The first practice session for the Russian Grand Prix was delayed by at least 30 minutes due to a “diesel spillage” on the track, according to Formula One Management.
Marshals worked to clear a large spillage around turn eight on the Sochi Autodrom.
Practice began at 10am local time as scheduled however as a large-scale cleaning programme was in operation the cars remained in their garages.
The affected area was sluiced with water and cars were able to take part in the session half an hour after it began. However all the drivers chose to use intermediate or wet weather tyres.
emuLOAD
9th October 2015, 8:02
Wow, so it’s true that VW is trying to get into F1!
ColdFly F1 (@)
9th October 2015, 8:06
But according to the EPA tests there was no spillage at all ;-)
Tiago Sá
9th October 2015, 11:00
Makes you wonder how crappy their tests are.
But then again, I’ve been wondering that all along.
Charles King (@charleski)
9th October 2015, 8:39
It’s a revolutionary new diesel engine with zero NOx emissions – rather than burning the fuel they just dump it out the back.
Jorge Lardone (@jorge-lardone)
9th October 2015, 20:26
+1
Girts (@girts)
9th October 2015, 8:07
That is one more reason why Russia should be thrown out of F1 calendar. They just cannot properly organise a world-class race.
GP2engine (@gp2engine)
9th October 2015, 10:10
Exactly my thoughts. Let’s hope they just don’t set the track on fire to please their chief spectator. He seems to be the guy who gets his kicks out of mad max style perfomances
Brace (@brace)
9th October 2015, 10:53
@girt You go tell them. They are really unorganized. I wish they’d have the skill needed to send out some random people on the track in the middle of the race, like those stalwarts UK and Germany did. Now that’s what I call proper organization. No wonder everyone is on awe of Singapore. They’re the only East Europen or Asian country to achieve the same feat. Korea tried to one-up them with sending out a whole truck, but it didn’t went well.
Iestyn Davies (@fastiesty)
9th October 2015, 15:23
@brace Don’t forget China.. the practice spectator probably won’t be heard of again..
Mijail (@mijail)
9th October 2015, 14:10
Seriusly? Just stop the hatred already, didnt you watch the winter olympics?
Iestyn Davies (@fastiesty)
9th October 2015, 15:22
@mijail Does anyone watch the winter Olympics?
George (@george)
9th October 2015, 17:28
@fastiesty
Norwegians.
Jorge Olivier
9th October 2015, 21:54
Wait for Mexico: three weeks before the GP the track is missing the last layer of asphalt in some areas, the medical facilities and grandstands are unfinished, they haven’t been able to present a program because they never planned for support races and now are trying to reach an agreement with a championship that has never raced; in the meantime, people keeps complaining of the difficulty of getting tickets because organizers decided to save most of them for re-sellers which makes this GP the most expensive in the calendar -travelling to Canada or the US for their GP is cheaper than attending the local one-.
Maza Raap (@maza)
10th October 2015, 2:04
Yeah and they can’t build racing tracks either. During winter the asphalt on the pits had fallen 0,5 meters making it impossible to stroll out cars from the pits. Same with asphalt on the first corner or was it second, there was a slump of meter or two so that there was no way for Formula 4 to race there at the time of Suzuka GP. Can’t believe they even cant properly lay out asphalt… But yeah very russian GP so far.
Paul Duggan
9th October 2015, 8:23
Tractor racing?
andae23 (@andae23)
9th October 2015, 8:35
I don’t understand the delay – surely it’s good preparation for next year’s Azerbaij… European GP?
Kingshark (@kingshark)
9th October 2015, 9:03
Good thing that Azerbaijan is called the European GP actually, so on the official Formula 1 channel we can vote for our favorite European GP in preview to Azerbaijan instead of there not being a poll (since there aren’t exactly many options for Russia).
Joao (@johnmilk)
9th October 2015, 10:49
In the round up: Bernie Ecclestone introduces new rules that say some sections of the race track will occasionally be sprayed with diesel to increase the difficulties drivers have to face. The measure is said to “spice things up” by creating impredictabilaty.
Eric
9th October 2015, 11:45
Where did the Diesel even come from???
is there a VW factory at Sochi that has just surfaced..
Joao (@johnmilk)
9th October 2015, 15:22
A recory truck it seems
Jules Winfield (@jules-winfield)
9th October 2015, 11:55
Should have called Putin. He could have cleared up that diesel just by looking at it.
BNK
9th October 2015, 12:10
I learn something new every day! I had no idea F1 cars ran on diesel! Why else would there be spillage on the track??
Iestyn Davies (@fastiesty)
9th October 2015, 15:24
F1 was trying to make itself look green, but all along was secretly running diesel engines!
OmarRoncal - Go Seb!!! - @omarr-pepper (@)
9th October 2015, 13:43
So that proves Russia got a gp because of oil.