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F1 drivers banned from riding bikes on track recce walks

New rule criticised by drivers including Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc who says he will now skip track walks rather than doing them on foot

Formula One drivers have been banned from riding bikes during track walks, which take place ahead of Grands Prix to help them familiarise themselves with the layout and condition of the circuit they will be racing on, in a move that has been criticised by drivers including Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.

The ban has been introduced by Formula One Management (FOM) and has been approved by world motorsport’s governing body, the FIA, with drivers not allowed to use “bicycles, e-bikes, scooters and e-scooters” during track walks, reports Motorsport.com.

Bicycles have become an increasingly popular way for drivers and their engineers to get around the circuits during the track walk, which typically takes place on the Thursday before the race, in part due to the distance involved – the Jeddah Corniche Circuit that hosts this weekend’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, for example, is a little over 6km in length.

In a letter sent out to teams during the Bahrain Grand Prix earlier this month, the first race of the 2023 F1 season, the FOM said: “To clarify and to avoid future misunderstanding, the use of any means of transport (bicycles, e-bikes, scooters, e-scooters, etc) is forbidden during the time window stated as ‘Team Track Walks’ on the Event Timetable. No exceptions will be allowed. This decision has been agreed with the FIA.”

The move, which is said to have been prompted by concerns regarding overcrowding, particularly on weekends when Formula 2 and 3 races are also taking place at the same venue, has been widely criticised, including by Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc, who gave the track walk in Jeddah a miss and said he would be unlikely to participate in them in future.

Speaking to Motorsport.com, the Monégasque driver said: “I didn’t walk around, and as I think they’ve just issued a new thing where we cannot go around the track with a bicycle you probably won’t see me around the track anymore, and I’ll just watch the videos.”

Bizarrely, the Jeddah circuit was not available for the track walk in its normal Thursday evening time slot this week – it had been closed for the filming of a music video by the rapper Will.I.Am, which drew criticism from the Haas driver, Nico Hulkenberg.

“I wanted to do it now, but they blocked the track, and it’s all gone wrong now! I’ll watch the safety car, and I’ll see it tomorrow,” he said on Thursday.

Besides taking to bikes for track recces, which they are no longer allowed to do, cycling is a popular way of training for many F1 drivers, although it’s not unknown for a crash while riding to put a dampener on the racing season, with the Australian retired driver Mark Webber and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, hit by a motorist in 2021, two high profile examples.

More recently, four weeks ago Alonso’s team mate  Lance Stroll sustained injuries after a fall while cycling during pre-season training in Spain.

The Canadian, who had to undergo surgery after breaking both wrists in the crash, missed pre-season testing at the Bahrain International Circuit as he recovered from his injuries but returned there a fortnight ago for the opening race of the season, finishing sixth.

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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17 comments

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SpeedyMark | 1 year ago
0 likes

Has 1st April come early this year?

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kil0ran | 1 year ago
3 likes

Awaits influx of sponsorship from Heelys.

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ChrisB200SX | 1 year ago
4 likes

No doubt this new rule was heavily advocated for by Lawrence Stroll.

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Rendel Harris replied to ChrisB200SX | 1 year ago
4 likes

ChrisB200SX wrote:

No doubt this new rule was heavily advocated for by Lawrence Stroll.

And the late Murray Walker.

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mark1a replied to Rendel Harris | 1 year ago
4 likes

Rendel Harris wrote:

ChrisB200SX wrote:

No doubt this new rule was heavily advocated for by Lawrence Stroll.

And the late Murray Walker.

I suspect this has been on the cards since the early 90s, with rumoured lobbying from teams including March and Footwork. 

Avatar
lonpfrb replied to mark1a | 1 year ago
0 likes
mark1a wrote:

Rendel Harris wrote:

ChrisB200SX wrote:

No doubt this new rule was heavily advocated for by Lawrence Stroll.

And the late Murray Walker.

I suspect this has been on the cards since the early 90s, with rumoured lobbying from teams including March and Footwork. 

Highly unlikely.

The late great Murray Walker started his career in motorsport commentary at the Isle of Man with his father who had raced there. So Murray was a huge enthusiast for two wheels.

I know this as he told me when we met at Goodwood and observing my motorcycle leathers he asked me what I had ridden to get there.

You may recall that March Racing were founded by the previous Lord March, owner of Goodwood. He started the Festival of Speed that welcomes two and four wheel Motorsport at the highest level.

It's laughable that F1 trumpets sustainability whilst banning bicycles. Most top level competitors train hard on bicycles; F1, WSBK, BSB, IoM TT, MotoGP, since they recognise that extreme fitness is required and best done on a bike.

The suggestion that racers who compete at 200mph would not be in control at 20mph on a bike is ludicrous..

Ride safe!

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mark1a replied to lonpfrb | 1 year ago
2 likes

Whooooooooosssshhhhh......

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cyclisto | 1 year ago
4 likes

It makes sense, cycling and rinding an e-scooter can be very unsafe.

Safer alternatives must be promoted such as walking or moving in a box full of sharp edges at 300km/h

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ubercurmudgeon | 1 year ago
5 likes

Doubtless the reason is ultimately money, as is always the case with professional sport. If Bianchi had paid for the product placement rights of appearing associated with Charles Leclerc, nobody would've thought of banning bikes.

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eburtthebike | 1 year ago
1 like

Without knowing why they've banned cycling, it's hard to understand this ban.  No reason appears to have been given, which I would most certainly expect.

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ktache replied to eburtthebike | 1 year ago
4 likes

Institutionally anti cyclist?

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eburtthebike replied to ktache | 1 year ago
2 likes

ktache wrote:

Institutionally anti cyclist?

Of course!  [slaps forehead]

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Mybike replied to eburtthebike | 1 year ago
0 likes

Traditionally it been walking Now you have people walking and some in e scooters and some in bikes So you have groups of people on the track at different speeds Sometimes theses groups stop to talk about a certain corner So that why I think the ban 3 different modes of transportation at 3 different speeds

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FrankH replied to Mybike | 1 year ago
6 likes

Some of those cyclists can go quite fast. How would Formula 1 drivers cope with that?

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eburtthebike replied to Mybike | 1 year ago
8 likes

Yes, I can quite see that the razor sharp reactions of an F1 driver would be unable to cope with a 15mph cyclist.

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hawkinspeter replied to Mybike | 1 year ago
4 likes

Mybike wrote:

Traditionally it been walking Now you have people walking and some in e scooters and some in bikes So you have groups of people on the track at different speeds Sometimes theses groups stop to talk about a certain corner So that why I think the ban 3 different modes of transportation at 3 different speeds

I guess it could be quite dangerous with those narrow lanes, high hedges and poor sight lines

Avatar
SpeedyMark replied to Mybike | 1 year ago
1 like

3 groups at 3 different speeds.  Just like the Grand Prix itself then!?!  I just don't know how the drivers would cope on bikes at 15mph!

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