Tecpro barriers set for review after Bottas crash

The Tecpro barriers at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez will be reviewed by the FIA following Valtteri Bottas’ crash in qualifying, but Formula 1 race director Michael Masi has warned against “a knee-jerk reaction”.

The Mercedes driver lost it at the final corner during qualy and his car went flying to the barriers with his W10 suffering“extensive damage”as a result.

Afterwards the Finn called on the FIA to have a look at the placement of the barriers, saying “definitely, we should try and avoid those kind of Tecpro [placement] things”.

Masi has now confirmed that a review will take place following this weekend’s incident.

“As part of the circuit’s licensing, when it would have been done a number of years ago, the Tecpro is based on impact angles of various simulations,” he is quoted as saying byAutosport.com.

“And that showed quite a severe impact angle based on the simulations.

“Anything prior to that was effectively within our tolerance – anything where the Tecpro is was outside of the tolerance.

“Having seen that incident, we’re going to have a look and see how it could be improved.”

As the circuit had been homologated ahead of the race, it was not possible to make changes before Sunday, but Masi is adamant that changes shouldn’t be made just for the sake of it.

He added: “I’m certainly not going to be pulling out a major safety feature, which is what it is.

“From memory, I can’t recall anything at this point that is similar of that nature.

“So it’s something where, first let’s look at the whole picture, rather than a knee-jerk reaction, and actually get a true understanding of what it is, and if we can improve it, and then how can we improve it.

“We had a Tecpro team here this weekend, as there is at a lot of events, and they’re going to have a look at all of it as well.

“I think it’s a lesson to all of us, I don’t think we ever stop learning.”

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