Jack Doohan and several leading Formula 2 drivers have expressed their hope F1’s work to improve visibility in wet conditions can be fast-tracked to all forms of racing.
As part of this week’s tyre test at Silverstone, bodywork designed to reduce rooster tails behind cars is being trialled.
If successful, these would be used in limited circumstances in F1.
Visibility has become a key issue for drivers, who suggest it is now their most significant risk.
But while the likes of Lando Norris and Kevin Magnussen have voiced their concerns from an F1 perspective, it’s a problem that affects all open-wheel racing.
Thick spray at Spa-Francorchamps contributed to the crash that claimed the life of Dilano van ‘t Hoff.
“It’s interesting, what they’re looking into,” said Frederik Vesti, the current F2 championship leader, when asked about the work being done in F1 by Speedcafe.
“I think it’s something that would be very interesting to test.
“If they see some good results, I think F2 could be a good place to start.”
Formula 2 raced in wet conditions at Silverstone on Saturday, the field getting away behind the Safety Car as officials adopted a cautious approach.
It was sent back out when conditions turned during the race, despite no incident to otherwise trigger it.
“The biggest issue now is only the visibility,” said Theo Pourchaire, a member of the Sauber Academy.
“The track was good enough at the beginning; first lap behind Safety Car, we could have started the race; the only issue was the visibility.
“So if we can improve that, then we can race earlier, we can start the races earlier, which is good.”
On Saturday’s race, Doohan added: “I was back in P6, so there was quite a lot more spray for me.
“Even when we went racing, I couldn’t see anything down both straights.
“As a racing driver, you keep it flat knowing that you can’t see who’s behind me – I don’t know if he’s a tenth behind me or a second.
“What would be great in the future is to try and improve the brightness of the rain light, just because, to be honest, in today’s conditions, if you’re a car length of two, back, you couldn’t see the car in front.
“That obviously puts us in a dangerous position.
“But race direction did the best they could and got us racing, so happy for that.”
The Australian then added his support to introducing a means to limit the spray when Speedcafe asked.
“I think it would be great, if it’s effective, to be fast-tracked down to all categories, to be honest – not just Formula 2 – just to ensure safer racing and better visibility.”
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