'Track design to blame for lack of overtaking'

Tuesday 10th November 2009

Finally, someone is making sense as Williams' tech director Sam Michael admits it's not the cars, rather it's the tracks, that are preventing overtaking in F1.

This year's Championship saw a whole host of new regulations introduced governing the design of the cars in the hope that Formula One would see more overtaking.

But it didn't happen.

Instead, races turned into boring processions that even the lights, opulence and the longest straight in F1 at the season-ending Abu Dhabi GP could do nothing to rectify.

But it's not the cars that are at fault. Rather, Michael says, it's the design of the tracks.

"I think that clearly the (rule) changes made the cars easier to follow, however, there's a lot of work that still needs to be done," he said.

"One of the things that wasn't addressed in the 2009 rule changes was circuit design. If you look at tracks like Barcelona where no one overtakes and take exactly the same cars to tracks like Monza, Hockenheim etc, there's plenty of overtaking. The difference is circuit layout.

"Organisers need to look closer at creating slower speed corners which feed onto straights and at removing chicanes.

"If you look at somewhere like Abu Dhabi, there are some good aspects to the circuit, but there are fundamental mistakes. There wasn't good enough racing there and the organisers need to rectify that before next year.

"You can't keep blaming car design. The FIA are looking into this now and will hopefully solve the problem."

Your Comments

chapmanfan

"Sure the circuits are a major contribution to the lack of overtaking, but why has nobody brought the impact the teams have on the lack of overtaking. Lets face the guys on the wall are really telling the drivers what to, i.e. to push, when to back off and deciding the pit stop stratergy, which nows is where most of the "overtaing" really happens.

Why not remove their influence by illiminating pit-car radio link, but still leave car-pit inplace so they can monitor the car and go back to boards for pit-car comms like in many lower leagues of racing.

This would remove a lot of the off track stratergy plays and put the decission making back in the hands of the drivers. I think its the constant refining and removal of driver factors that leads to the boring racing.

As a plus it might also reduce the costs some what if there were limits on the amount of trackside personel."

deepfridge

"Oddly enough there has been quite alot of overtaking at Monza and the track is not particulary narrow..Early 60's?.They were 1500cc tiddlers about the size of a Formula Ford,and yes there was some exciting races,and some very boring ones,we all have great selective memories.Regretably it is not possible to make the F1 teams/designers unlearn everything,however surely it's posible to ruthlessly legislate against excessive use of aerodynamics - full length flat bottoms,the banning of all aero except for limited size (moveable )F/R wings?....most of the tracks could do with some overtaking tweaking particularly the Tilke,designed for Playstation (Turkey excepted) tracks.."

pshuber

"I agree with Brent. I witnessed 20 years of F1 at Watkins Glen and there was lots of passing. In the early 60s the cars seldom made pit stops, but the lead changed regularly!"

fastrack

"Quite the contrary PHILTYPR Monza is a very narrow track full of chicanes with few places to overtake because the diffusers on the cars create so much dirty air in the long straights that the cars behind cannot draft to make the pass. You can't pass on a very fast corner either unless it is very wide track and you can't pass on a chicane. There is only one place in Monza were overtaking has been done and it is under very hard braking after a long straight and it has caused a lot of wrecks because the cars are almost out of control. So it is either the cars or the tracks and I think it is a combination of both. Rember that one time Bernie said that F1 did not need passing. "

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