F1 drivers unhappy with FIA after Miami concrete wall safety concerns ignored

Two 𝐆hefty crashes in two days at the same part of the Miami International Autodrome circuit during the Florida city’s inaugural grand prix have prompted safety concerns from F1 drivers.
Sainz lost control of his Ferrari and spun into the concrete wall on the 🉐outside of Turn 13 in Friday’s second practice session, before Ocon suffered a near-identical crash less than 24 hours later.
- Leclerc snatches first Miami pole after Verstappen error&nb🎐sp;
- F1 2🀅022 Miami Grand Prix - Full Qualifying Results
- Verst💮appen 💞explains ‘odd’ costly error and ‘difficult’ comment
The Frenchman was left with knee pain but has been de🃏clared fit to race following a precautionary trip to the medical ce🍬ntre. The impact registered 51G and cracked the chassis of Ocon’s Alpine car, causing him miss qualifying.
Ocon revealed that driꦐvers’ complaints to new F1 racꦗe director Niels Wittich over the lack of absorbent Tecpro safety barriers during their usual Friday briefing after practice fell on deaf ears.
“What’s unacceptable really is that it was 51g for what sho♊uld 🍃have been not such a big impact,” Ocon said.
“Carlos has complained to the race director, we were all there listening to it and nothin✤g ♔has been done.
“Carlos said the impact was way too big and today it felt huge. It’s probably the biggest shunt of my career, to be fair. So yesterday Carl෴os got hurt, today I got hurt as well.
“The FIA should puꦺsh harder for our safety, but it’s important that we will be able to race and I will be able to race as well.
“Whꦐen a professional𒅌 driver of the calibre of Carlos, driving for Ferrari, says something like this, I think the minimum is that it should be taken into consideration and do the best possible to make a change.”

After qualifyingꦬ second on the grid in Miami, Sainz confirmed he had raised his concerns to the FIA on Friday evening and was left unimpressed by their response.
“I’m s꧂orry to be critical, but I told the FIA yesterday that my crash at second gear shouldn’t feel that hard,” he told Sky.
“Today, my neck was a bit in pain and I told them let’s put Tecpro there becaꦓuse it’s a vꦦery hard concrete wall.
“Esteban crashed and I’m pretty sure he felt it too and it’s one of⛦ those things I will never under♑stand.”
Ocon’s teammate ꧑Fernando Alonso was among the drivers who believe more could be done to better protect drivers at Turn 13.
“We are in the car and we know how it feels when you hit the wall,” the Spaniard said. “And Carlos was very clear yesterdaဣy that it was not right to have just the wall there, not other protection.
“So today we had another acc♏ident, same place, same angle, another driver was hurt. So tomorrow we have the second chance to put something there.”
Aston Mart💟in’s Lance Stroll called it “ridiculous” that the corner does not feature Tecpro barriers.

“They should just putܫ it,” Stroll stressed. “I don’t know what the big fuss about it is, no one wants to hit a concrete wall.”
Serꦗgio Perez and Pierre Gasly also expressed concern over the incidents, though the Red Bull driver 🐲doubted changes could have been made in time due to schedule constraints.
“I don’t think it was possible for them to do any action, in fairness to the FIA,” ♈Perez admitted.
“But we certainly discussed it and we were surprised with the amount of g that Carlos 🎃had.
“We don’t want to see that again. We want extra precautions in the future and to avoi🌄d those kind of heavy accidents.”
However, Lewis Hamilton - who is in a stand-off with the FIA regarding a spat over safety concerns relating to a ban on wearin🅷g jewellery in the car - has no concerns about the new street circuit.
“When we come to these new tracks, they do the best job,🍒” he said. “I think they've done a great job in all of these new tracks with safety.
“You can't predict every sin🥃gle corner, where we're going to need Tecpro, but safety on track is great.&♐nbsp;
“So I think we of course after an experience like this weekend, we can know tไ🐟hat that’s an area that we can improve on. But that's a part of the lessons we learned.”

Lewis regularly attends Grands Prix for wuqian0821.com around the wo⭕rld. Often repo💙rting on the action from the ground, Lewis tells the stories of the people who matter in the sport.