05/10/2023
NEWS STORY
Yuki Tsunoda fears that Qatar's unforgiving kerbs will see a repeat of the issues that plagued F1's last visit.
Though the layout remains the same, the resurfacing of the entire track and a new pit and paddock facility sees the Lusail circuit officially designated a new track.
Also new for this year are the kerbs, the previous versions of which in 2021 led to punctures for a number of drivers including Valtteri Bottas and George Russell.
However, having walked the circuit, Tsunoda believes that the new kerbs are even worse.
"Here is always a story with track limits, but they made even worse the kerbs because when you go over the white line, you are going to have a proper penalty, which seems like it's going to be a high risk to damage the car," said the AlphaTauri driver.
"It seems like they changed to the aggressive kerbs," added the Japanese, who went on to describe the Lusail track as a "floor destroyer".
"It's the step between the kerb and off track," he explained. "Driving on the kerb won't be an issue, but once you step out from the kerbs it's going to be like a complete sliding effect.
"It is not smooth at all, and especially driving here, with such high-speed corners where the car is really low, it will be hard. Even one time will be pretty costly I think."