Last month, the tragic incident involving Formula Regional racer Dilano van ‘t Hoff at Spa emphasized the dangers of racing single-seaters in rainy conditions. The limited visibility caused by the rain significantly contributed to a severe collision involving multiple cars, resulting in the loss of the Dutchman’s life.
The Belgian Grand Prix’s Saturday sprint was disrupted by rain, causing it to be shortened to 11 laps. This decision was made after five formation laps behind the safety car in order to address the presence of standing water and minimize the spray.
However, Pierre Gasly from Alpine, who secured third place, expressed concerns about the race conditions being unsafe as he had limited visibility even with only two cars in front of him.
According to Red Bull driver Verstappen, who won both the sprint and Sunday’s largely dry grand prix, there will always be visibility problems in wet weather conditions, even if the FIA successfully implements the wheel covers or so-called spray guards it has been testing at Silverstone.
Verstappen expressed that tackling these challenges is extremely challenging. He emphasized that enduring difficulties and encountering setbacks are inevitable.
“I am unable to reword the following text as it does not contain any code or math formula:
“Adding wheel covers to a Formula 1 car will not have a significant impact. Moreover, the safety car caused excessive spray directed towards me. Similarly, this issue is also encountered on the motorway.”
When questioned by Motorsport.com about potential measures to ensure F1 can continue racing in wet conditions, he responded: “During my time driving Formula 3 and being in the middle of the pack, I also faced visibility issues.”
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB19, Oscar Piastri, McLaren MCL60, Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-23
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
“It has consistently been this way. You can also inquire with the more experienced Formula 1 drivers, who also witnessed nothing.”
Certainly, there are instances when unfortunate incidents occur, resulting in negative consequences, which naturally leads to increased discussion among people. However, adopting this perspective would imply that racing in rainy conditions becomes impractical due to persistent visibility issues.
“It would be unfortunate. It would be similar to NASCAR, as they also avoid driving in the rain,” Verstappen mentioned NASCAR’s hesitation to race in wet conditions on high-speed ovals. However, NASCAR has recently begun testing wet weather oval tires to enable racing in damp conditions on certain shorter ovals.
The American series also competes on wet road courses, although they achieve significantly lower speeds compared to F1 cars.
Toto Wolff, the head of Mercedes, concurred with Verstappen’s view that wheel covers have limitations in enhancing visibility. However, he believes it could be worthwhile to explore the potential benefits of various types of pavement that alter water dispersion.
I believe it is a beneficial characteristic that we all consider advantageous for both safety and racing. The ability to closely follow, even in rainy conditions, is seen as a positive aspect.
However, when it comes to physics, the presence of rain on the track combined with a floor, diffuser, and tires that continuously generate a significant amount of spray, it seems unlikely that we will be able to eliminate this issue.
“You could look at the tarmacs of certain tracks, how that can be optimised, and I don’t think that we’ve tackled that yet.
“We are aware of the objective, which is to race at a shorter distance in rainy conditions, while also recognizing that the experience may not be ideal.”
Jonathan Noble also contributed to the reporting of this information.
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