FIA researching new ways to strictly enforce track limits in Formula 1

The FIA is planning to conduct new research to find solutions that will help enforce track limits, with both new kerbs and electronic ideas being tested.

According to a report in AUTO+Medical, the international journal of motorsport medicine, Formula 1 race director Charlie Whiting has been working closely with FIA safety researchers to find ways to stop drivers ignoring the edges of a circuit.

The FIA’s safety director, Laurent Mekies, spoke at a presentation that was given to all F1 drivers at the US Grand Prix, and he explained that the governing body is trying to pair new kerbs with electronic measures to impose track limits.

Mekies said: “Track limits are easy to enforce from a sporting point of view, you put higher kerbs on the track and nobody goes over them, but this gives us safety concerns when the car hits the kerbs.

"So as a result, kerbs are getting thinner and thinner and lower and lower and we do eventually get issues with track limit management.

"What we are doing is to try to have a broad approach at this issue and look at how we could combine new kerb solutions with electronic solutions and see if a combination of these two things can help.”

It is understood the testing of new kerbs that offer increased resistance without compromising safety is already underway.

The FIA will also start to implement its “Race True” anti-doping education initiative in 2016. The programme will be introduced following news that in 2014, 3.6 per cent of the doping tests conducted by the FIA produced positive results.

Drivers competing in F1, the World Rally Championship, the World Endurance Championship, World RallyCross, the World Touring Car Championship, Formula E and European Formula 3 will receive anti-doping group training from next year.

The FIA’s head of medical affairs, Sandra Silveira Camargo, told AUTO+ Medical that ignorance of anti-doping rules was not an excuse for drivers.

She said: “It is essential for a driver to follow the anti-doping rules. Ignorance of those rules can lead to an ineligibility period of up to four years in motor sport and all sports.

“In spite of this extremely serious risk, many drivers do not know the anti-doping regulations well. The main reason for this alarming situation is the lack of knowledge of anti-doping.”

If the group training courses prove to be successful, the initiative is expected to expand to include more championships in the coming years.