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Valtteri Bottas

Bottas confident over solution 'annoying' F1 problem

The issue of track limits has been a problem at a series of race weekends this season but Alfa Romeo's Valtteri Bottas is confident that the matter will be eradicated for next year's campaign.

Bottas Japan
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Valtteri Bottas has expressed confidence that track limit issues will be eradicated for next year's Formula 1 season.

The topic has been a talking point at several events this year most recently at the United States Grand Prix.

Haas protested the results of the race claiming there were a number of track limit breaches during the Grand Prix that weren't considered by the stewards.

However, the proposal was rejected by the stewards, leaving the results from the Circuit of the Americas unchanged.

It was recently highlighted by some drivers that taking a five-second time penalty for overtaking a rival off the track can be worth it if they are able to build up that gap before taking the punishment.

Speaking to media including RacingNews365, Bottas believes that it is more favourable for drivers to take the penalty on some occasions.

"In some situations, if you're stuck behind a car for 10 laps, if you lose 10 seconds, you might take [the penalty]," he said.

"It’s tricky, it's a rare situation but it can happen. It depends completely on the situation.

"If it's clear that you made the overtake because you went off the track limits, then you should give the position back."

FIA 'taking it seriously'

Bottas added that the situation can easily be rectified by adding gravel to the edge of the racing line.

"If there was gravel, no problem," he said. "The changes made for Austria were good.

"They were adding gravel in places and stuff like that, also what had been done at [Monza's] Parabolica, there used to be this strip of gravel. It just works.

"I feel like they [the FIA] are starting to understand because it's also so much work for them as well, and they are getting s**t because of it.

"They can't spot every single mistake and situation, so I would imagine by next year, there will be solutions, like what we're expecting now.

"I think they are taking it seriously."

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