The FIA has admitted to teams Max Verstappen should have been given a warning over his conduct while fighting Lando Norris for the lead of the Austrian Grand Prix.
Norris repeatedly complained Verstappen was changing his line in the braking zones during their battle. The pair eventually collided. After the race McLaren team principal Andrea Stella claimed Verstappen has been let off too leniently for past incidents, notably in 2021.McLaren’s insistence that Verstappen did not abide by the rules during the race has been partially vindicated as the FIA told teams in a meeting at the British Grand Prix that Verstappen should have been given a formal warning during the race. Teams were advised the Red Bull driver should have been shown the black-and-white flag to warn him he would receive a penalty if he did not respect the rules.
The warning to Verstappen would have been issued in line with an updated clause in the International Sporting Code. The revision, introduced last month, has changed the meaning of the black-and-white ‘unsporting conduct’ flag.
The clause previously read: “This flag should be shown once only and is a warning to the driver concerned that he has been reported for unsportsmanlike behaviour.” It now states: “This flag should be shown once only and is a warning to the driver concerned for unsportsmanlike behaviour or for an action which may result in a penalty if repeated.”
Stella told media including RaceFans on Saturday the collision between Norris and Verstappen could have been avoided had the warning been given during the race.
“Our understanding was confirmed by the FIA, who will have obviously reviewed internally and might have updated their interpretation,” he said. “And I think we all – all – came to the conclusion that a warning should have been given to Max, if not a black and white flag, and this would have prevented an escalation that led to the collision.”
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Kribana (@krichelle)
7th July 2024, 13:09
Red Bull don’t care about warnings. Warnings won’t change any dirty and unsportsmanslike behavior at Red Bull.
Coventry Climax
7th July 2024, 13:13
So again, the FiA changes the rulebook during a season.
The argument by Stella that a collision could have been prevented, is, while in itself maybe correct, of no value: Many rule changes -if not most of them- could have prevented things that happened before being put in the rulebook. The rules -and the subsequent punishments- are the result of the real life, not the other way round.
This leaves me with how this should be interpreted: Verstappen should have been warned or the FiA saying they have been incomplete and lacking in foresight in their rulebook – again.
The first is pointless to mention if there’s no rule to warrant any warning, the second is incompetence that should be amended inbetween seasons, not during.
Given they ‘amended’ the existing rule, it’s actually both of these two options.
Jean Todt
7th July 2024, 13:19
What? I see your response as a gross overcomplication, although maybe ive missed something. You can’t move under braking. Max has, repeatedly, for a very long time throughout his whole career. He has a history of this. FIA can’t remind stewards and authorities that they need to police the sport correctly? F1 doesn’t want to decide if they are a sport or entertainment – they want to pretend to be a sport. If enforcing existing rules is “changing rules” then we live on different planets.
Coventry Climax
7th July 2024, 13:26
Correction:
Given they ‘amended’ the existing rule during the season, it’s actually both of these two options.
Ronald
7th July 2024, 14:41
The exisiting rule no one has been punished for since Vettel years ago. For years I heard drivers complain several times about several drivers,no one ever made a point of it. Norris complains and the FIA jumps into a salute.
SteveP
7th July 2024, 13:20
The base problem is that Max will repeat what he has said many times – that he has always driven that way.
That’s true, he has.
The thing is, he should have been called out on it years ago. If he had, then he would by now have developed a driving technique that didn’t break the rules. He has the talent to do so, how quickly he can drop an ingrained habit is another question.
Sham (@sham)
7th July 2024, 13:33
The problem is that his driving is encouraged by his team, and especially by his father. The ‘second is first of the losers, win at all costs’ attitude has made Max into who he is – an unsportsmanlike driver who doesn’t care about which rules have been broken if he crosses the line first.
Which is a shame, as he has more than enough talent to be able to win without it.
He always has been, and will continue to be, an accident waiting to happen until someone stops him.
Coventry Climax
7th July 2024, 13:34
But he doesn’t break the rules: At the time he does what he does, the rules aren’t there, they only get made made afterwards, because they feel what he does isn’t right. (Or not interesting enough for the course of the championship?)
That’s OK I guess, but they shouldn’t do it during the season.
Start talking about it alright, say you will definitely look into it and most likely change that for next year coming up with the exact reasons for it as well, but not make changes during a season.
Otherwise it reeks of amateurism and arbitrariness.
Sham (@sham)
7th July 2024, 13:44
Except the revision was made before Austria, as I understand it.
Coventry Climax
7th July 2024, 14:13
Which would make it even worse probably: Changing a rule during the season to then not abide by it.
SteveP
7th July 2024, 16:42
1. As per @Sham the revision pre-dates the offence at Austria
2. The revision was actually only a clarification of what could happen if the driver continued with the action(s) that triggered the B/W flag, the rule has been there for quite a while.
