F1 News: Yuki Tsunoda Fears "Floor Destroyer" Track Kerbs In Qatar

Yuki Tsunoda thinks that the revamped Losail Circuit track with aggressive kerbs could pose a challenge.

F1 is back in Qatar this year after a gap of two years and track organisers have taken the return seriously by conducting a massive overhaul of the Losail International Circuit. However, Yuki Tsunoda is concerned about the new kerbs on the track that he thinks are too aggressive. 

In addition to the resurfacing, all the kerbs have been revised around the track for the first time since the venue was built in 2004. This is an important step because back in 2021, there were several complaints from drivers that the kerbs were causing punctures. 

George Russell, Valtteri Bottas, and Nicholas Latifi suffered major punctures during the inaugural run in Qatar. After investigation, the reason for the punctures was zeroed down to the sharp kerbs. 

However, after the drivers got their first sighting of the circuit, the solution to the old problem might have turned out to be something that could make it worse. 

Tsunoda expressed that the team was worried about the kerbs causing severe damage to the new floor in the current generation of ground-effect cars as they run very close to the ground. 

Speaking to the press on Thursday, he raised concerns about the aggressive kerbs. He said: 

“It seems like they changed to the aggressive kerbs.

"Here is always a story with track limits, but they made even worse the kerbs because when you go over the white line, you are going to have a proper penalty - which seems like it's going to be a high risk to damage the car.

"It’s the step between the kerb and off track.

"Driving on the kerb won’t be an issue, but once you step out from the kerbs it's going to be like a complete sliding effect.

"It is not smooth at all, and especially driving here, with such high-speed corners where the car is really low, it will be hard. Even one time will be pretty costly I think.”

F1 News: AlphaTauri Confirms Yuki Tsunoda Contract Extension

Tsunoda also revealed that the new state of the track became a concern after the team received photos of the upgraded circuit. He added:

“I did the simulator on Tuesday, and the pictures arrived on that day.

"The pictures were really aggressive, and all the engineers are concerned about it.”