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I am watching FP1 with no audio, and the track marshals are dragging what appears to be rubber mats behind a truck. I assume they are cleaning up carbon fiber chards, but does anyone know what the reason they are doing this?

Precaution in case the tyre issues Massa and K-Mag had were caused by debris that the Marshalls had missed I would guess.

Yeah it was awful. Let's put these big mats down to gather up any debris... then while we're on the way back to the pits the rubber mat shall blow in the wind and drop debris all over the track!

ShaneM wrote:I am watching FP1 with no audio, and the track marshals are dragging what appears to be rubber mats behind a truck. I assume they are cleaning up carbon fiber chards, but does anyone know what the reason they are doing this?

For a sport that is "the pinnacle of technology", it's quite abysmal.

And the marshalls aren't even paid experts, just volunteers. This sport can't even hire staff?! Yesterday after Magnussen's tyre blowout, one marshall kicked a piece of debri casually, then kicked it again, to the side of the road, still on track, and that was that.

It's a big joke for an international sport.

Did you see them during qualifying today?

They parked a truck in the area of the pit entry while cars were on track, Button had to radio in that they were in a dangerous area. One of them was stood next to it casually washing his hands with a bottle of water.

Then they put a tyre wall in on the apex of the hairpin for the Porsche race before Q3. It did get removed again but what were they thinking?

JohnnyGuitar wrote:Did you see them during qualifying today?

They parked a truck in the area of the pit entry while cars were on track, Button had to radio in that they were in a dangerous area. One of them was stood next to it casually washing his hands with a bottle of water.

Then they put a tyre wall in on the apex of the hairpin for the Porsche race before Q3. It did get removed again but what were they thinking?

Again, unpaid volunteering marshals. This sport cannot even afford to pay professionals, 66 years in, safety is still a joke.

JohnnyGuitar wrote:Did you see them during qualifying today?

They parked a truck in the area of the pit entry while cars were on track, Button had to radio in that they were in a dangerous area. One of them was stood next to it casually washing his hands with a bottle of water.

Then they put a tyre wall in on the apex of the hairpin for the Porsche race before Q3. It did get removed again but what were they thinking?

That was quite unprofessional.
i remember last year or the one before, the chequerd flag was out 2-3 laps before the race officially ended.

Regarding the rubber mats, I think they were trying to clear the water in that area, which is quite stupid as the mats will clearly drag the water around it.
However I've always thought that in the case of debris and the bits of sharp carbon, they ought to resort to giant sized hoovers so as to save time and make sure that nothing is left on the track...just an idea.

JohnnyGuitar wrote:Did you see them during qualifying today?

They parked a truck in the area of the pit entry while cars were on track, Button had to radio in that they were in a dangerous area. One of them was stood next to it casually washing his hands with a bottle of water.

Then they put a tyre wall in on the apex of the hairpin for the Porsche race before Q3. It did get removed again but what were they thinking?

I think Q3 was delayed because of the red flag earlier on and those guys have probably been getting told all weekend to make sure they don't f**k up and put those tyres in any later than exactly 3pm on the dot. So they went by the time that they should have been put out, not by whether Q3 had finished or not.