Source: Supplied.

Following FP1 and FP2 at the Gran Premi Monster Energy de Catalunya, the decision has been taken to revert the track layout to the Formula 1 chicane – the one used for Saturday and Sunday in 2016 – from FP3 onwards in 2017.

The decision is based on feedback from riders following day one of track action, and was taken by the safety commission on Friday evening. The changes made to the layout ahead of the 2017 event were deemed insufficient due to the change in the asphalt of the chicane, which was the cause for concern for the majority of the riders.

“In the safety commission the riders complained a little about the new layout, they said the work wasn’t done in the right way and there were a lot of bumps – that’s why the riders decided to go back to the layout from last year,” representative Loris Capirossi explained. “That’s why we’re here, to make sure the track used tomorrow is the safest we can.

“We saw during practice today a lot of crashes too where the bike remained on the track and at the exit of the corner and that’s very dangerous. We have experience from last year of the old chicane and we didn’t have any crashes like we did today, that’s why the riders requested it. In terms of crashes, the old one is better.”

Australian Jack Miller (Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Honda) was involved in a strange moment in FP1 this morning when he inadvertently missed the new turns 14 and 15 section for a few laps and was using a section of sector four that was implemented during last year’s race weekend.

His absence from the test session and the limited dry track time available this morning proved to be a big hurdle for Miller to overcome, with getting his Honda RC213V to absorb the Barcelona track’s notoriously bumpy sections his biggest challenge.

“This morning was interesting to say the least,” Miller said. “The weather didn’t help the situation much, but it didn’t help too when I spent a lot of laps riding on the wrong track! Once I was riding the correct layout it wasn’t easy this afternoon. Missing the test a couple of weeks ago meant I wasn’t sure where the bumps were when you’re riding flat-out in the dry.

“The bumps are an issue before the new chicane and being honest I don’t like that new final part of the lap much. It was introduced to improve safety and I fully understand that, but from a pure riding perspective I don’t like it as much as the layout we were using last year.”