Lando Norris says the push to improve the lack of visibility Formula 1 drivers face in the rain has become a major topic following Dilano van’t Hoff’s fatal crash at Spa.
Van’t Hoff was killed in an multi-car collision on the final lap of a Formula Regional race when he spun on the Kemmel straight in wet conditions before being hit by another car.
The severity of the spray was a factor in the incident as Van’t Hoff was unsighted by the drivers behind him, with the 18-year-old the second driver to die at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit in the last four years.
Formula 2 driver Anthoine Hubert also lost his life at Spa in 2019 in similar circumstances, the incident happening on the exit of Raidillon just behind where Van’t Hoff crash took place.
Norris emphasised the safety issues surrounding poor visibility due to spray is an issue that must be addressed in grand prix racing.
“Between so many things that are done for safety, I think this is one of the next biggest topics I would say that needs to be changed,” Norris said, as quoted by Motorsport.com.
“When you’re not in the car, you don’t realise how bad it is. You can’t see from here to the wall [five metres ahead]. You can’t see anything.
“So, if there’s a car stopped here, you have no chance to react. And that can happen in Spa, that could have happened here. If someone went off up through turn two [at the Red Bull Ring] you don’t see them until it’s too late.”
Following concerns raised in last year’s Japanese Grand Prix, F1 and the FIA have been working on introducing wheel arches to limit the problem, with the first test set to take place at Silverstone next week after the British Grand Prix.
“I think is a good thing that we’re doing the test in Silverstone because you may as well close your eyes half the time going through turn two,” said Norris.
“It’s almost a better thing to close your eyes because you have to wish for the best sometimes.”
AlphaTauri driver Nyck de Vries believes the tragedy shows F1 should not receive criticism for taking a conservative approach when a race is affected by rain.
“I’ve heard that the circumstances were very extreme, and we’re always criticising the system when we are too conservative when the conditions are very extreme,” he said.
“But this is not playing around for fun. It still shows that there is serious danger. And we’ve got to take that seriously.
“And concerning the track and the situation, yeah, maybe we have to consider twice and look at what can be done to avoid any serious incidents going forward.”
Norris’ McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri will be present for the test and expected it would be crucial to ensure similar accidents can be avoided in the future.
“We’re doing a wet weather test in Silverstone after the race with the mudguards, so the FIA already trying to address the visibility issue,” Piastri added. “And I’ll be taking part in that test, so I’ll experience it first-hand.
“I don’t know enough about the crash to talk about what could happen after that. I think obviously, there’ll be a big investigation into it. Because we obviously don’t want this to keep happening.”
