“You can’t see nothing when you go around”– F1 drivers call for better safety measures for “Suzuka with walls” Jeddah track

F1 drivers ask for better safety measures for the Jeddah f1 track that spooked the drivers with several corners close to the wall.

The Jeddah Corniche track hosted the Saudi Grand Prix last weekend. However, it also gave two red flags and multiple yellow flags on Sunday for numerous incidents.

The number of DNFs was also high, and the probability of crashing out of nowhere was also high. Having a scary yet exciting experience in Jeddah, F1 drivers have asked for better safety measures.

Saudi Arabia has around four months to make amends as the next F1 race is scheduled for March 2022. The duty would be to keep the drivers feeling safer on the track.

“With the red flags, it’s because there’s no room,” said four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel. It’s an exciting track because there are high-speed corners. But I think we primarily rely on the skills that we have, and also luck if things go wrong.”

“It doesn’t take much, you know. You can’t see anything when you go around, and there were some close calls. I think Suzuka is an amazing track, but you wouldn’t do Suzuka with walls.”

“And that’s what they’ve done, more or less, here. So it’s challenging but pointless to be so blind for so long,” he added.

Also read: Mick Schumacher disappointed with Saudi Arabian GP crash on what could have been a much-improved weekend for Haas

F1 drivers warned about Jeddah

Meanwhile, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz said F1 drivers’ fears came real, which they warned F1 about before Sunday, citing Nikita Mazepin’s crash.

“They were very clear examples of what drivers we’ve been saying all weekend,” the Ferrari driver said. “We’ve seen it with Mazepin. This is exactly what this track kind of generates.”

“There’s basically no space to go to avoid an accident, no visibility and Nikita couldn’t avoid a crash in front of him, which is what we’ve been saying since we arrived here on Thursday. So there’s some things to learn, analyse and see for March if we can make everything a bit easier.”

On the other hand, Sainz’s teammate Charles Leclerc who was the first to crash in Jeddah feels improvements could be made by having a re-look over the track.

“It’s, of course, challenging, and in some places it can be dangerous,” he said. “It would be good to re-look a little bit some parts of the track to make it a bit safer.”

Also read: Sergio Perez claims Saudi Arabia track has several risk elements