F1 and FIA regulate grid field sizes forward of Australian Grand Prix

Following grid field penalties in every of the primary two races of the 2023 Formula 1 season, FIA adjusted the scale of the grid packing containers forward of this weekend’s Australian Grand Prix. Starting with this weekend’s race, the grid packing containers at the beginning shall be wider by 20 cm.

FIA can be including a brand new “guide line,” or middle line, in the course of the grid field to assist drivers get aligned correctly at the beginning.

In the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, Esteban Ocon was given a five-second penalty for not being contained in the grid field at the beginning of the race. This touched off a sequence of errors by the Alpine driver and his crew, and Ocon finally retired from the season-opening race.

Then on the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix Fernando Alonso was given a five-second penalty of his personal. Later within the race, questions arose whether or not Alonso served the penalty correctly, or his crew started engaged on his AMR23 earlier than the total 5 seconds elapsed. Word got here down following the race — and the rostrum celebration that acknowledged Alonso because the third-place finisher — that Alonso was being hit with a further ten-second penalty, which dropped him into P4.

However, Alonso ultimately received his attraction, and was reinstated to his unique third-place end.

And eventually the third-place trophy.

Here is a have a look at the brand new grid packing containers, together with the brand new middle line, as offered by MotorSportWeek:

You can see the brand new, wider field, in distinction to the light paint on the prior grid field.

Here is one other have a look at the brand new grid packing containers, from F1:

The wider packing containers ought to make it simpler for the drivers to align correctly at the beginning, and this transformation will doubtless be welcomed by the drivers. Following his mishaps throughout the Bahrain Grand Prix, Ocon argued that with the brand new era of F1 automobiles, visibility points made it tough to correctly align at the beginning. “Unfortunately, you can’t see very well in these cars, especially not when you’re on the grid like that,” stated Ocon after the race. “You can see the yellow line as a reference, but it is up to me to fix it.”

Following the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, a variety of drivers addressed the issue of getting aligned correctly within the grid field. Following the race, each George Russell, Sergio Pérez, and Max Verstappen spoke to this situation.

“It’s incredibly difficult [to see the grid box]. We’re sat so low and to put some perspective, we only see probably the top four or five inches of the tyre so you can’t actually see the ground itself,” stated Russell within the post-race press convention. “We’ve got these big long yellow lines pointing out… I can’t even see the yellow line, let alone the white lines determining your lateral position. It’s really, really tough so that’s why I think in this regard we need to show a little bit more common sense.”

“The visibility is just really poor in the car, that is I think, probably the main issue where you end up sometimes not fully, correctly in your box,” added Verstappen.

Pérez, the winner of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, echoed these ideas. “Yeah, it’s really difficult just to see where you’ve stopped. I think, in my opinion I just overdid it and I stopped too early, but you have no idea when you are in the car. You don’t know if you went too far or from behind or too far forward,” stated Pérez. “So I think it’s something… we need better visibility to be able to come up with a better idea than we currently have it. It’s good that there is a rule in place, but at the same time, sometimes it’s like luck, to be honest, where you position yourself.”

Alonso talked concerning the new grid packing containers, in addition to the central line, throughout press conferences forward of this weekend’s Australian Grand Prix. While he believes the broader packing containers ought to make a distinction, he stays skeptical concerning the central line.

“It is difficult [to see the grid box]. And yeah, apparently this year, it seems even more, because in two races to have two penalties is a little bit strange. But yeah, I mean, in my case, it didn’t change much from last year,” stated Alonso earlier this week. “It is difficult and we are very concentrated on the yellow line to not go too far forward. So, you approached the box, let’s say, not looking at the box, you are looking on one side of the cockpit. So maybe that’s a bit of a distraction. But yeah, I made a mistake there. So we will try to be more focused on the box this weekend and avoid any penalty.”

He continued:

“The central line? I don’t think so. Because as I said, you approach the box looking sideways, so you’re not looking forward, so that’s the biggest difficulty – but the 20 centimetres will help I guess. There’s going to be some circuits, maybe Monaco, or Imola that you start a little bit sideways anyway,” stated Alonso. “Because if not you crash if you start there straight. So, we’ll have to see how we apply the penalties and things like that in those races. But yeah, no one wants to get a penalty for the start. Also, I think the FIA doesn’t want to have any problem with that, because there is no performance advantage, as long as you don’t go too forward. So yeah, hopefully we avoid anything from now on.”

Hopefully the modifications make it simpler for drivers to get aligned this weekend, and we are able to keep away from associated penalties beginning with the Australian Grand Prix.