Vasseur: We told the FIA Qatar will be a track limit festival

For the second time in the 2024 Formula 1 season, track limits was the talking point of the sport during and following the Qatar Grand Prix, the first time being during the Austrian Grand Prix back in July.

Many drivers had their laps deleted during qualifying and the Sprint shootout for exceeding the track limits, but in some cases the way they stewards administered penalties was ridiculous as McLaren's Lando Norris had his qualifying lap deleted just as he was getting ready to be interviewed in parc ferme. Teammate Oscar Piastri was informed his lap time was deleted after his interview was already over.

During the race, the stewards were dishing out track limit penalties left right and center, some drivers, Sergio Perez and Pierre Gasly to mention a couple, receiving three five-second-penalties in the race.

Fred Vasseur commented on the topic, he said: "I would say that the biggest issue for me of the weekend is track limits.

"Because you know when you are going to Spielberg that you will have issues with track limits, and we had issues with track limits here, and you get the results two hours after the race, and when we came before the weekend, we told them exactly the same, that it will be a festival. And it was a festival," he insisted.

Vasseur claimed the extreme heat and humidity affected drivers' concentration which meant more were less focused on the track limits.

"I think on top of this, the drivers at the end they perhaps lost a little bit of concentration, and some guys, the last 10 laps, they were doing strikes every single lap. But you can't blame them in this situation, we have to find a solution," he explained.

"I think it's not even good for the show," the Frenchman went on. "At least on the pit wall, you have the number of strikes, you can follow the story, you know where you are and so on. But I'm thinking about the guys who are in front of their TV, they don't have the story about the strikes.

"And at one stage they see Gasly five seconds, Gasly 10 seconds, Gasly 15 seconds. We have to think also about this. I think that we can anticipate this kind of issue," he maintained.

What made matters worse for the track limits is that they were modified on Saturday ahead of the Sprint shootout at Turns 12 and 13 to prevent the cars from hitting the kerbs after Pirelli found out that their tyres' integrity was affected by that raising safety concerns.

Vasseur, when asked if the situation would be repeated given Qatar's huge investment in the Lusail International Track, responded: "I won't go on this field because I don't know who is responsible for this.

"But it's not just a matter of kerbs. It's the complete process, the layout of the track, the kerbs, what is after the kerbs. We have to find a solution.

"But as you said, and I don't want to go on this field and to speak about investment, but we are coming to Qatar, they are doing a mega effort to organise the event, and to have this outcome is for me is not at the level of the championship," he explained.

But the Ferrari boss backed the FIA action taken regarding Pirelli's safety concerns, he told Motorsport.com: "I think the reaction was quite good.

"At the end of the day, it's always for me safety first, and we were not sure [about the tyres], and to have this kind of reaction, we did a good race, it was a good show.

"And I would say that the reaction was very appropriate. It's a bit of a shame to be in the situation," Vasseur concluded.