Mar.1 (GMM) Mark Webber has backed triple world champion Sir Jackie Stewart’s views about formula one circuit design.
“Spot on”, said the Australian driver on Twitter, after reading famous Scot Stewart’s new column in London’s Daily Telegraph.
While discussing the problem that some grands prix are not exciting enough, the 71-year-old pointed a finger of criticism at Hermann Tilke.
“I fear he has not done much for the spectators,” he said.
Stewart said a major difference between F1 and golf is that golf courses are not “designed by the same person”.
“Put simply, they are largely carbon copies of each other and they tend not to penalise mistakes,” he said, referring to the new generation of F1 tracks.
Recalling the Abu Dhabi finale last year, Stewart said Fernando Alonso made some “fairly big mistakes” whilst trying to pass Vitaly Petrov, yet Webber was still unable to overtake.
“That is plainly wrong,” said Stewart, who was a long campaigner for better safety in formula one after witnessing many of his friends and rivals die in the 60s and 70s.
“It is nearly 17 years since a life was lost in an F1 car,” he said, referring to the death of Ayrton Senna in 1994.
“But we have now gone too far the other way. Circuits should not permit liberties to be abused without a penalty that can be instantly recognised by spectators or TV viewers.
“Safety is one thing; abuse of privilege is another,” he insisted.
