How will Red Bull Ring circuit changes reduce track limit penalties?

Styrian circuit officials want to solve the issue of repeated track limit violations at the Red Bull Ring.

For the 2024 Austrian Grand Prix at the end of June, alterations will be made to the Red Bull Ring. As reported by F1Technical, new gravel traps have been added to the circuit at Turns 9 and 10 so that F1 drivers are more likely to avoid running off track.

At Turn 10 of the Red Bull Ring, drivers can leave the track and potentially gain an advantage. Other than picking up a time penalty, there are no immediate disadvantages to running off, as there would be in other areas, due to the lack of gravel traps or sausage curbs.

Last year’s Austrian Grand Prix

Circuit officials hope the track changes will improve on last year’s issues. In 2023, FIA stewards handed out a total of 1200 separate track infringements throughout the F1 Austrian Grand Prix weekend. Drivers struggled at the high-speed corners of Turns 9 and 10, crossing the while line with all four wheels.

Last year, many penalties were awarded after the race had finished. 12 penalties were given to eight different drivers post-race. Thus, the official race classification had to be altered. It was not released until five hours after the race had ended. 14 of 20 total drivers had their race finish position changed post-race. Only George Russell and Fernando Alonso avoided any track limit violations over the weekend.

Lawrence Barretto’s take

As explained at the time by Lawrence Barretto – writer and presenter for F1 and reporter for Channel 4 F1 – in his article for F1:

“In Austrian GP qualifying, 47 laps were deleted for exceeding track limits”

He continued:

“A different approach is taken in the race. The first two times a driver breaches track limits, race control gives them a warning. A third infringement leads to the driver being shown the black-and-white flag (essentially a final warning).

“If they cross the white line for a fourth time, it is referred to the stewards and that triggers a five-second time penalty. Further breaches will lead to additional time penalties.”

Therefore, as reported by Barretto and F1, the FIA has committed to adding “a gravel trap at the exit of Turns 9 and 10″. However, they will make this temporary change for the Formula 1 championship alone. The FIA said:

“We note that while this is not a straightforward solution in relation to other series that race here, it has proved to be very effective at other corners and circuits with similar issues.”

When MotoGP races at this circuit later in the year, the gravel trap will be removed.

What do the F1 drivers think?

The circuit up in the Styrian mountains, owned by Red Bull GmbH since 2011, is popular among fans and drivers. However, following the race last year, drivers urged track officials to change the circuit layout. They wanted changes to reduce penalties for exceeding track limits.

As reported by RaceFans, Pierre Gasly was frustrated. The Alpine driver dropped from P9 to P10 due to a 10-second track limits penalty. He said:

“I was chasing Fernando [Alonso], I could see him pulling away and I was like it’s worth trying and taking every risk possible. Unfortunately I went once too many out of the race track for maybe one inch, which is obviously frustrating.”

Kevin Magnussen was more explicit in his opinion of the weekend’s penalties. As reported by RaceFans, the Haas driver remarked that the Red Bull Ring is “a fun track, but it’s bullshit when it’s like that. It ruins the whole thing, ruins the fun.”

Last year McLaren driver, Lando Norris discussed the reason a gravel trap had not been explored before at that corner. He said:

“For me, that’s silly. We should just be able to use the gravel as our limit. If you go on the gravel, we’ve messed up, we make a mistake, we get punished.”

He spoke about MotoGP using the same circuit for their championship:

“You can’t do that everywhere because Moto GP races here, and the reason you can’t do is because of Moto GP in the last two corners. That’s where everyone got the majority of their limits.”

Improvements for 2024

It appears that F1, the FIA, and Red Bull Ring circuit officials have taken onboard the feedback from drivers and implemented the necessary changes. They have made the gravel trap change temporary for F1. The trap will be removed from the circuit for the other championships that take place at the Red Bull Ring.

Will their changes be enough to reduce track limit violations at the 2024 F1 Austrian Grand Prix?

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