The FIA has eased restrictions on track limits at Algarve after 125 offences were recorded in Friday practice alone ahead of Formula 1’s Portuguese Grand Prix.
F1 is using the Algarve layout that has a high-speed entry to the right-hand Turn 1, and the FIA initially intended to police track limits on the exit of that corner, plus Turn 4 and Turn 15, by requiring drivers to keep one wheel inside the white line that defines the track edge.
However, all 20 drivers offended at some point during Friday’s pair of practice sessions, leading to 125 cases of a lap time being deleted.
Turn 4, a fast uphill left-thander with a blind crest, was the bigger trouble hotspot with 36 offences in FP1 and 46 in FP2.
On Saturday morning, FIA race director Michael Masi issued a revised set of race event notes in which the track limits rules have been changed.
From now on, a driver will be deemed to have left the track if they cut behind the red and white kerb on the exit of Turns 1 and 4.
Turn 15 will be policed by keeping a wheel inside the white line.
Though there was an extraordinarily high frequency of track limits offences on Friday, and some drivers were confused over the team radio when told they had a lap time deleted, there was little or no criticism of the initial rules on Friday evening.
Most of the attention for Algarve’s official F1 debut has been on either the green track, which was recently resurfaced and is offering little grip, or the exciting undulating layout that most drivers have declared themselves a fan of.
