F1 introduce bizarre pre-race ban leaving Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc fuming

FORMULA ONE have introduced a stunning BAN on riding a bike around track before races.

Personnel in attendance at F1 races, including drivers, team members and journalists, usually participate in track walks ahead of the weekend’s action.

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Despite the name, many prefer to traverse the circuits on bikes or scooters due to the long distance often needing to be covered.

However, this will no longer be possible after event organisers issued a banning order on anything except for walking on track.

A letter was issued to the teams during the season opener in Bahrain from Formula One Management.

It read: “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.”

It means the likes of Lewis Hamilton – often seen zipping around on a scooter – will no longer be able to use them on track walks.

And the move has left drivers furious, with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc declaring he will not be doing track walks anymore.

He told Autosport: “I didn’t walk around.

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“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!”

The Saudi Arabia Grand Prix’s track walk – a circuit with a distance of 6.174km (3.836 miles) – time was listed as 1pm-4.30pm on Thursday.

The ban is believed to have been implemented due to the track becoming more hectic, particularly on weekends when F2 and F3 are also in attendance.

The walk was further compromised by filming from musician Will.I.Am, whose crew shot scenes at various points around the track accompanied by a stationary F1 show car for an upcoming single.

Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg added: “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.”

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