Lewis Hamilton has made his feelings clear on one particular aspect of modern Formula 1, and it’s a common circuit feature.
Modern F1 circuits increasingly favour tarmacked run-off areas at corners, with grass and gravel increasingly phased out.
Being one of the old school – having made his debut in 2007 – Hamilton is one driver more familiar with how it used to be.
Asked over the Singapore Grand Prix weekend whether races had been more physically demanding earlier in his career, the Ferrari driver turned instead to how circuit design has changed.
“There are a lot of changes which have come over time, like all of these run-off areas, which I dislike personally,” he said.
He said he misses an era with fewer run-off areas and more grass and gravel. “But obviously that’s not the way it is today.”
Over the course of his career, many tracks new to the calendar have swapped those traditional surfaces for asphalt. This weekend’s United States Grand Prix venue is a case in point.
Austin’s Circuit of the Americas arrived in 2012. Hamilton did end up beached in the gravel there in 2024, but only after losing the car at high speed through Turn 19 and sliding across a wide stretch of tarmac first. By the time he reached the gravel, he was well away from the circuit itself.
The argument for tarmac is simple: a driver who runs wide can rejoin without damage, whereas grass and gravel can wreck a car.
There’s also a practical cost. Circuits like COTA host several racing series, each with its own needs, and reconfiguring track limits for each of them takes time and money.
On the physical toll itself, Hamilton named two periods as the hardest.
“I mean, my first year naturally because it was my first year in F1, and it was a killer to get your body to acclimatise,” he said.
“2020 was tough as well; I would say that is the period where the car was at its fastest and had the most downforce, so that was the physically most challenging.”
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