RacingDavid Coulthard wants Formula 1 and the FIA to stop battery harvesting in blind, high-risk corners such as Eau Rouge at Spa-Francorchamps, warning that the new power-unit rules can leave one car 30 to 40 mph slower over a crest and put another driver on top of it with almost no warning.
Speaking on the Up To Speed podcast, the 13-time Formula 1 grand prix winner said certain parts of a lap should be off-limits for energy recovery. “There are certain corners that should actually be exempt from harvesting energy,” Coulthard, former Formula 1 driver, said on the Up To Speed podcast. “At those critical points the car simply must not hold back. You must not surprise drivers with such enormous speed differences in places where visibility is limited.”
His clearest example was Eau Rouge. Coulthard said the Spa-Francorchamps corner has “points where you cannot see as you go over the rise, if there’s a car on the other side,” Coulthard, former Formula 1 driver, said on the Up To Speed podcast. He added that with “a closing speed of 30/40 miles an hour, that’s just very dangerous,” Coulthard, former Formula 1 driver, said on the Up To Speed podcast. In another account of the same remarks, he put the gap at 50 to 60 km/h and called that “simply life-threatening,” Coulthard, former Formula 1 driver, said on the Up To Speed podcast.
Coulthard pointed to Suzuka as proof the risk is not theoretical. According to the report he referenced on the podcast, the issue nearly caused a serious accident involving Oliver Bearman and Franco Colapinto in the Japanese Grand Prix. One summary of the incident says Bearman moved onto the grass to avoid Colapinto and then suffered a 50G impact with the barriers.
He also argued that the same rules are changing the racing in ways he does not like. Coulthard said on the Up To Speed podcast that the current style of passing has turned into “yo-yo racing” because “You just can’t defend against the indefendable,” Coulthard, former Formula 1 driver, said on the Up To Speed podcast. He said qualifying has also lost its “wow” factor when drivers are “needing to harvest during a qualifying lap, rather than navigate it always on the ragged edge,” Coulthard, former Formula 1 driver, said on the Up To Speed podcast.
The FIA is already looking at the issue. According to the report, the FIA and the 11 teams reduced permitted energy harvesting in qualifying at Suzuka from 9MJ to 8MJ in an effort to cut the speed drop through high-speed corners. Further discussion was scheduled for FIA meetings in April, and the FIA said after its first April meeting that there had been “constructive dialogue on difficult topics,” the governing body said after that meeting.
Coulthard’s proposal is a narrow one, but the warning is blunt: if Formula 1 keeps asking drivers to manage energy in places where they cannot see what is ahead, the speed difference alone can create a crash risk the sport does not need.