F1 News: FIA Receives Backlash After Footage Of Undetected Breaches Surfaces

The FIA might have to offer some serious answers.

Footage of undetected breaches at the United States Grand Prix has been doing the rounds and drivers are furious with the FIA for missing them, especially after the infamous track limits returned to haunt them in Austin. 

FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem declared after the episode in Qatar that tracks like Lusail and Austria’s Red Bull Ring must find solutions to the problem or be prepared to be axed from the F1 calendar. With Qatar proving to be a major annoyance for drivers concerning track limits, the GP at the Circuit of the Americas was no less painful.

Now though, the governing body and Race Control have come under fire following their misses at the US Grand Prix. Sergio Perez was one of the drivers who got very lucky to have received only one track limits strike in Austin despite cutting Turn 6 way too often. 

#F1: there could have been several more track limit infringements during the #USGP - not detected. CCTV camera was in the wrong angle. Seen footage of Perez cutting T6 way too often. It is said some drivers are fuming. Will be a topic in #MexicanGP, #AMuS: https://t.co/ctSxu1WwbQ

— Andreas Haupt (@andihaupt1) October 26, 2023

Turn 6 was one such hot spot that was being heavily monitored for track limits. But, footage from Auto Motor und Sport clearly shows Perez going beyond the white line. The report stated that the Red Bull driver did this "several times" but was inconsistent with the degree of his breaches. 

In addition, the report also states that other drivers followed suit at Turn 6 but the CCTV camera stationed at the spot was not angled correctly to monitor track limits with perfection. 

That resulted in Alex Albon being investigated for track limits but was eventually cleared because the CCTV footage to fully prove the offense was not available as a result of the camera misplacement. 

While several drivers looked for answers because others got to go scot-free, the FIA released a damage control statement concerning Turn 6. It read:

"During the post-race analysis, it was found that several drivers may have exceeded the track limit on the inside of Turn 6.

"In line with the stewards’ decisions (Document 59) in relation to an alleged rule breach on the inside of the corner, which stated that ‘the evidence available is insufficient to accurately and consistently infer infringements’, the FIA will update the monitoring infrastructure to ensure better coverage so that possible infringements can be reliably detected during the race in the future."