Quote:
Originally Posted by peterelise
The reason they can do it at Monaco is that the physical barrier is visible from where they sit whereas the painted line is not. Why is anyone surprised they go over a painted line, in some cases by millimetres, when they can’t see the line as they get nearer to it? I get that there is a large element of risk v reward so drivers will take much more risk with a painted line track limit than they will with a barrier but even when there was real risk of qualifying being ruined, we still saw lots of extremely capable drivers go over the limit by a tiny amount.
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I am sorry, but that logic is laughable. Now, I don't know if they used different (more stringent) rules in Qatar to keep cars off the curb (I don't think so), but you do understand that when a car is exceeding track limits this means that the ENTIRE car is outside of the white lines that delineates the circuit boundary. So a few millimeters is really 2000 millimeters.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike Harte
I'm not certain that I can agree with the idea that, because it's possible that the drivers cannot see the white line, they cut the corners or go too wide exiting them. After all, in a right hand car on public roads, I am more than capable of going around a bend or corner without hitting the curb or going over the pavement; and I also cannot see the curb from where I sit. And when I lived in Spain, I also learnt managed to drive a left hand car, also within the roadway.
Driving within boundaries should be instinctive to these drivers, who we are led to believe are at the top of their game. I believe that the truth is that, for the most part, they are just hoping to get away with these things, just as they have been for many years now. They just have to adapt to the rules being more strictly administered; after all, the majority of their fellow drivers managed to do so.
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Spot on. Millions of drivers every day manage to keep their cars out of the ditches while not being able to see the edge of the road. The drivers know were the circuit boundaries are!
Again it works in Monaco not because the drivers can see the location of the barriers (I mean sure they need to see that), but because the drivers know that exceeding the track limits even just with the outside tire (not to mention the entire car) results in hitting the barriers and has an immediate and disastrous result. They exceed track limits elsewhere because doing so provides a reward (faster lap time) and as the risk, the penalties typically come after multiple warnings and in some cases are not severe enough to impact their race. So it would be amazing if they were not exceeding track limits given how competitive the sport is.
Richard