Redding blasts "tracks designed for cars" amid Red Bull Ring concerns

Redding pointed to the closeness of the barriers and the lack of gravel in the run-off areas as the big issues with the returning track - and said that the problems stemmed, in part, from it being designed for car racing.

"It's the problem with all the tracks now, everything's f**king designed for cars that don't want to go in the gravel," Redding vented.

"And they put walls everywhere. Not having gravel is okay, but then we need to have a f**king long run-off."

Talking about the Red Bull Ring specifically, he said: "A nice circuit, I quite enjoy it, it's one of my types of circuit, quite fast - up-down, bit of a ballsy circuit. Just a little bit unsafe, in my opinion.

"The barriers are quite close in quite a few areas. It's the first thing I've said before I even went on the track, I went around the outside and was like 'Jesus, that's close'.

"Up into Turn 1 [is a concern], because there's not much run-off, no gravel either. And gravel's the problem. When we don't have gravel, it doesn't slow us down. When we slide on asphalt, we take the same speed, more or less. The gravel kinda stops us.

"And then going up to - I call it Turn 2, but I think it's Turn 3 on the map - we're in sixth gear and then we're braking left side, and the armco is maybe two metres from the outside kerb, which, when I was braking, I thought - 'f*** me, if I lose the front now, I'll just drive straight into the wall'.

"Then [Turns] 3, 4, down to 5, you have the barrier either side, which is quite close. So there's a few places."

The length of the run-off areas - and whether or not they have gravel - is an issue that has come to the forefront since the fatal accident of Luis Salom at Turn 12 in Barcelona.

"Unfortunately, you know, in the Salom situation - for me, the reason it cost him his life is, there was no gravel there," Redding said. "And I myself, I didn't even notice it, I never even looked if there was gravel - but actually it wasn't there, it was one of the fastest corners on the track.

"And, if there was gravel there, maybe he wouldn't have followed the bike and the gravel would've slowed him down more.

"That was the thing for me, with the car circuits, what is dangerous is that they're putting armco everywhere but they're not putting a lot of run-off to them."

More changes unlikely this weekend

Earlier on Thursday, race organisers confirmed a change to the layout of the final corner of the Red Bull Ring for safety reasons.

Redding welcomed the change, saying that the corner in question - Red Bull Mobile - was the most dangerous, but the Briton also reckoned alterations to other points of concern on the track were not going to follow.

"[Turn 10], that was also f**king dangerous," added the Briton. "[Maverick] Vinales had a small crash there, I think he just closed the front and when I came round, the bike and him was at the wall. They've done something there, I haven't seen it yet.

"Now I think there won't be any more changes cause it's too close to the weekend and that for me was the most dangerous place - a very tricky corner, you know. I think it's good they modified this one cause it's the most dangerous one."

Regarding the possibility of other changes, he said: "The problem is, it's all armco, they can't do anything about it.

"Up to 3, if the marshal puts the flag out, I can take it off his hand. And you see that. The first few laps you're braking, you see the photographers there and you're f**king looking down the lens. Because you're that close to it and you feel it.

"We'll just hope nothing really happens, hope they can change it for next year."

Additional reporting by Jamie Klein