of the corners, because that was just destroying the car,” he said.
“It can be easily solved by just putting gravel next to the kerbs, but the bikes don’t want that.
“Then this track in general is just harder to judge the track limits, it’s a very difficult thing to come up with, because you also don’t want the promoters, the track in general, that put gravel and then they have to take it away again. It’s costing a lot of money as well, so that’s not really a good solution as well.
“It’s something we will talk about again in the drivers’ meeting, and maybe we can find a solution.”
Discussion about this post