(Motorsports news) The deadly accident of Formula Regional racer Dilano van ‘t Hoff at Spa last month brought to light the dangers of single-seater racing in the rain. The Verstappen’s multi-car collision was caused in large part by the rain’s decreased visibility. The Belgian Grand Prix’s Saturday sprint was again disrupted by rain; it was cut down to 11 laps after five formation laps behind the safety car in an effort to clear standing water and lessen spray.
Even with only two vehicles in front of him, Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, who came in third, felt the circumstances were unsafe for racing since he “couldn’t see a thing.” Even if the FIA is successful in implementing the wheel coverings or so-called spray guards it has been testing at Silverstone, Red Bull driver Verstappen, who won both the sprint and Sunday’s mainly dry grand prix, claims that vision issues in wet weather situations would always exist.
“These problems are quite challenging. Verstappen stated during Saturday’s sprint, “You will always have it, and you will always have spray. “Wheel covers won’t make much of a difference in a Formula 1 car. The safety car also sprayed me with too much water. In reality, you encounter the same issue on the highway. “That’s how it’s always been. Just ask the more experienced F1 drivers; they reported seeing nothing, either.
Naturally, when accidents result in negative outcomes, people naturally start to talk about them more. However, if you think about it that way, you can never genuinely race in the rain since visibility issues will always exist.
“It would be unfortunate. Verstappen made reference to NASCAR’s refusal to compete in wet circumstances on high-speed ovals when he said, “Then it becomes like NASCAR, they don’t drive in the rain either.” However, NASCAR has begun experimenting with wet weather oval tyres so it can compete in wet conditions on some of the lesser ovals. Although at significantly slower speeds than F1 cars, the American series also competes in rainy road races.
Toto Wolff, the head of Mercedes, agreed with Verstappen that wheel coverings can only do so much to increase visibility, but he also said that it would be worthwhile to investigate other types of pavement that alter how water is distributed. “I believe this is a feature that we all agree is beneficial for safety and racing; the closer you can follow even when it’s raining is advantageous.
“However, on the other side, there’s physics, and if it rains on the track and you have a floor and a diffuser and tyres that just keep creating large spray, I’m not sure we’re ever going to get rid of that,” the speaker said. I don’t believe that we have yet addressed the possibility of optimizing the tarmacs on specific tracks. We can run closer in the rain while yet understanding that it will never be great, and that is surely the goal, we know.
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