After Sergio Perez crashed heavily in qualifying for last years Monaco Grand Prix, there have been some modifications and changes to the circuit to make it safer.
It is typical for street circuits to be risky. We all know Monaco will never be 100% safe, but these steps that have been made for this years event will certainly provide better protection for the drivers, reassuring when you are racing at 180mph, just inches from the barriers.
Monte Carlo, one of the world's most glamorous locations. However, for racing, it is also one of the riskiest. Racing cars just centimetres from the barriers can sometimes create chaos. Remember Takuma Sato's engine failure in 2004, creating a blinding wall of smoke which led to David Coulthard being hit by Giancarlo Fisichella. The latter rolled his car, but someone who had an equally bad hit was Segio Perez. Coming out of the tunnel in 2011, during Q3, he was strangely wide and hit a bump. He was not even in the braking zone and his car swerved to the right, hitting the barrier and continuing on its way through the chicane and into the Tecpro barrier.
Tecpro, something that is becoming a familiar sight to F1 drivers and that will continue in Monaco, with a few changes to the track being made.
The first is at the first corner, Ste Devote. Where there once stood tyre barriers, there are now top of the range Tecpro barriers. This style of barrier absorbs a huge amount of the energy from the impact, does not collapse or cave in when hit reduces G-forces by a big margin, no wonder the new circuit's are snapping them up.
The next change is to the pit exit. No, there are no Tecpro barriers here but the exit has been widened from 10 to 20 metres so cars can rejoin with a higher level of safety and can join the racing at high speed.
Moving down to the second sector, at Mirabeau, there have been adjustments to the escape road. It is now covered in an abrasive braking surface to slow cars down quickly. The chicane entry, where Perez had his accident, has been de-bumped. Research showed that there were huge variations in the height of the track, so these have been minimised to make the cars more stable under breaking. On the exit of the chicane the wall Perez hit has been moved back by 14.6 metres to create more room.
Moving into the last sector and the final changes to the circuit, the Swimming pool complex, where Petrov crashed last year, have been given the Tecpro barriers. They will replace the old armco barriers and will provide more protection for the drivers at this high speed section.
So the safety features are hopefully going to make the Monaco Grand Prix the safest yet, but can the street circuit be 100% safe, I don't think so. The changes are extremely welcome and luckily I do not think they will take anything away from the racing.
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| (c) Octane Photographic |
Monte Carlo, one of the world's most glamorous locations. However, for racing, it is also one of the riskiest. Racing cars just centimetres from the barriers can sometimes create chaos. Remember Takuma Sato's engine failure in 2004, creating a blinding wall of smoke which led to David Coulthard being hit by Giancarlo Fisichella. The latter rolled his car, but someone who had an equally bad hit was Segio Perez. Coming out of the tunnel in 2011, during Q3, he was strangely wide and hit a bump. He was not even in the braking zone and his car swerved to the right, hitting the barrier and continuing on its way through the chicane and into the Tecpro barrier.
Tecpro, something that is becoming a familiar sight to F1 drivers and that will continue in Monaco, with a few changes to the track being made.
The first is at the first corner, Ste Devote. Where there once stood tyre barriers, there are now top of the range Tecpro barriers. This style of barrier absorbs a huge amount of the energy from the impact, does not collapse or cave in when hit reduces G-forces by a big margin, no wonder the new circuit's are snapping them up.
The next change is to the pit exit. No, there are no Tecpro barriers here but the exit has been widened from 10 to 20 metres so cars can rejoin with a higher level of safety and can join the racing at high speed.
Moving down to the second sector, at Mirabeau, there have been adjustments to the escape road. It is now covered in an abrasive braking surface to slow cars down quickly. The chicane entry, where Perez had his accident, has been de-bumped. Research showed that there were huge variations in the height of the track, so these have been minimised to make the cars more stable under breaking. On the exit of the chicane the wall Perez hit has been moved back by 14.6 metres to create more room.
Moving into the last sector and the final changes to the circuit, the Swimming pool complex, where Petrov crashed last year, have been given the Tecpro barriers. They will replace the old armco barriers and will provide more protection for the drivers at this high speed section.
So the safety features are hopefully going to make the Monaco Grand Prix the safest yet, but can the street circuit be 100% safe, I don't think so. The changes are extremely welcome and luckily I do not think they will take anything away from the racing.
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