As Stella said, no one called him out on the rule breach. It does rather beg the question of why write a rule that you don’t use?
SjaakFoo (@sjaakfoo)
7th July 2024, 14:11
Feels more and more like the racing FIA wants is “if you’re 30% alongside the car ahead of you when approaching the corner you need to get the position regardless.” Used to be you get at least one defensive move, but now if you can’t defend anywhere near the braking zone, there’s no real way to stop a car from pulling up a bit inside of you or outside of you and get the position that way. It’s a shame honestly, F1 never had this issue in the past, and drivers drove a lot more tough than they do today. At this rate, with this latest clarification, I predict dive bombing will soon become the norm in F1 as the reward will be obvious. Just break a bit later and you get the position regardless of the rest of the outcome.
It’s a shame honestly, multiple lap battles will be a thing of the past, I wonder how long F1 will be appealing to watch live.
lynn-m
7th July 2024, 14:19
I think one of the problems comes back to DRS as attacking cars often have such a large speed boost that it becomes harder for a car ahead to be able to defend.
Additionally given the artificial DRS gimmick boost the closing rates are so much greater now than in the past that defensive moves which in the past would have seemed tame now look far more severe.
Why don’t Liberty, The FIA & all the Netflix fans just admit that all they want is passing and just tell drivers they aren’t able to defend at all. That would give them the quantity over quality they clearly desire and also completely handicap drivers from been able to race which is also clearly what they want.
Just may as well finish sanitizing the sport completely and rename it from MotorSport to MotorShow.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
8th July 2024, 0:16
As far as I’m concerned, it’s already no longer appealing to watch live, being able to send forward until something happens is a godsend and even in a relatively good race because of the weather like silverstone here I couldn’t do but notice all these drs overtakes where the driver ahead has no chance to defend, that isn’t the f1 I used to watch in the 90s-2000s.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
8th July 2024, 0:17
Then they even show you replays of the DRS overtakes, why? We already know it’s like a motorway pass, no need to see it twice, I would rather see replays of those rare battles that we’ve seen sometimes even this year (like russell vs norris) that go on for several corners.
BLS (@brightlampshade)
7th July 2024, 14:26
I feel like Verstappen quite often operates in the grey area of the rules. His driving is often enjoyable to watch but does also feel over the edge when really battling.
The FIA struggles to stick to its own basic rules so I’m not surprised it struggles when the infractions are border-line.
Mayrton
7th July 2024, 14:28
What a sad affair to keep talking about this non issue. People participating in the debate should consider picking up chess as the game to follow.
Bulgarian (@bulgarian)
7th July 2024, 14:41
FIA must have be shown a Black Flag already after the final farce of 2021 season. For me, “FIA” has become a synonym to any other swear word.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
8th July 2024, 0:19
Ahah, for me it’s always been like that, they should just pack their things and let drivers race.
David BR (@david-br)
7th July 2024, 14:52
FIA has a wonderful habit of acknowledging reality well after the event.
Appreciated (as it feels like we’re not going mad) but not really good enough. Aside from causing the collision, Verstappen weaved under braking, went off track and gained an advantage, and pushed Norris onto the grass after the collision. All unpenalized.
Patrick (@anunaki)
7th July 2024, 17:13
I hear some people say that max pushed lando on the grass when they both had a puncture. But to me it seems he went off the racing line to get out of the way of the faster approaching cars. This was supported by an analysis I saw somewhere.
About the black and white flag: if max indeed violated the rules with his moves in the braking zone they should address this in the driver briefing. Not sure if they did and also not sure if he broke a rule.
SteveP
7th July 2024, 17:19
One of the things they should have done years ago. They didn’t, so in that respect alone you have evidence Stella is right.
Patrick (@anunaki)
7th July 2024, 17:23
Het d no rules were broken he’s not right and that remains unsure as it is
Patrick (@anunaki)
7th July 2024, 17:23
If no rules were broken
SteveP
7th July 2024, 18:06
But they were (that’s why Max got a penalty in Austria), and Max insists he’s been doing that same corner approach technique for ages, so Max basically admits he broke the rules previously.
So, Stella is correct.
Patrick (@anunaki)
7th July 2024, 18:17
The penalty was for causing the collision not the earlier moves in the braking zone. Why would the FIA talk about about a black and white flag for something they gave a penalty for?
CarWars (@maxv)
7th July 2024, 19:08
Doesn’t surprise that they don’t know their own rules.
JMDan
8th July 2024, 12:17
Seems like much of the world has turned incompetent.
powersteer (@powersteer)
9th July 2024, 1:49
Meanwhile ….
Christian Horny: Max is not going to change the way he drives no matter what.
FIA inactions against whiny teams, is yet again, so obvious! Losers!
Mayrton
9th July 2024, 7:13
Hahahahaha, the inconsistency and fumbling continues at FIA. These guys are amazing.