Mmmmh....

[Yoda McFly 1]

Good point Yoda, Paul Ricard leads the way, with something like 25 acres of run off area. With a special abrasive asphalt, rather than the conventional and sometimes very dangerous kitty litter.

But like all good things there comes a cost, and the cost of replacing all the kitty litter on the tracks that have a World Championship round would immediately made the idea unviable.

Is it really that expensive? Anyone run an asphalt business, or know someone that does? (I know, this sounds like a smart-assed question, but it's serious. All the years I've been railing to ban the kitty litter, no one has ever mentioned the cost of paving the runoff ...)

[pabloh20 1]

Is it really that expensive? Anyone run an asphalt business, or know someone that does? (I know, this sounds like a smart-assed question, but it's serious. All the years I've been railing to ban the kitty litter, no one has ever mentioned the cost of paving the runoff ...)

I thought that too, but it was mentioned in the commentary, at somepoint over the weekend, that certain gravel areas had been tarmac-ed (or however you spell it) and other areas would be done cost allowing.

[Wez 0]

Like I've said before, I think the FIA need to fine tune this rule.... Something like "A car in a dangerous position can be recovered to the track, but must retire to the pits immediately or be black flagged".

I mean it clearly is a unfair advantage. Looking at Shumacher's incident, the only reason he was able to re-join was because he was a German at the German GP with German marshals... If his title challenger had been in the same position I doubt they would have got the same treatment on that occasion.

My point is that how can you leave judgment at to who should rejoin a race in the marshals hands?

[aussief1 4]

Is it really that expensive? Anyone run an asphalt business, or know someone that does? (I know, this sounds like a smart-assed question, but it's serious. All the years I've been railing to ban the kitty litter, no one has ever mentioned the cost of paving the runoff ...)

I guess just asphalt isn't that expensive I agree, but where the cost comes in is the special grippy sections that are laid on top of the asphalt. I would also imagine that this surface may have a short life span before it needs to be relayed every so often also adding to the cost.

You need to remember that most tracks around the world are almost pushed to bankruptcy just to hold a Championship round in the first place (Thanks Bernie). So spending up on these sorts to things may just break the budget.

I have no proof it's just my thoughts on why this would be expensive.

[aussief1 4]

MS tried they same thing at the Australian GP in 2005 when he collided with NH. He was sitting there waving his hands in the motion to the marshals like please help me. They did but he retired due to the damage after the collision.

Here is the clip from the incident in the 2005 Australian GP, that I was refering to in an earlier post quoted above.

Schumacher blocks Heidfeld