[grantp]

The extension of fencing is not an F1 thing but an FIA licence matter.

After the Gillet fiasco the recovery plan required not only groundworks and track surface patching in places but re-application for a licence as the previous one had been allowed to lapse.

That meant that old safety standards were no longer acceptable so the Esses had to be moved and reprofiled, the old Dunlop bridge straight widened, more run-off area at Redgate and elsewhere and so on.

Plus fences and since then continued fence creep although to be fair there have been a few rather serious incidents where the fences probably proved their worth in one or two places. Notably Holly Wood where I have witnessed one or two surprising racing decisions by drivers in the first and second laps in a packed grid that resulted in quite heavy impacts and bits of shattered car flying about.

The revised requirements, compared with the previous standards, also moved the spectator barriers further back from the safety fences in many places - notably Redgate where the space created is used to return to return the recovery vehicle to its station after deployment.

Those familiar with the paddock area will recall that there are rental suites on the outside of the circuit between the pit exit and Redgate.

The Redgate end of those suites cannot be allocated for anything other than storage use (apparently used by the cleaning contractors) as they are now deemed to be too close to the edge of the track.

That probably relates to an incident a few years ago where a cartwheeling racer landed on or close to the adjacent marshal post.

As I have understood things a lot of the additional run-off areas have been at the behest of the Biker's organisations - not unreasonable I suppose given that they tend to be the biggest and best attended meetings of the year with the possible exception of the BTCC.


And the Download music festival.