FIA race director Michael Masi has defended the design of the Jeddah street circuit, despite several drivers calling for changes to be made after a host of dramatic incidences at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Following the first running of an F1 race in Saudi Arabia, drivers including George Russel, Esteban Ocon, and Lando Norris raised concerns about the blind corners and high-speed bends featured in the 6.174km track.
However, Masi did not expect any major changes to be implemented, suggesting only “fine-tuning” would being required before the track is used again in March.
READ MORE: Cummins the star as Aussies dominate first Ashes day
READ MORE: Former Poms destroyer shreds Root’s Gabba claim
“I think here in Saudi Arabia they’ve done a brilliant job of putting this amazing facility together in such a short time frame, which is a credit to everyone involved,” he said.
“There is some fine-tuning, that will happen across the board. There were some teething issues being a brand new event, brand new facility, on the whole of things.
“There’ll be some fine-tuning but nothing in a major way that I envisage here and now.”
https://twitter.com/LukeSmithF1/status/1372473326451429376?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
F1 bosses shared a similar view to Masi, who refused to speak ill of the track even with a series of incidents wreaking havoc across the F1 and F2.
Alpine F1 boss Marcin Budkowski valued the drivers’ feedback, but boiled the danger down to a “couple of corners that are a bit tricky”.
“You can talk about it with the driver after the weekend’s passed, you don’t really ask the driver if they feel safe before the race weekend, that’s not really the best thing to do,” he said.
“It’s certainly a challenging track.”
McLaren team principal Andreas Seidl also believed any hazard would be controllable.
“When you listen to the drivers when they drive the fast laps here, it is clear that the certain amount of risk is involved as well with the walls being so close and with the track layout how it is here,” he said.
“I still think it’s a risk that is manageable, to be honest. Of course like Lando said also, when a big accident happens we all will discuss it differently.
“But I think ultimately what we have seen this weekend was well managed I think by the teams, by the drivers, by the FIA.”
For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here!