Japanese Grand Prix: The End of Gravel Traps?

The various accidents over the Japanese Grand Prix weekend at Suzuka—especially those suffered by Timo Glock in qualifying and Jaime Alguersuari in the race—are likely to cause the debate about run-off areas to be re-opened. It is one of the criticisms often levelled at the new Hermann Tilke "Tilke-drome" circuits (and those older tracks that have been “improved”) that the huge swathes of high grip tarmac that act as run off areas detract something from the challenge of driving a race car round a track fast. There is no (or very little) punishment for running off track. A driver can simply carry on, maybe flicking down a gear and losing some track position, but carrying on with he and his car none the worse for wear. F1 should be ...

Read Complete Article at Bleacher Report - Motorsports
Article is property of BleacherReport.com