Madrid: A fiery car crash at the Madring circuit drew concerns about safety after an F2 driver, Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak, crashed into the barriers in the sole practice session.
Thai driver Inthraphuvasak escaped unhurt from the crash in F2, an F1 feeder series, as his car burst into flames at the first-ever race weekend at the Madring GP. The racer jumped out of his car unhurt as he jumped over the wall, and marshals arrived for their fire-extinguishing work.
The session was red-flagged, and it resumed nearly 24 minutes later for the remainder of the six minutes to be completed in the practice. Meanwhile, the crash took place a little before the first practice session in F1.
Earlier, the F3 practice was also stopped due to a crash. 19 red flag incidents were reported at an F3 test, with 11 of them due to crashes, as safety concerns remain one of the most talked-about points ahead of the F1 weekend.
The 5.4-kilometre Madring circuit has replaced the Barcelona GP as the official Spanish race on the F1 calendar. Recently, four-time F1 champion Max Verstappen had sounded a note of caution over the safety.
“In some places, when you have a tiny moment, it can result in a crash,” Verstappen had told the media on Thursday ahead of the race.
Mercedes driver George Russell had called it a “crazy” circuit. “I heard about the 19 red flags in F3, and I was a bit surprised,” he said. “And then, after I drove it on the sim, I was surprised there were only 19 red flags. So, it’s a crazy circuit,” Russell said, as quoted by ESPN.
“I would put it, arguably, as the riskiest circuit of the whole calendar, because you have real high-speed corners, sort of Jeddah-esque. The walls are very close. There’s no margin for error.”
However, he noted corners at other venues like Baku having low room for error. “But then you have other corners like Baku where you’re coming from a high speed into a slow braking zone. You’re braking and turning at the same time, so locking tyres are going to be easy, and if you lock up you go straight into the wall.”
Meanwhile, Alpine’s Pierre Gasly predicted that the session stoppages would continue in Madrid. “I’ll put my money on the red flag, that’s for sure. Driving-wise, I must say in the sim it was very enjoyable and very exciting.
“I got a good read and feel of pretty much every single wall at every single corner, so I should know what to do and what not to do.
“I expect a very tricky track, challenging for us, which makes it good because you can always aim to do a bit more difference driving-wise. But again, it’s a type of track a bit like Monaco, where I think if you do a slight mistake, it can have big consequences straight away, so it’s about how you can reward every single braking zone and the speed that you carry through the corners,” he said.
(IANS)
