Verstappen: Jeddah sector 1 more dangerous than Eau Rouge

Tuesday, 04 July 2023 at 13:25

Max Verstappen claimed sector 1 in Jeddah Corniche Circuit is more dangerous than Eau Rouge at Spa in the aftermath of the death of Dilano Van'T Hoff at the Belgian venue last weekend.

The tragic death of Van'T Hoff at Spa last weekend while taking part in a Formula Regional in wet conditions. The tragedy has reignited discussions regarding the safety of the historical track at Eau Rouge and Raidillon. The memory of Antoine Hubert losing his life in an F2 race on the same track still haunts the world of motorsport.

While Hubert's crash happened at Raidillon. Van'T Hoff was killed further up the Kemmel straight in atrocious wet conditions, but that has not stopped discussions and comments regarding the safety at Spa in that particular area.

Max Verstappen was asked to comment on the matter after he won the 2023 Austrian Grand Prix last weekend. He told Motorsport.com: "It's for sure quite a dangerous corner. But we're also going to Jeddah in Sector 1 and that for me is probably more dangerous even.

"I'm happy that nothing has happened yet in that sector because going through [Turns] 6, 7, 8, if you have a shunt there that can be the same. It's all blind, you don't know what's coming," explained Verstappen.

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"I remember at the beginning of the year there, I got upset with my engineer because I impeded Lando [Norris], and I know how that feels. It's super dangerous when these things happen," the Dutchman revealed.

"For sure, Eau Rouge is blind going up, but of course this accident happened later," he went on. "I think the only thing that maybe can be improved is to make more space in terms of trying to move the barriers more out. At the moment it looks like as soon as you crash, you hit the barrier, you bounce back onto the track quite easily.

"I think already the changes they made in Spa. They definitely opened it up a lot more but it will always be a dangerous corner. But we are going to a lot of tracks where there are dangerous corners, where up until probably there is an accident, you won't say anything.

"And now, of course, it gets brought up. I feel it's a bit unfair to just blame it on the track. I think in the first place you have to look into why they restarted [the race]," the reigning Formula 1 Champion concluded.