Lando Norris has called for the Madring's pit lane to be shortened, arguing that a track built with "so much money" should not carry the biggest pit loss on the calendar.
The McLaren driver made the point after taking pole position for the Spanish Grand Prix, edging Andrea Antonelli by 0.011s with a lap of 1:31.824s around F1's newest venue, situated in the north-east of the Spanish capital, Madrid.
At roughly 600 metres, the Madring pit lane has emerged as the longest in the championship, running through covered paddock infrastructure built into the IFEMA exhibition halls.
Reflecting on the circuit after qualifying, Norris initially joked: "We should have two parts of the pit lane - pit limiter, off pit limiter, pit limiter."
Changing his tone, he then added: "It's the longest pit lane of the year and the biggest pit loss of the year as well, so that just makes the desire to box and do different strategies worse."
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'It still scares you' - Norris
Norris has been left at a loss to understand why the circuit designers opted for such a pit layout, especially given the negative impact on strategy for the teams.
"If we're going to build a new track and spend so much money building a new track, this is probably one of the main factors, I would say, in making a track - you have a short pit lane so people can pit, and you then create overtaking," continued Norris.
"Even with degradation being high or low, it doesn't matter. The fact it's the longest pit lane, in a time when we should be making a pit lane shorter or doing things where..."
Norris then cut himself short before concluding with the positive aspects of the pit lane and track.
"At least it cuts Turn 1 into Turn 2," he said. "That's a good thing.
"But it's still the longest and the slowest pit lane of the year. So little things like that, braking zones.
"But it's still a fun track. Quali was still exciting, and it still scares you a little bit, so it's a good feeling."
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