27/07/2023
NEWS STORY
Weeks after the death of Dilano van t'Hoff, Guanyu Zhou and Charles Leclerc lead the calls for changes at Spa.
The Dutch youngster was killed during a Formula Regional European Championship event in a crash eerily similar to that which claimed the life of Anthoine Hubert four years earlier.
In the wake of van t'Hoff's death, Lance Stroll called for immediate changes and now, ahead of this weekend's Grand Prix, Zhou and Leclerc have voiced their thoughts.
"I think Spa is a nice track to come to," said the Chinese driver, who was a member of the Renault Academy alongside Hubert, "but Eau Rouge, I think for me, it's the right time to make some adjustments to make it slower. Then it's easier for overtaking, easier for racing, as well as safety."
The youngster referred to the temporary chicane that was installed in 1994 in the wake of a spate of high-profile crashes, not least those that claimed the lives of Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger at Imola.
"That was actually quite good," he said of the chicane, "it was the first time I saw that video, it was nice to see that, it's a little bit of braking, even talking about two gears downshift.
"It makes a difference between how easy it is to follow," he added, "and anyway you have a DRS chance coming in the second half of the straight when overtaking happens, and it reduces the risk that people take when you arrive there."
"There are some changes that could make a difference," said Leclerc. "First of all, the walls on the straights after Eau Rouge, we should have a bit more space on the left and right. If you lose control of the car, the way it is at the moment, you are bouncing on the walls, and you have a very high chance of finding yourself in the way. I think this is probably a change we should consider in the future."
The Monegasque is also concerned at the blind crest as drivers come out of Raidillon and onto the Kemmel Straight, especially in the wet.
"It's really difficult to put into words what we are seeing, apart from saying we are seeing nothing," he said, "we are not exaggerating when we say we don't see anything. We really don't see anything when it's raining.
"This is a really big problem for Formula 1, for motorsport in general. With any single-seater now, we have quite a bit of downforce, and so there's quite a lot of spray. This causes quite a lot of incidents just because we cannot react to what is in front.
"Easy to say that, much more difficult to find a solution, but I know the FIA is on it and is obviously trying to do its best on that."
With that in mind, the FIA recently trialled wheel arches aimed at reducing spray, however the test proved inconclusive.
The Ferrari driver, who scored his first F1 win here, sadly on the same weekend that Hubert perished, also called on the sport's powers that be to be more considerate of the safety of drivers as opposed to the 'show must go on' attitude of 2021.
"When is it safe to start a race?" he said. "This is another topic for the FIA to look at closely, especially on a weekend like this, when it seems we will have quite a lot of rain throughout the whole weekend.
"To not feel the pressure of starting a race just because we don't have any running, and we could be in that situation this weekend," he warned. "In the end, obvious to say, but safety comes first, and this needs to be the priority.
"As drivers, we shouldn't complain if we don't have any laps because it is not safe to do so, and with everything that has happened."