F1 News

Drivers criticise drag strip run off after German Grand Prix

Drivers criticise drag strip run off after German Grand Prix

01-08-2019 08:40 Last update: 12:07
2

Bevan Youl

Various drivers have criticised the drag strip run-off area at the penultimate corner of the German Grand Prix where several drivers went off and some crashed.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was the first to hit the wall at turn 16, calling the run-off ‘very slippery’ and ‘unacceptable’, while MercedesLewis Hamilton, who ruined his chance at winning the race, said if it were gravel it would have been easier to come back onto the track.
 
Hamilton said (quoted by RaceFans): “Normally it would be gravel.
 
“I don’t feel any particular way about it [but] if it’d been gravel I probably wouldn’t have gone as far and I would have been able to come back on.
 
“But pretty poor design, that aspect of the track, I would say.”

Nico Hulkenberg crashed out of second place later in the race at the same corner, while Carlos Sainz went off the track in his McLaren but managed to avoid the wall.

Sainz feels that the matter will most likely be brought up at the drivers’ meeting ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix.

“I was probably one of the only ones not to put it in the wall after touching it,” he said.
 
“For us, it was a very costly mistake to put a tyre there.

“I guess it will be discussed in the drivers’ meeting.

“But at the same time, I think it made the race a bit more exciting. I paid my price for going there.”

Follow GPblog now on TwitterYouTube, and Facebook!