Hamilton wants more challenging corners

Lewis Hamilton has insisted that Formula One needs to have more challenging corners than it currently has, and has cited Donington Park circuit as a blueprint to follow as he loved the difficulty of the corners when he drove on the track during his junior career.

The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at the end of last season was criticised by many for allegedly being boring, with the layout of the circuit making it difficult for drivers to overtake.

Hamilton wants to see circuits prove more problematic for drivers and has lamented the extension of run-off areas which make it easier to cut corners rather than navigating them.

“The FIA have done an amazing job, but they’ve really got to stop with these run-off areas - you shouldn’t be able to cut a corner like you see [drivers doing],” the Mercedes driver said.

“What I love about the olden days - of course you don’t want to crash, but if you go wide you’ve got to lose time.

“Now you can approach a corner knowing that if you go in five percent too much you can go wide and come back on. I don’t love that.

“I used to love Oulton Park and Donington. Donington, Old Hairpin was a nightmare - you have to come off the brakes and run the speed in, use the downforce. Then up the hill and the second right before the back straight - you can’t even see the white line. There is white line and then gravel and the gravel sucks you off.

“Oh man! Finding the limit there, that corner is way harder than all the corners in F1. Coppice. That’s the sort of corner F1 is missing. If we had that back in F1, it would bring another level to the challenge.”

Hamilton doesn't want a total overhaul of courses, however, and has given examples of current Grand Prix courses which are exciting to perform on.

“The high-speed corners this year have been, phwoar!” Hamilton added.

“Pouhon at Spa; the best corners of the season are generally Austin [Turns] 3-4-5-6-7 - they are awesome.

"Silverstone, Copse and then Maggotts and Becketts; Suzuka Esses - they are the special ones. For some reason Austin is the best set-up because there are different lines you can take within that.

“Suzuka it is very hard to have a different line and race. That’s why I love Austin. It’s one of my favourite tracks, actually, and I don’t like new tracks usually.”