Red Bull driver in Formula 1 Max Verstappen said before the start of the weekend for the Spanish Grand Prix that the sport needs a better solution to the problem of track restrictions.

Since the start of the 2021 season, the interpretations of the track borders have repeatedly come under the scrutiny of fans, drivers and teams, the most commented moment being the battle for victory between Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton in the Bahrain Grand Prix. Then the Dutchman passed in front of his competitor, but left the outlines of the route at the exit of the fourth turn and was forced to return the position, after which he never managed to make another successful attack. The problem was not so much in overtaking Verstappen, but in the fact that during the race Hamilton was spotted extending the same curve in an identical way at least 29 times, which according to various calculations gave him between 5 and 7 seconds, but this went unpunished by side of the judges.

Imola did not have many problems due to the presence of many security zones with gravel, but in Portugal a week ago there were several controversial moments, and again they were to the detriment of Verstappen. At Portimao, the Red Bull driver lost his fastest lap in the race and the corresponding bonus point for it, due to a slight departure from the outline of the 14th turn, and the same happened in qualifying when Verstappen lost the pole position due to the same violation in another part of the route.

Immediately after the race a week ago, Motorsport Advisor Dr. Helmut Marco said his team had lost a victory, the fastest lap and pole position in the first three laps due to inconsistent interpretations of the track boundaries. The same opinion was shared by the team leader Christian Horner, who believes that Sergio Perez lost his chances for something more than his fourth place in Portugal after he was initially overtaken by Lando Norris when the McLaren driver was off the track, but this was left without consequences.

During a press conference before the weekend in Catalonia, Verstappen noted that it would be difficult to unify the curbs on all tracks, due to the need for them to host other championships, but he believes that some compromise must be found.

"I think we need to find a solution. I understand that we share some tracks with MotoGP, and there we need different curbs from the ones we want. However, I believe that a compromise solution can be found that works for everyone. With our cornering speeds, we can use the entire track because of our pressure levels, and this makes it difficult to track boundaries. From my point of view, we should try to return the gravel near the outer edges of the tracks. However, this is not desired by the track managers, because sometimes people rent the tracks, go out and scatter gravel on the track and it has to be cleaned, and that costs money.

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