Explained: How Red Bull Ring will use AI to combat track limits rule breakers

2023 F1 Austrian Grand Prix at Red Bull Ring

Throughout the course of Formula 1’s 2023 Austrian Grand Prix, drivers committed track limits violations so regularly that race stewards simply couldn’t investigate every infraction during the race. To prevent a similar problem this year, the Red Bull Ring will use artificial intelligence (AI) to keep drivers in line.

The tight, high-speed nature of the Red Bull Ring saw over 1,200 (!) track limits violations during last year’s Austrian Grand Prix, as drivers got just a little too wide while trying to find pace. Race stewards were overwhelmed by trying to review every potential concern. Now, a thin blue line will mark the point at which AI will step in to evaluate track limits concerns.

How AI could solve F1 track limits violations

After the repeated violations in 2023, the FIA issued a statement saying: “In order to address the issue for future events we will renew our recommendation to the circuit to add a gravel trap at the exit of Turns 9 and 10.”

The Red Bull Ring has implemented those 2.5-meter-wide gravel traps, but keen-eyed fans will also notice something else: A thin blue line has been painted around those corners. That same line was also visible at Turns 5, 9, and 11 in Barcelona this past weekend.

The blue line is intended to divide the white line demarcating track limits from the exit kerb in order to create a more striking visual difference. Those corners of concern have also been loaded up with cameras.

Beginning in Abu Dhabi last year, the FIA has been training artificial intelligence to review images and video clips of cars potentially exceeding track limits in these critical areas. AI should then be able to determine whether or not a vehicle actually exceeded track limits.

As a result, stewards and race directors should only have to worry about the infractions that are questionable or too close for AI to call. Further, five people from the FIA’s Remote Operations Center in Geneva will also be keeping tabs on both the AI tech and the trackside cameras to make any quick calls.

Effectively, this procedure should free up race stewards to focus on other on-track issues, and to more quickly resolve most track limits disputes without requiring multiple people to collect and analyze footage.

The FIA does note that this technology is still in development and cannot be considered perfect. However, it should prevent that pesky backlog of potential penalties that impacted the 2023 race.

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What are F1 track limits?

In Formula 1 racing, “track limits” refer to the surface on which racing can legally take place.

These limits are defined by a white line painted along the edge of the track. According the article 33.3 of the FIA Sporting Regulations, “Drivers must make every reasonable effort to use the track at all times and may not leave the track without a justifiable reason.”

When it comes to determining violations, the rules state that “Drivers will be judged to have left the track if no part of the car remains in contact with it and, for the avoidance of doubt, any white lines defining the track edges are considered to be part of the track, but the kerbs are not.

“Should a car leave the track, the driver may re-join, however, this may only be done when it is safe to do so and without gaining any lasting advantage.

“At the absolute discretion of the Race Director, a driver may be given the opportunity to give back the whole of any advantage he gained by leaving the track.”

During qualifying, a track-limits violation results in an automatically deleted lap time. During the race, drivers will be afforded two warnings before their track limits infringements will be penalized.

On their third and fourth violations, drivers will receive five-second time penalties. On their fifth violation, drivers will receive a 10-second time penalty. After that point, the penalty clock “resets,” which means that the driver in question would have to violate track limits three more times before receiving his next five-second penalty.

While a track limits violation may sound quite straightforward, the 2023 Austrian Grand Prix proved it was anything but.

What happened at the 2023 Austrian Grand Prix?

During the 2023 Austrian Grand Prix, the FIA said it experienced an “unprecedented situation” where race control was forced to review over 1,200 potential track limits violations during the race. It took five hours for the stewards to decide on an official post-race classification, which saw 83 lap time deletions and eight drivers receiving penalties.

Part of the issue stems from the Red Bull Ring itself. Long straights are linked by tight corners, and any minor misstep at high speed can leave you battling the lines on the track. Plus, drivers like Carlos Sainz Jr. noted last year that F1’s latest cars can be difficult to control in dirty air.

Combined, those two factors meant the 2023 Austrian Grand Prix resulted in chaos.

The introduction of AI for the 2024 race may not prevent track limit violations, but it should make it far easier for race control to sort through the issues at hand.