Crumbling track worries F1 racers at Montreal

UPDATE After multiple complaints about the track surface breaking up during qualifying, mainly at the hairpin, and drivers losing a lot of time as they travelled over the ‘train tracks’, organizers at the Gilles Villeneuve circuit have already started resurfacing the bad sections ahead of Sunday afternoon’s race.

"We have been monitoring the situation extensively," the track’s Francois Dumontier was quoted as saying by Autosport. "This year we chose a new specialist to settle the issue, but obviously conditions related to the technological evolution of the race cars do create some problems. Aggressive adhesion of grooved tires, removal of traction control systems and the actual physical configuration of the hairpin corner itself could all be probable causes for this situation. We will correct this problem as soon as the last car leaves the track today, and everything will be rectified for tomorrow's races."

This is not the first time the track has suffered these problems with the surface also breaking up in the 2006 event, however, that didn’t occur until Sunday’s race. This year it has happened a lot earlier and hopefully with tonight’s work, the drivers will be able to have a clean race.

06/07/08 (GMM) The track surface at Montreal's Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is once again causing problems.

Following similar concerns in previous years, including in 2007, the dark-colored repaired asphalt areas during qualifying on Saturday began to break loose, particularly at the turn 10 hairpin but also elsewhere.

Mark Webber lost his chance to join the Q3 action after he crashed at the end of the second phase of qualifying, musing afterwards that competitors will need "motocross bikes" rather than grand prix machines for the race.

Asked what effect the loose stones of broken track, swept off the racing line by marshals between qualifying segments, will have on driver mistakes on Sunday, the Australian answered dryly: "Good for the spectators."

World champion Kimi Raikkonen slammed the situation as a "joke" after he slipped at the hairpin and trailed Lewis Hamilton's pole position by nearly a full second.

"It will be a nightmare in the race," the Ferrari driver added.

Toyota driver Timo Glock also predicted "major problems" for the 70-lap grand prix, and teammate Jarno Trulli described the issue as a "huge concern".