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Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel have spoken out against the intent to resurface Albert Park in the near future.
It is believed that the circuit will receive a new surface before the 2020 race, as the track's chief executive Andrew Westacott notified The Age of the proposed plans.
However, approval needs to come from Michael Masi, who held the role of F1 race director last weekend following the sudden death of Charlie Whiting.
“We will have to get the report back from Michael Masi, but I think we will be resurfacing in the next year or two,” said Westacott.
But both Hamilton and Vettel are against the changes, as they enjoy the challenge the bumpy track surface provides.
"I like the track the way it is,” said Hamilton. “I think it’s a great circuit because there are not particularly massive run-off areas. If you put a wheel wrong, it generally does bite you which is great and how it should be.
“The bumps are part of the character of what Melbourne is so if you were to iron those out it would lose a lot.
"It does make it trickier for us but that’s a part of it, you need that. I don’t like these circuits which are super-flat and super-smooth, don’t cause us troubles.”
Vettel added: “I hope they don’t resurface it because it’s part of the character of this track.”
If the track was to be smoothed with a new surface, it would be Albert Park's first since 1996.
Grand Prix of Belgium
G. Zhou
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Replies (3)
Login to replyPistonhead
Posts: 556
Spoken like a true racer, well done chaps. It aint broken.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Generally agree, it ain't broke, so don't fix it. Run offs could perhaps not be bigger, but more efficient to help race stewards, mind.
Ram Samartha
Posts: 1,172
It's a street circuit though, if the road gets bad enough I don't see how they can go without resurfacing it.