(Motorsports news) Ben Sulayem has stated that such situations are unacceptable following the F1 Qatar Grand Prix weekend, which saw grid places altered and a slew of in-race penalties handed out to shift the order. He feels that the emphasis for reform should not be on the FIA police things more effectively in order to eliminate any offenders.

Instead, he believes that circuits with a demonstrable problem with track limitations, such as Qatar and Austria, must adopt circuit alterations to discourage drivers from running wide. When asked what he planned to do about the track limitations issue following the sometimes absurd situations in Qatar, Ben Sulayem responded, “You’re absolutely right about it, we had the same issue in Austria, it was 1200 offenses there.”

“I also have to commend the stewards for spotting it.” Is that, however, the solution? No. “The solution is to make the F1 track better.” I know some are opposed to it, but to tell you the truth, there is no race if they don’t. It’s as easy as that. We simply cannot afford it.” Drivers abusing the kerbs in Qatar were one of the culprits in the tyre issue that F1 faced last weekend after sidewall split was discovered on Pirelli rubber.

It resulted in an 18-lap limit on tyre life for the main grand prix, making it a three-stop race. Ben Sulayem stated that venues with track constraints must create better kerb designs. “We have to work on a solution,” Ben Sulayem added. “One solution would be to make it slippery when they go off.” The only people who can stop the drivers are the drivers themselves.

“We can consider the height [of the kerbs].” Is it harmful to the cars? Or maybe we can put some gravel down, but we have to be very careful with gravel. “How deep does the gravel go?” You don’t want anyone getting stuck. What size is the gravel? because you do not want the car to be harmed. It is a delicate balance.

Ben Sulayem believes that more advances to better regulate track limit breaches are possible, particularly with new technology, but that the FIA requires more resources to unleash it. “The use of technology should be there,” that’s what he said. “It is used in many areas, but the FIA requires more resources to invest back into the sport. I’m not hiding: we require more resources.” I mean, this is a $20 billion operation that cannot be run on a shoestring.”

Also read: Why was the Qatar Grand Prix “hell” and “torture” for F1 drivers?